# How do the really bad films like the remake of "The Day The Earth Stood Still" get made? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 17, 2011, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-the-really-bad-films-like-the-remake-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-get-made/593006 "2011-08-17T08:24:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-the-really-bad-films-like-the-remake-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-get-made/593006/1 "2011-08-17T08:24:36Z")
There are often tens to hundreds of millions of dollars at stake in major motion pictures these days. When I see a truly terrible film like the one in the OP title I really have to wonder how the hell it got made. My sensibilities are not terribly refined, so if I’m smelling a huge pile of horse shit with a script that sounds like it was cobbled together by someone who could not write their way out of a paper bag you really have to wonder. I mean there are creative professionals that craft wonderful stories for a living. How does some massive elephant dump of a movie get green lighted without someone with serious skills being able to pass muster on it? How do terrible movies happen with so much money at stake? ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-the-really-bad-films-like-the-remake-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-get-made/593006/2 "2011-08-17T08:28:11Z")
I am merely making a WAG here, but I surmise that fellatio is involved somehow. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-the-really-bad-films-like-the-remake-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-get-made/593006/3 "2011-08-17T08:58:59Z")
_The Day the Earth Stood Still_ cost about 80 million dollars to make. It grossed over 200 million world wide. That’s how movies like that get made. ---
**Author:** ![drbhoneydew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d78d45/32.png) [@drbhoneydew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drbhoneydew)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-the-really-bad-films-like-the-remake-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-get-made/593006/4 "2011-08-17T09:46:45Z")
> [@astro](#): > > How do terrible movies happen with so much money at stake? Generally, said remake features a big name star who’ll bring in the masses and it being a remake brings in fans of the original out of curiosity. Even if it’s rubbish, that combination should send the film into profit. I have to say that as soon as I saw that Keanu was featuring I decided to avoid it like the plague unless he was playing Gort. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-the-really-bad-films-like-the-remake-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-get-made/593006/5 "2011-08-17T10:07:29Z")
Like with any other project, sometimes films don’t turn out the way their makers hoped. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-the-really-bad-films-like-the-remake-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-get-made/593006/6 "2011-08-17T10:15:02Z")
Movie production is a business. Like all businesses, the question that producers ask themselves is not “Is this going to be a good movie?”. The question they ask themselves is “How much profit is this movie going to make?” The way that they make a big profit is by considering what the moviegoers are going to ask themselves when they decide what film they are going to see. The questions are things like this: 1. Do I like the stars of this movie? 2. Does the trailer of the movie have some clever action scenes? 3. Does the trailer of the movie have some clever dialogue? 4. Is there a clever one-phrase description of the plot of the movie? 5. Is this a sequel to a movie I liked? 6. Is this a genre I like? 7. Is this a remake of a movie I liked? 8. Did my friends like this movie? 9. Is this film getting good reviews? 10. Is this film directed by someone whose previous films I liked? 11. Is this film written by someone whose previous films I liked? The earlier questions on this list tend to be more important in influencing the moviegoers’ choices than the later ones. Another thing the producers have to consider is how much the movie will cost to make. If the movie is cheap to make, the producers will sometimes allow a movie to be made which scores higher on the questions at the bottom of the list but not very well on those on the top of the list. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-the-really-bad-films-like-the-remake-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-get-made/593006/7 "2011-08-17T10:37:55Z")
Filmmakers have every intention to make the best films they can. But they’re constantly thwarted by limits in budget, time, or interfering talent-free Executives who change things from under their feet at every turn. ---
**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-the-really-bad-films-like-the-remake-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-get-made/593006/8 "2011-08-17T11:03:39Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > Filmmakers have every intention to make the best films they can. I’m sure many do, but I expect there are quite a few who simply see film-making as a business. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-the-really-bad-films-like-the-remake-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-get-made/593006/9 "2011-08-17T13:45:32Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > _The Day the Earth Stood Still_ cost about 80 million dollars to make. > > It grossed over 200 million world wide. > > That’s how movies like that get made. Like the man said, sometimes [terrible movies make a lot of money.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_After_Tomorrow) ---
**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-the-really-bad-films-like-the-remake-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-get-made/593006/10 "2011-08-17T13:51:11Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > Like the man said, sometimes [terrible movies make a lot of money.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_After_Tomorrow) Indeed. The list of [highest grossing films](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top_grossing_movies) makes the point even more clearly, although that list isn’t adjusted for inflation. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-the-really-bad-films-like-the-remake-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-get-made/593006/11 "2011-08-17T13:59:51Z")
I don’t understand the hate for the remake mentioned in the OP. It’s not great… but I’ve never understood why many people say it’s positively awful. But of course it is true that awful movies do get made. