[Zardoz]

Well said nolad.

[DS9TREK]

Originally Posted by notlad

Now on "big tent" films like the James Bond series, Harry Potter, etc the overseas gross can be more than the North American.

Bond and Potter do well 'overseas' because though they're funded mostly by American money they're still British movies at heart. And British movies tend to be of a higher quality then Hollywood ones.

[Zardoz]

DS9-

How can a film be a big budget Anerican film and still be "British at heart?"

So by your statement you say that any movie pased on a british story will be of higher quality???

I'm confused....

[RedShirtWalking]

Oh, reeeeeeeeeeeeeallllllllllyyy?? LOL

I dunno, DS9TREK, I'd stack the best of American cinema up against the best of British cinema ANY DAY and feel pretty confident, thanks.

[DS9TREK]

Originally Posted by RedShirtWalking

Oh, reeeeeeeeeeeeeallllllllllyyy?? LOL

I dunno, DS9TREK, I'd stack the best of American cinema up against the best of British cinema ANY DAY and feel pretty confident, thanks.

I didn't say American cinema, I said Hollywood. The Star Wars films aren't Hollywood for example. Most of America's best movies are non-Hollywood.

[MissionTrek08]

Also, keep in mind that STAR TREK is the most expensive kind of movie to make, because you have to create everything for it. There are no off-the-shelf clothes, props, vehicles, sets, locations -- every single thing you see on the screen is custom-made for production. Not even the crew extras can wear "normal clothes" just because they're in the background and out of focus.

Also, Abrams has an excellent record for delivering high production value, so whatever he's spending will be seen on the screen. This isn't going to be like any TREK film we've seen.

As for making back its money, TREK is fortunately to have a rather wide following internationally which will help its worldwide gross earnings. A built-in base plus adding new audiences, it should do well.

[DS9TREK]

Originally Posted by Zardoz

DS9-

How can a film be a big budget Anerican film and still be "British at heart?"

So by your statement you say that any movie pased on a british story will be of higher quality???

I'm confused....

A British studio/production company/whatever makes a movie. They either can't afford the full production cost or the post-production costs (which actually cost more then most movies), so they ask a Hollywood studio to provide the remaining money. The movie is still made in Britain, by Brit's. That makes it British. Where the cash came from doesn't change that.

[starbase63]

Part of what makes the costs higher on this one is EVERYTHING is being built from scratch, not like a number of recent Trek films that could use standing/redressed sets from the TV shows and movies. New sets, new costumes, new CGI models, a lot of expenses. Look for the second one to be somewhat lower in budget...

[Zardoz]

Sounds like both of you have good points.

[RedShirtWalking]

Originally Posted by DS9TREK

I didn't say American cinema, I said Hollywood. The Star Wars films aren't Hollywood for example. Most of America's best movies are non-Hollywood.

Actually, that couldn't be further from the truth.

Most of Hollywood's best films (which, I just recently found out that Hollywood was in America--so that might make it qualify as American cinema LOL), the vast majority are huge, studio financed films. (Looking at the AFI 100 years/100 movies list.)

The Star Wars films aren't Hollywood? Only in the sense that Lucas retained a lot of control and got the merchandising rights. It was distributed by Fox and Fox made a ton of money off the film. It's far from independent, although the way Lucas chose to produce the film gave him ultimate control, Lucas has always said that Allan Ladd, Jr. (then-head of Fox) "invested in me; he didn't invest in the movie." Fox was all over Star Wars and had a substantial stake (and agreement) to distribute the other five movies.

Hollywood is American cinema. It's not independent film, and they turn out some dreck as well as some incredibly fine work.