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'Backrooms' Stuns with $81M Debut

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Re: 'Backrooms' Stuns with $81M Debut

#131

Post by vintermann »

manquer wrote: post #20
ramenat2am wrote: post #12

That really shows the hunger for original stories and IC among cinephiles. Major studios were too afraid to produce something fresh instead of numberless sequels and reboots in the last decade or so.

Is it though? Backrooms was a quite successful web series on YT which in turn originated in 4chan boards. Only the medium being sourced from is changing from successful Broadway shows, popular novels or comic books in the years past. The calculus remains the same - properties with name recognition even from other formats tend to be green-light.

The web series and the film also defaulted to a very SCPified generic horror formula with conspiracy, "containment" and monster jumpscares.

But the original element that set backrooms/liminal spaces apart wasn't what was in them, but what wasn't. Sure it's creepy to be all alone, you may be afraid to get jumped, but you aren't. Some of the backrooms-inspired video games stay true to this concept.

So point is, the "Backrooms" film author may be an outsider, but he sticks to a very well-tried formula - one mainstream authors probably avoid for being too cliche more than anything.

Re: 'Backrooms' Stuns with $81M Debut

#132

Post by glenngillen »

dcrazy wrote: post #80
hangsi wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is from the interview on Hot Ones (released August 5, 2021): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaXma6K9mzo&t=816s > Sean Evans: > I think a scenario lots of viewers can relate to is sitting on the couch on a Friday night, going through the streaming services, cycling through the movies and thinking to themselves "they're not making movies for me anymore". As somebody who's been intimately involved in movie making…

I thought Behind the Candelabra was a direct to HBO release. Edit: yes, it was direct to HBO. So maybe Damon was just using it as an example because he knew the production cost off the top of his head.

I guess another way to interpret what he was trying to say could also be:

"the kind of movies that I loved and the kind of movies that were my bread and butter (are no longer affordable if I was to do a cinema release)"

So maybe Behind the Candelabra was direct to HBO precisely because of the economics he was pointing out?

Re: 'Backrooms' Stuns with $81M Debut

#133

Post by weird-eye-issue »

hangsi wrote: post #66
darth_avocado wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Matt Damon talked about this somewhere. The risk aversion stems from the move away from DVD sales. Historically a lot of low and mid budget movies relied on DVD sales to recoup costs even if theater releases didn’t get you as much money as you expected. With the safety net gone, studios don’t want to take the risk. They make big budget movies with massive marketing budgets that rely on known IP and established fan ba…

This is from the interview on Hot Ones (released August 5, 2021): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaXma6K9mzo&t=816s > Sean Evans: > I think a scenario lots of viewers can relate to is sitting on the couch on a Friday night, going through the streaming services, cycling through the movies and thinking to themselves "they're not making movies for me anymore". As somebody who's been intimately involved in movie making…

But there must be residual revenue over time from the streaming services, I guess it's just a lot lower on average?

Re: 'Backrooms' Stuns with $81M Debut

#134

Post by ejj28 »

kev009 wrote: post #109

I wonder how much of this is a kind of alternate nostalgia like Vaporwave. Similar to the aesthetic draw of Severance. Wandering around the halls of some functional institution was definitely a childhood past time of mine. Now still wondering how our parents and grandparents enjoyed private office space, lounge furniture designed by professional celebrities like Eames, and time, doing more with less. Now stuck at hom…

Interestingly enough, the original Backrooms creepypasta was cited by the creator of Severance as one of his inspirations for the show.

Re: 'Backrooms' Stuns with $81M Debut

#135

Post by SSLy »

cheschire wrote: post #72
peteforde wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is not the reaction of someone trying to keep an open mind, especially given that this isn't your usual cup of tea. If you can get over your preconceived notions, I'd bet that you'd really enjoy this movie. It's extremely well executed and genuinely unsettling without ever getting gory, comedic or stupid.

I must be the weirdo for not wanting to feel unsettled like that. Doesn’t reality have enough unsettling stuff? Why pile onto that? Give me comedy. Oh how I miss the 90 minute comedy movie.

Backrooms does have comedy, or at least comedic moments in it.

Re: 'Backrooms' Stuns with $81M Debut

#136

Post by ndsipa_pomu »

mrandish wrote: post #122
prvc wrote: post #65

The new Star Wars movie grossed $81.6 million at its debut last weekend, for comparison.

The Mandalorian TV series wasn't bad but the Star Wars franchise has been in reset/turnaround for ~7 YEARS (since the last movie). It's incomprehensible that Disney bet their relaunch on a spin-off streaming series based on a tertiary character miraculously swimming back upstream from online to cinema. The two leads are a guy you never see and a small puppet (with the big reveal new character being a CGI alien). As g…

Andor is the now the gold standard for Star Wars productions - serious themes, adult oriented, great writing and top tier acting. The Mandalorian was definitely aimed at a younger audience.

Re: 'Backrooms' Stuns with $81M Debut

#137

Post by donatj »

atleastoptimal wrote: post #31

All they had to do was simply hire a talented person who knows how to make compelling narrative art. This is lost on the movie industry, though Hollywood has been treading water for over a decade now, failing to examine its failures and coasting on inertia. In general, there is sooo much free money on the ground for large, hierarchical American corporations to do the following 1. Give young talented people resources…

If anything I feel like the last decade has been the decade of individual contributors losing all agency in tech.

Re: 'Backrooms' Stuns with $81M Debut

#138

Post by laughing_man »

darth_avocado wrote: post #28
ramenat2am wrote: post #12

That really shows the hunger for original stories and IC among cinephiles. Major studios were too afraid to produce something fresh instead of numberless sequels and reboots in the last decade or so.

Matt Damon talked about this somewhere. The risk aversion stems from the move away from DVD sales. Historically a lot of low and mid budget movies relied on DVD sales to recoup costs even if theater releases didn’t get you as much money as you expected. With the safety net gone, studios don’t want to take the risk. They make big budget movies with massive marketing budgets that rely on known IP and established fan ba…

The problem for Hollywood is it's art, and when you create an assembly line that produces safe art, it's not going to be very good. The calculus is changing because so many of those "safe" films have been bombing recently.

AAA video game makers are having the same problem.

Re: 'Backrooms' Stuns with $81M Debut

#139

Post by frozenseven »

This is where internet lore and 'YouTuber'-made movies will begin to pass stuff like Star Wars and the DCU in popularity and the mainstream consciousness. Backrooms will gross just as much as the Mandalorian movie and the upcoming Supergirl flop, if not more. Glad to see it. In terms of good will, this point was passed well over a decade ago.

Re: 'Backrooms' Stuns with $81M Debut

#140

Post by matthewdgreen »

tanepiper wrote: post #123
imgabe wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is something people keep saying out of inertia. It hasn't really been true for a few years. There's been a ton of original movies lately. I guess they just don't get a lot of press or people don't go to the movies anymore. Here's a few from the last couple years: Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die Honey Bunch Cold Storage Send Help Marty Supreme Dust Bunny Fackham Hall Eternity Rental Fami…

Sorry to tell you but Bugonia is a remake of a Korean movie "Save the Green Planet"

I think the key complaint about remakes isn't "the idea isn't totally original", the complaint is that studios are only willing to make IP that customers are already deeply familiar with. I don't think Green Planet really counts.
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