Quote from: newagescamartist on Jun 29, 2017, 11:12:57 PM
Quote from: CainsSon on Jun 29, 2017, 03:55:34 PM
Quote from: bleau on Jun 29, 2017, 03:40:58 AM
QuoteSorry, Pietro, but your editing ruined another Ridley movie. He's a damn butcher. He needs to stop trying to fix stories in the editing room. He did the same to Prometheus, thinking that the structure needed fixing when it didn't. Having flawless pacing and a balanced structure is secondary to tracking the story in the way that allows the audience the deepest experience.
Well I'm sorry to tell you, that regardless of who is editing the film, it had to be just under 2 hours per Fox's Contractual Order. It was in contract to be under 2 hours. Besides it sounds to me like he fought to have more themes kept in the story. It's a hard job given the restrictions and restraints of director , studio and all of the above. If you have problems with either film he is not to blame.
THIS!!! THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS.
It's like NO ONE understands that ^^^^^THIS^^^^^^ is the reason the movie is the way it is. Stop bickering and wasting your time. You aren't understanding that this is an industry issue. Its about runtime. Almost everything that wasn't good in this AND Prometheus were because of a contractual obligation to limit the length of the film. All of this bickering and finger pointing - its just because an R-RATED 100mil$ film cannot be 2.5 hours long and risk not making its money back. The editor was just doing his job. If anything the problem is that they need to write a 1.5 hour script so Ridley and his editors can keep the pace fleshed out.
Also there is nothing Scalia's interview that says there are 12 additional minutes of SHAW footage specifically. He says more stuff that bridges the gap, totaling 12 minutes. This includes what is already IN the film and the Prologue. You are assuming that means more scenes with Shaw. It doesn't. It may be slightly extended Prologue or etc but we also know that the opening Prologue with David was initially longer, for instance.
So a longer Prologue, possibly a slightly longer version of The Crossing, and the scene with David bombing the Engineers all included in that 12 minutes. He didn't say "12 additional minutes of Shaw and David on Paradise doing a bunch of stuff youve never seen." At best, there may be an additional scene or a viral that never got released.
I'm still waiting to see verification of this, but either way it's not logical and mostly nonsense. The new Transformers was much longer and was considered an event film. It failed to deliver the strong box office that was expected, but no one is blaming the run time. If what you're saying is true then Fox has no idea what they're doing ( debatable, for sure ). Usually if a movie is going to be so big that a theatre is selling out multiple showings they just get a few more screens lol.
You dont have to wait for verification. It was the same story with Prometheus. R-Rated films at a 100million + is completely unheard of. There simply is NO OTHER FRANCHISE that produces 100million dollar+ R-Rated films. TRANSFORMERS is marketable to 7 year olds. Its Rated PG-13, and anyone can see it without supervision. Its a false comparison. TRANSFORMERS is not at the same degree of risk of not making its money back. An R-Rated film thats as long as TRANSFORMERS, would play in less theaters, and has far less showtimes per day. This is why the ALIEN FILM is 2 hours and is contracted to be 2 hours. Because FOX wont take that risk and the turnout for this is verification of their rightness. If Alien:Covenant would have been 2.5 hours it would result in one entire less showtime every 8 hours. That's 2 less showtimes per day, per theatre, as per most multiplexes, and it results in much less profit for the theatre and the studio. If each showtime in a theatre amounted to 20 million dollars, thats the difference between 80million a day and 60 million per day, Thats a substantial risk to take over adding 20 minutes of additional footage to keep fans happy. TRANSFORMERS on the other hand, with its PG13 rating will automatically open in far more theaters. In fact TRANSFORMERS opened in 4,132 theatres in the US this week. Alien Covenant opened in 3,761. Thats because of its R rating, which doesnt fill seats. If it had been 2.5 hours long, it would have been detrimental to FOX's bottom line.
Waiting for confirmation of this is silly. This is a film industry fact. R-rated films at this budget do not exist and never have. This is legitimately the ONLY franchise of its caliber at a consistent R Rating.
Do I think this HURT the film? ABSOLUTELY. Do I think FOX should have taken the risk? You bet I do. Will they? Unlikely. They will just try and make the next film for cheaper.
Fans need to take this stuff into consideration and understand why they arent getting what they wish they'd were. The real solution is to write 1.5 hour scripts that allow Scott an additional half hour to be more exacting with pace.