A lot of people certainly started it. But as the article points out, we don’t know how many finished it.
Netflix’s chief content officer Ted Sarandos served up this interesting (and, if you’re a Sandler hater, chilling) bit of trivia at the company’s CES 2016 keynote. “The Ridiculous 6, by way of example, in the first 30 days on Netflix it’s been the most-watched movie in the history of Netflix,” he said. “It’s also enjoyed a spot at #1 in every territory we operate in, and in many of them it’s still #1.”
The Verge, which first reported Sarandos’ quote, clarifies that the statistic includes both Netflix’s homegrown original projects and its licensed content. Still, it’s difficult to interpret what exactly this means.
I think streaming services like Netflix, or premium cable channels like HBO, are mostly interested in selling subscriptions. So if having original Adam Sandler films or buzzworthy series like Game of Thrones or The Sopranos does that, they’re happy.
Perfectly valid for you not to like the movie. It’s supposed to be disturbing. I happen to think it’s a great movie made by one of the greatest directors in history. It’s not nearly my favorite by Kubrick but its still a great movie. 86% fresh on RT and 8.2 on IMDB. It’s not a critical failure or a financial failure. It’s just not to your taste. Not a shitshow.
Interesting tidbit, the original American edition of the book left out the final chapter. So did the movie. In the final chapter Alex matures out of his violent criminal ways and settles down to start a family. The movie showed no redemption.
Did you see the Rotten Tomatoes scores? This not just my opinion. I also gave a reference of one of the stars indicating that it was essentially a shitshow. I have no idea why I’m being singled out. I merely related an anecdote about how films can be greenlit because they looked good on paper but turned into shitshows due to execution or sometimes even public whim.
I may have lost the plot because I have no idea what film you’re referring to. Would it be too much to ask that people repeat information like that to save others the trouble of going back through multiple posts to figure it out?
Most of the time there’s a link back to the post being responded to or quoted. A little arrow. But yeah, it can get lost. I was responding to the notification and didn’t notice the posts that had accumulated in between.
Popeye was greenlit because Paramount lost the bidding war for Annie. “What other old comic strip is there?” “We own Popeye.” “Do it!”
Problem with Popeye was that if there was any film that needed a big budget it was this one. They cut the budget even more than planned and had to downgrade it but insisted it be a musical. Originally, it was supposed to have more fantastical elements, such as Eugene the Jeep. When they cut the budget they moved his story-line to Swee’Pea. Also, they completely ran out of money before they even conceived a climax. They cobbled together a hasty ending with a rubber octopus that had no motor. Robin Williams joked that Popeye should walk on water like Jesus, and to his surprise they said OK. as they didn’t have any better ideas. They also made the huge mistake of not having a climactic brawl with Popeye and Bluto. It’s another of those Congo type films. It looks good on paper. Musicals based upon comic strips were going to be the next big thing. Directed by Robert Altman, written by Jules Feiffer, music by Harry Nilsson, arranged and orchestrated by Van Dyke Parks, cast almost perfectly from top to bottom with new hot star Robin Williams and Shelley Duvall who was born to play Olive Oyl and the rest. It made more than people think and didn’t bomb, but is largely considered a failure.
Ah, this reminds me. Who greenlighted the 1973 version of Lost Horizon?
“I know! We’ll take a beloved 1937 Frank Capra drama film that was based on a beloved 1933 dramatic novel, and turn it into a musical. Burt Bacharach can do the music; he’s pretty popular, right? We’ll get some stars that are still marketable, but no longer A-listers, and get a bunch of kids to be entertained by their singing and dancing! Oh … that Shangri-La stuff? We’ll keep that, but it’s the singing and dancing that will really be the stars of this one.”
Um, no. Just no. The result was a film where the plot was secondary to the singing and dancing. That’s not the 1937 film nor the 1933 novel, both of which were gripping stories about the life-changing choices that we have to make at times. Who thought that a musical comedy of this story would be a good idea?
As for Paul Williams—I never saw Popeye, but I imagine that he was squeezed into writing songs for a storyline that didn’t need them, much like Bacarach was squeezed into writing songs for 1973’s Lost Horizon. Williams is a capable composer and lyricist, as his resume shows, and his songs on Phantom of the Paradise demonstrate.
True, but two things to remember–it made a decent profit, and 60% on Rotten Tomatoes. So, yeah, the film had issues, but what with Robin Williams, Shelly Duval, etc, we can understand why it was Greenlit.
Now, there’s a good one. Lost $$, critics and moviegoers hated it, so a loser all the way. And the answer is- Ross Hunter.
I still have a soft spot for it, despite how bad it turned out to be. There’s the perfect casting you mentioned (including Bill Irwin), and Shelley Duvall singing “…and he’s LARGE” just cracks me up.
Me, too. Personally, I love that they did Thimble Theater rather than just a old ugly tough bloke in modern times. So many obscure characters. I wish they could have included the Sea Hag and Alice the Goon. I have an affection for the songs but they are really objectively bad. None are story related and most are just repetitive. I’m mean I’m mean I’m mean, you know what I mean. He’s large and he’s large, so large. He needs me he needs me he needs meeee. It’s almost like he came up with them the night before like in that Dana Carvey bit about Chopping Broccoli.
