Alien and Predators decline: Franchise ownership being to blame?

[SM]

Who's "they"?

O'Bannon? Shusset?  Scott?  Giler? Hill? Carroll? Cameron? Ward?  Fincher? Whedon? Jeunet? Anderson? The Thomaseseses?  McTiernan? Davis? Gordon? Silver? Hopkins?

[Anomaly]

If the king of campy schlock can own his own films, theres gotta be a way for this not to happen again.

Lucas wants to make a pg-13 star wars.. fox obliges... thats power.

[Xhan]

Not with these particular fanchises. Unless you can find someone to buy them. Some one with a shitload of money. Alien was actually up for sale for a while.

[Anomaly]

Not with these particular fanchises. Unless you can find someone to buy them. Some one with a shitload of money. Alien was actually up for sale for a while.

Its really too late for these I know, but in the future directors need to start being more business innovative with their franchises imo.

[Xhan]

That's why the studios fear teh internets. Eventually authoring tools will get sophisticated enough that VG/CG mvoies will be a small team affair. The mega studio system will still be around on life support for decades after that I'm sure, simply based on human greed and laziness. But the endtimes are already on the horizon.

[SM]

Its really too late for these I know, but in the future directors need to start being more business innovative with their franchises imo.

I'd say a lot of filmmakers want to actually make films rather than becoming EPs.

But what Xhan says is true.  Production and distribution are becoming a lot cheaper with digital technology and the web.

Lucas wants to make a pg-13 star wars.. fox obliges... thats power.

Fox didn't do shit after A New Hope except say "Please, please, please, can we keep distributing your enormously successful films that you paid for out of your own pocket??"

[Anomaly]

Mel Gibson also owns ICON btw... so its possible. More plz.

[SM]

Lots of actors and directors have their own production companies (like Peter Jackson with WETA and Wingnut).  But quite often a major studio puts up the bulk of the cash.

[Xhan]

Especially after Fox attempted to make him do rewrites and fire/demote his production staff or they would pull bank auditing and production services on Empire.

"Hello Paramount, I have a concept called Indiana Jones, interested?"

[Xhan]

Currently the self production route only works for people whose films are gaga successful.

[jimmylace]

Not to come to Fox's defense...(ditching Cameron's work on Alien 5 was a bad idea) they've really only ballsed it up with Alien:Resurrection and when they made the decision to turn the Alien Vs Predator idea into a movie. I'm starting to think that these movies should never have been made in the first place...having Predators and Aliens exist in the same universe is pretty crazy when you take the classic originals into account, especially Alien (79)

Whine all you like but Predator is nowhere near as worthy a film as Alien and as such the AvP movies are doing alot of damage to the mythos of the Alien whilst seriously boosting the Predator.

Outside of the fanboy arena that's the general consensus...humans and movie critics alike.

The simple fact is an Alien Versus Predator movie can never be regarded as classic or as a worthy bit of cinema...it's nothing more than fan-porn. Shame on you Fox. Shame on you. I wouldn't have minded so much, seeing as it's been such a long time since the standalones, if Fox had put a decent budget behind the movie, dipped in and dipped out with some semblance of class. But they haven't, and the Alien...hell and the Predator will never be the same.

AvP has cheapened our beloved creatures...and I don't think AvPR is going to do enough to redeem them.

[gameoverman]

All franchises decline eventually.  They just run out of ideas.  Though I think the alien series still has some life left in it - they just need a good script.  I can't see another Predator movie being made though, unless it's a remake/rehash.

[Anomaly]

I have to say, If Mel can make such controversial movies, there IS a way to be pretty dam free of studio meddling and have them play the financing role for the most part.

[jimmylace]

I agree that these franchises need to go to a different studio seeing as Fox  has no idea what to do with them.

[Xhan]

All franchises decline eventually.  They just run out of ideas.  Though I think the alien series still has some life left in it - they just need a good script.  I can't see another Predator movie being made though, unless it's a remake/rehash.

No, you just stop before it gets stupid.