*sigh* Sadly, the gaming industy has turned into what the movie industry has become. Nobody wants to put out an original idea, so we’re bloated with sequels, re-makes, adaptations of old TV shows, and even copies of remakes of sequels!! (Cheaper By The Dozen 2, anyone??)
Then when something like Little Miss Sunshine comes along, the studios are afraid to release it and the major theater chains are afraid to touch it. So it starts out in limited release, about 200 locations. As word of mouth spreads, it expands little by little and eventually it’s dubbed a hit by mainstream standards. What people DON’T realize is yes, it only made $2 million in a weekend compared with Talladega Nights at $20 million, but per-theater, Sunshine is making ten times as much.
Like the computer industry in the 80s and 90s, people’s curiosity of the new form of entertainment fueld innovation in motion pictures in the 50s and 60s. We had Cinerama, where the screen curved into the 12th row. We had 70mm with double the resolution of conventional film. We had Todd-AO and D-150 where when we looked to the left or right, it felt like we were actually looking ‘into’ the screen…. and now what do we have? Directors like George Lucas and Robert Rodriguez shooting with video cameras less than the resolution of HDTV, and hiding behind the word ‘digital’ to make people think it’s better when in fact it doesn’t even measure up to the resolution of conventional 35mm film. Why? Because it’s cheaper, and people buy it. Creativity and Innovation is constantly threatened by Consumerism and the bottom line.
Back in the 90s, I would be in a computer store at least twice a week. Now, I don’t think I’ve set foot in one in over a year. My current computer is 2 years old and I have no plans on upgrading it. And why should I? Just in case ‘Doom 9’ or ‘Quake 6’ comes out and I need more graphics memory for the bigger guns? Hardly…
Sierra was the MGM of it’s day. A grand production house creating the finest masterpieces of that generation, headed by the most creative talents and innovative minds in the industry, always striving to make something better. And now look at MGM… a tiny fraction of a shell absorbed by Sony and swept aside only to be dug up when they don’t want the Sony name associated with a potential failure. The latest release by MGM? Hilary Duff’s ‘Material Girls’. 🙁 Leo the Lion is spinning in his grave….
-Tom.