Tom Gunning’s quote explains how audiences only went to the cinema due to the ''attractions of the spectacle'' rather than the desire for narrative engagement. He says, ’It is the direct address of the audience, in which an attraction is offered to the spectator by a cinema showman that defines this approach to film making.’I disagree with this assesment of todays audience on the basis of the reasons said.
Firstly I don’t know about everyone else, but when I go to the cinema I go because either the story line or plot in the trailer looks good or sometimes because of the director. Many people these days have different reasons for seeing movies or films at the cinema like, the actors or directors and storylines and sometimes just enjoy going out and seeing it on a big screen. The quote above suggest people go to the cinema based on the fact that audience because it’s something new. In some aspects this is true like when ‘Toy Story’ was released it was one of the first CGI (Computer-Generated imagery) or animation films. It was a big success as this was something new and the audience had never seen anything like it before.
In the last fifteen to twenty years of the film industry, there have been many films which have been more than successful and have had record breaking profits. Some of the films we look back to like ‘Titanic’ and ‘Toy Story’ and more recently the new hit box office of 2009 and continuing into 2010 ‘Avatar’. The main reasons why these films have been so successful over these past years is the exhibiting of the films to the audiences and persuading them into going to see the ‘hits’ at the cinema.
‘Toy Story’ was one of the first ever animated film or movie to be released at the cinemas which brought huge success to the producers and makers of the film. To make the film only had a budget of $30 million and a staff of only 110, in comparison 'The Lion King' the year before and a budget of $45 million and 800 staff in Pixar’s animation studio.
The film first was released and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures to the cinemas on the 17th of November, 1995 in the United States. In the first weekend of the release the film had made over $29 million which made it the highest grossing film of 1995. To this day it still is in the top 100 for all time domestic grossing. Just in the United States the film had made over $191 million and worldwide around the sum of $361 million.
Audiences were attracted to this film as it was child friendly; it was mainly parents taking their children to these ‘new’ animated films as they seemed more based at the younger’s. ‘Toy Story’ also had some big stars back in the day, like Tom Hanks and Tim Allen which may have attracted some of the older generation. People went to the cinema to watch this film as it was something relatively new and the start of something new to the film industry. As the film had a massive success they Pixar and Walt Disney made a sequel ‘Toy Story 2’ in 1999 and the new ‘Toy Story 3’ is to be released later this year around June.
Another Film which has very well over these past years is the film ‘Titanic’. The director James Cameron with this film had a record breaking highest gross film of all time at $1.8 billion but which then was later broken this year by another of his own films ‘Avatar’. Titanic was based on a real life tragedy which may have driven most of the audience wanting to see it. At the point of its production it was the most expensive film made costing approximately $200 million with the funding from Paramount Pictures and 20th Century Fox. The film was finally released in December 1997 but meaning to be out in cinemas earlier that year except delayed by post-production delays. Another reason why people may want to see this film is not only James Cameron was an excellent director making big films in the past like ‘The Terminator’ and ‘Rambo’ but also the main characters where played by two well know up and coming actors, Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet.
The main reason why this film was so successful in my opinion was because as it was so well made and back in its day it was such a tragedy about the real story people wanted to see it. It also had a reasonably good story line based on the truths on the segregating classes on the ship and how the two main characters are from two very different classes.
The end of last year, James Cameron released his newest film ‘Avatar’. This, after 15 years of development defiantly paid off as it broke several box office records including beating his past film ‘Titanic’. The plan of release of the film was meant to be in 1999 but Cameron explained that the technology was not made for his vision of the film.
A reason for why audiences want to see this film is as it is a Computer-Generated Imagery and also was out in cinemas in 2-D and 3-D using the RealD 3D, Dolby 3D and IMAX 3D formats. This draws the audience in wanting to see this new movie as there are not many 3-D films around anymore. Also after ‘Titanic’ fans of James Cameron’s may want to see his progress after amazing reviews for the film.
‘Avatar’ was officially budgeted at a massive $237 million but other estimates put it at $280-310 million to produce and $150 million for marketing. As the film was so much to make there were reasons. It was a breakthrough in film making technology with Cameron having cameras specially made for the film’s production. This is for the development of 3D viewing and stereoscopic film making which he owns the copyright patent.
In December 2009 the film was premiered in London and then later on in the month in the United States. The film was distributed by 20th Century Fox and over took Cameron’s previous film ‘Titanic’ in 1997 in global grossing. ‘Avatar’ made just over $1.8 Billion in gross revenue. Due to the success of this film James Cameron has announced there will be a sequel.
These films in this sense are testament to the audiences don’t go to the cinema for just one reason but for many reasons. Depending on whom the film is aimed at whether it’s at families or an older generation. Even if it’s for the bigger screen and the surround sound or may just be interested in the film itself, with the plots, directors, actors, award nominees or the way in which it was advertised through a trailer or advert.
The way in which the audience’s demand for new sensation in the moving image is shown in the box office success of the new hit ‘Avatar’. This is as there is no film to compare it to as it mixes between both the Computer Generated Images (CGI) and the real world, as this has never been done before you can see why it has been so successful. ‘Avatar’ is set in the year 2154 which represents the film in being futuristic and its more likely in which other films in the future, not just from James Cameron are going to be set out in this fashion.
These three films all show how audience viewings have changed over the past fifteen to twenty years. ‘Toy Story’ was somewhat new back in its day with the animation as not many films had been made like that and aimed at youngsters and families made it very successful. ’Titanic’ was record breaking due to its audiences on the basis of a true story and audiences finding it interesting on one note and making it apart of history on another. I also believe that people may have seen this film as James Cameron had made previous successful films and wanting to see his progress in the film industry as well as hiring big names as we know now like DiCaprio. ‘Avatar’ was incredibly successful due to the many reasons of new age of film with the animation and realism and the award nominees and again the director James Cameron.
Bibliography
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toy_Story
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanic_(1997_film)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avatar_(2009_film)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Cameron
Tuesday, 23 February 2010
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