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-the-really-bad-films-like-the-remake-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-get-made/593006/12 "2011-08-17T14:09:15Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Like with any other project, sometimes films don’t turn out the way their makers hoped. I’ve heard that with comedies in particular, it’s nearly impossible to tell if a movie is going to be funny – and therefore good – until it’s nearly completed. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-the-really-bad-films-like-the-remake-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-get-made/593006/13 "2011-08-17T14:20:18Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > _The Day the Earth Stood Still_ cost about 80 million dollars to make. > > It grossed over 200 million world wide. > > That’s how movies like that get made. Even better example: [Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvin_and_the_Chipmunks:_The_Squeakquel) also had a budget of $80 million but grossed _$443 million worldwide_. Of course a sequel is under way. Also note that some of the same production companies released Fantastic Mr. Fox the same year, which wasn’t nearly as successful but received much better reviews. So the dreck subsidizes the art films. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-the-really-bad-films-like-the-remake-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-get-made/593006/14 "2011-08-17T14:32:24Z")
Because people go out to see the latest movie because…that’s what’s out there, good or bad. I wager most of them don’t do any research or read reviews, they just go - because that’s what playing. I don’t know if people flocked to see the original Day The Earth Stood Still, but it’s considered, today, a good movie and the current remake is thought to be terrible. But people still went to see the remake and it made money… If 20 years from now there’s yet another remake starring Alvin and the Chipmunks, people will probably go see THAT one and IT will be a big success. Because put a big new movie out there and the crowds will (usually) go see it. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-the-really-bad-films-like-the-remake-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-get-made/593006/15 "2011-08-17T14:38:32Z")
> [@](#): > > How do terrible movies happen with so much money at stake? The real question is “Why do they keep remaking old movies instead of trying to come up with new ideas, or adapting never-adapted stories into films?” Why do we have so many versions of _Invasion of the Body Snatchers_ or _Planet of the Apes_ movies? Why do we have threads like _Movies with the Same Plot_? Because Movies are an expensive, risky business, and any production is a gamble. And, even though they know that audiences want new and original stories, they also know that people usually want to see something similar to what they’ve seen before (they’d rather, as a group, want to see a James Bond movie, rather than Oedipus Rex), so they’re very conservative about what they come up with. So you get a lot of sequels, series, and remakes. Them’s the facts of life, even when you’re gambling with other people’s money. This kind of thinking also makes producers look at the huge video-game market and think _Lots of people like video games_ AND\* movies. A video game movie would\* Clean Up! Which is how you got _Mario Brothers_ and _Doom_ and tons of other video game movies,most of which didn’t do all that well (_Prince of Persia_), although some have done respectably enough. And which is why they’ll keep churning them out in hopes of a jackpot. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-the-really-bad-films-like-the-remake-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-get-made/593006/16 "2011-08-17T14:43:41Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > The real question is “Why do they keep remaking old movies instead of trying to come up with new ideas, or adapting never-adapted stories into films?” Why do we have so many versions of _Invasion of the Body Snatchers_ or _Planet of the Apes_ movies? Why do we have threads like _Movies with the Same Plot_? During one of the movies I went to this summer, I noticed that almost all of the trailers were for sequels or films based on graphic novels or comic books. I think only one movie trailer was an original idea. But that’s been true for decades, except in the past the movies were based on novels instead of comic books. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-the-really-bad-films-like-the-remake-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-get-made/593006/17 "2011-08-17T14:45:44Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > I don’t understand the hate for the remake mentioned in the OP. It’s not great… but I’ve never understood why many people say it’s positively awful. Here’s your answer. Not everybody thought it stunk. No matter how bad the movie, you can usually find enough people with different enough tastes somewhere in the world to turn a profit, or at least make most of your money back. To my tastes, Michael Bay should be washing windows at intersections, not making movies. Yet… ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-the-really-bad-films-like-the-remake-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-get-made/593006/18 "2011-08-17T15:01:34Z")
> [@Gagundathar](#): > > I am merely making a WAG here, but I surmise that fellatio is involved somehow. Probably cocaine as well. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-the-really-bad-films-like-the-remake-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-get-made/593006/19 "2011-08-17T15:02:30Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > I don’t understand the hate for the remake mentioned in the OP. It’s not great… but I’ve never understood why many people say it’s positively awful. > > But of course it is true that awful movies do get made. This is what I actually came in here to say. I really enjoyed the movie and thought it was worlds better than some of the things I’ve seen. ---
**Author:** ![FlyingDragonFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c89c15/32.png) [@FlyingDragonFan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingDragonFan)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-the-really-bad-films-like-the-remake-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-get-made/593006/20 "2011-08-17T19:34:40Z")
> [@Sir\_T-Cups](#): > > This is what I actually came in here to say. I really enjoyed the movie and thought it was worlds better than some of the things I’ve seen. I actually just bought it yesterday. Granted, it was bargain priced at Target, but it was also bundled with Will Smith’s _I, Robot_. Take THAT, movie snobs! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-the-really-bad-films-like-the-remake-of-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-get-made/593006.md?page=2)