Comments on: Walt Disney CTO: Movies are about “visual spectacle,” not story

By: Euan

Euan — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 19:43:43 +0000

Show me a movie that is purely about the story, not at all about groundbreaking effects or visuals, that is better than any one of those highest grossing films (subjective, I know, but we all think it) and I’ll be as surprised when I was when the sun came up again this morning.

But all these highest grossing films gain a lot from visuals and other outside factors like brand or the fact that they’re sequels or even just their timing. There a countless films with much better stories, but they’re not rolling in the same kind of cash. The point he’s making is, that story isn’t the determining factor. Based on the list I’d say he has a point.

By: Euan

Euan — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 19:35:47 +0000

Those effects you mention add to his point that story is not the main factor in making a successful blockbuster movie.

By: Train Horns

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By: wishswudhavwings

wishswudhavwings — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 20:58:14 +0000

First, I think Hendrickson is confusing what people talk about AFTER a movie with what draws people in DURING a movie. Sure, after Inception/Avatar/Transformers people talked about how cool the 3D was or how awesome that spinning hallway sequence was, but the fact is that those spectacular visual moments are tied into the emotional highs and lows provided by the story. The emotional peak (positive or negative) that a viewer experiences allows them to more clearly remember the spectacle, but without a good story and characters, they would never have that connection to begin with.

Second, he’s ignoring the effect that the original movies have on their sequels (Shrek, Star Wars), name brand recognition (Toy Story 3), uncontrollable outside factors (The Dark Knight) and Alice benefited from being the first post-Avatar 3D movie, before post-conversion made audiences bitter.

By: rapscallione

rapscallione — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 03:43:17 +0000

There are many wonderfully plotted movies with terrible effects, and many wonderfully-effected movies with terrible plots. Comparing effects vs. plot in terms of pure moneymaking is possible in a vacuum, but not in a world full of advertising.

By: rapscallione

rapscallione — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 03:40:48 +0000

A world that tied into and directly affected the story.

I’m not sure why people are arguing that Avatar made all that money based purely on spectacle. If that was the case, Transformers 3 would be in the number 2 slot. But it isn’t.

Was the story of Avatar original? No. Was it entertaining and captivating? Well, shit yeah, that’s why the movie did so well.

By: thestage

thestage — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 05:38:28 +0000

you can’t even define story, much less tell us why it is important. it’s a mythological word, both literally and figuratively. and any anything that has “the story” and then “the other stuff” and separates them and values one over the other or pretends that you lead with this or that is probably not something worth seeing/reading/whatever

By: BluegrassJack

BluegrassJack — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 00:29:50 +0000

“When you’re making tentpole films, bullshit.”

Walt Disney would not be impressed when one of his suits talked to the press like that.

By: wanderinggambler

wanderinggambler — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 02:20:48 +0000

As for the original point of this blog, the Disney studio head is kinda right. Avatar is nothing more than a shoddy version of A Princess of Mars with great special effects. No one actually cared about the story, they just loved the world Cameron built.

By: wanderinggambler

wanderinggambler — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 02:17:16 +0000

The real reason why Fast Five made more money is because it’s the fifth installment of a popular film franchise. The fourth film did well with critics and made a good chunk of change. It didn’t hurt that the Rock v. Vin Diesel fight stuff existed too.

Furthermore, a lot of box office is determinable by when a film is released and its competition. Fast Five was released in the last week of April against nothing. Thor was released the next week and immediately hit competition. Box office competition was also pretty high with Cap and X-Men too.