Fresh Question #29: What Won't Work!

[Nightwing]

Hello fan peoples! It's new FQ time, so put on your thinking caps.

Now this is an important one, so I would suggest anyone with an eye and ear in Hollywood should be taking notes! People, it's time that we made sure Hollywood understands the difference between good ideas for movies and bad ideas for movies. So with that said:

What formula or premise for a movie does NOT work??

And what kind of premises are they using now for future movies that you should remind them are bad ideas? Do em a favor, let em know. :p

[James]

Hmm, that's an interesting one. Up till a few years ago I'd have declared the Superhero genre a no go - especially the more, ahem, colourful variety like Spidey and co. Beenm proved wrong on that one.

I think all can work providing the right materials are used, I think Spider-Man and Batman - both being difficult to translate, proved this. The right vision and the right approach and anything is possible. Lord Of The Rings have shown this to be true in other more, risky genres.

In the end it comes down to whether the studio hires the right guys and has faith to let them get on with their jobs without interfering. Seems to me, the best films come from those with films where the creative team have the more power. The films that don't are the ones where the studio interferes and starts to demand alterations. Studios need to have faith in the artists they hire and also keep a little further away from the casting decisions. I think the need for big names is often over-rated and it's the studio's desire to try and sell a film on a big name rather than a good film is the essence of a film I don't want to see.

[HelloKittyKat]

Romantic comedies are so predictable you want to slap someone over the head for greenlighting more. Yeah, like the two big name stars in the movie named after an old song ten times better than the film aren't going to hook up :rolleyes:

[Outlander00]

Teen movies :rolleyes: ... They tend to be ALL the SAME now!! same forulas in all of them.

[sKorpia]

Multiple main villain formulas. Why they didn't learn this after Batman Forever, I will never understand. X-Men works because there is only one main villain surrounded by a trio of supporting villains. But if you try to do team-ups, you risk losing depth of character. And boy did they ever with the last two Bat-flicks. *cringe* That's why I'm a little wary about Spider-man 2. I've yet to see two or more main villains get equal screen time and still be fully developed enough to be interesting and not cheesy.

[Behonkiss]

"Oh boy! Little Freddy has gotten super powers/has an alien/invisible/psychotic/animal friend, and is the only one who knows that a dead man's nasty relatives are after his valuable house! Watch them pull crazy tricks to stop them! Fun for the whole family!"

Please. ENOUGH.

[Lucky Bob]

A new idea that will make for a lousy premise:

Sci-fi romance....boy gets girl, boy loses girl, boy builds new girl.

[Taiso]

Game adaptations, I'm sad to say. Tomb Raider was awful, Resident Evil was okish, and I don't need to remind people about Super Mario Bros!

[EinBebop]

This isn't so much a 'premise' for a movie, but after watching the Alien movies being shown on FX, I was reminded of one thing I really hate in sequels: Killing off all of the 'inconvenient' characters from the previous movie in the first five minutes of the sequel. It just seems to negate the whole ending of the previous movie.

Another movie in this category would be Ewoks: Battle for Endor. Ewok Adventure was all about the two kids trying to rescue their parents. But it was all for naught when the parents (and one of the kids) are killed off before the first commericial in the sequel.

[Mattashell]

Originally posted by EinBebop
This isn't so much a 'premise' for a movie, but after watching the Alien movies being shown on FX, I was reminded of one thing I really hate in sequels: Killing off all of the 'inconvenient' characters from the previous movie in the first five minutes of the sequel. It just seems to negate the whole ending of the previous movie.

Another movie in this category would be Ewoks: Battle for Endor. Ewok Adventure was all about the two kids trying to rescue their parents. But it was all for naught when the parents (and one of the kids) are killed off before the first commericial in the sequel.

Thank you, EinBebop, I noticed that too and it drives me nuts.

Something that hasn't been mentioned, is kid's and adults switching brains. I know there's more. An unrealistic formula is when a character pines after someone of the opposite sex, and gets them in the end. I mean it's not so much the pining. But you know if you bug someone again and again they probably will call the cops instead of changing their mind about you.

[Patrick Bateman]

Here are some that I hate the most:

A boy finds a dog/monkey, the movie tries to be humorous for an hour, then someone threatens to take the animal away, and animal and boy are reunited in the end. - PUKE!

A child fights off adults. - STUPID!

Little league baseball/football/basketball/hockey movies. Gee, are the underdogs really going to win? :rolleyes:

Comic based movies made by Warner Bros. 'Nuff said.

Movies based on old T.V. shows.

Extreme sports atheletes save the world *cough* xXx, Extreme Ops *cough*

Talking Animals - Whoever writes these things needs to open some windows the next time they paint a small room.



That about covers it. Who says I'm a picky moviegoer? :p

[murmur]

A very wise man whose name I sadly don't recall was given a lifetime award for writing at some award show. He said if he could offer one piece of advice to new writers, to forget demographics, forget what formulas work what don't, just TELL A GOOD STORY.

IMHO, no formula is foolproof, and none are doomed to failure. Just TELL A GOOD STORY. I really need to get that guy's name...

[G. Wen]

Anything w/ monkeys.

[Tobias]

Anything that involves an animal playing sports.