The Precarious Tightrope of the Fantasy Genre

[Rat-Bat-Spider]

I'm sure I'm not the only one to have noticed this, but what is it about fantasy films that makes them such a mixed bag financially? As a former child (something I'm ashamed to admit) , I will always have a soft spot for the high-concept fantasy film, and the sword-and-sorcery intrigue that accompanies it. But what the F is with all the flops that the genre carries around like a $100,000,000 dead albatross? For every Lord of The Rings, there is a Red Sonja. For every Harry Potter, there is an Adventures Of Baron Munchausen. Does the general public think that the fantasy genre is silly? Self-indulgent? Irrelevant? Why such a large proportion of flops? WTF?

(FYI: I love fantasy movies! I'm not bashing them! For goodness sake, my favorite bands are Yes and King Crimson! It's merely a question of financial instability.)

AND........Discuss!

[Javakoala]

Do I detect a shot at Terry Gilliam?  The man IS God!!!!

Okay, no, I'm kidding.  Or am I?

I think the biggest problem with bringing fantasy films to life is that everyone has their own way of seeing things.  Lord Of The Rings captured my image of the fantasy quest that I carry in my head.  But stuff like Dungeons and Dragons (the movies) just look silly.  Even fun fantasy films like the first Deathstalker and  The Sword And The Sorcerer come across as slightly cheesy.  Capturing the image of fantasy is harder than finding a G-Spot.  What works for one person, doesn't for another.  Harry Potter works because the books were fairly exact in the descriptions and the filmmakers have worked very hard to maintain a consistent image, thus making it "believeable".  Plus they had buttloads of money to throw at the films. And let's face it, folks like us can watch a movie with killer dwarves and evil pixies and be okay with it. Trying to convince people who think Vince Vaughn and Jim Carrey are funny...well, good luck with that.  It's like trying to convince me Adam Sandler is funny.  Hasn't happened and doubt it ever will.  Most people LIKE Adam Sandler.  They also think nothing is better than Top 40 radio and American Idol.  You really think you can sell them on stuff like the Shannara books?  There once was a day people from all walks of life looked forward to new books by Edgar Rice Burroughs.  Then came movies and television.  There's something for everyone and no real reason to cross over into other areas.  And when something DOES catch on across the various factions and enters the mainstream, it can lose it's credibility among the people who wanted to see such things in the first place.  So you either end up with something so geared to fans that it is lost on everyone else or if it panders to the mainstream, the fans tend to discount it.

What was the question?

[Paquita]

Dude!  I agree with the koala!  Fantasy nerds are too extreme, they either love it or hate it, and people who eat up the mainstream just don't get it.  I think it also might have a lot to do with the idea that fantasy movies need big budgets to be good because of all the mythological creatures or epic battles that need to take place and what not. 

I LOVE fantasy movies like a fat kid love cake!  I recently saw the Magic Sword for the first time and I almost pooped myself with excitement I wanted to lick the screen!

I think the Quest for Glory games should be made into movies, or at least the Space Quest games.  That would be so totally awesome that it would immediately result in world peace.

[Rat-Bat-Spider]

And it's not the movies you expect when one looks back. Legend somehow did not do very well on theatrical release, but Willow did. Return to Oz, financial failure, but Masters of the Universe (!) was a big success. Sure, they all made their money back on video release and became cult classics, but nobody ever puts that on the front page. It's always: "WATERWORLD SINKS AT BOX OFFICE" or "BEASTMASTER GETS EUTHANIZED IN THEATERS". But I like these movies so much, and coming from an art house movie background its hard to tell my friends at the Angelika, "Yeah man, I just saw Labyrinth on Blu-Ray! The picture was so good, I thought David Bowie was actually selling out in my house!"

My one exception: The Neverending Story. I can't sit through it now. The power of nostalgia, while powerful, cannot make me look kindly upon this movie as an adult. Sorry!

And one more headline: "SUPER MARIO BROS RUNS OUT OF 1UPS OVER THE WEEKEND"

[Derf]

Part of the reason may also be the actors. You can spend millions of dollars to get a set to look just right, and costumes that look just right, but then you put 21st-century actors in those costumes and on those sets, with their perfect teeth, beautifully clean and unmarked skin and totally ripped abs, and things start to fall apart. If you try to go for a more realistic looking actor, then nobody wants to look at him/her. As the coffee-drinking marsupial guy said, we all have a mental image of what a fantasy story should look like (hey! the magic of books!), and when a movie doesn't match that image (or surpass it), we tend to trash the film and the filmmakers. For me, Munchausen, which Rat-Bat-Spider apparently dislikes, is one of the best movies around in terms of look, story, acting and directing (why, yes, I do like Gilliam). On the other hand, Legend irritated me to no end (with the exception of the Big D). I seem to have deviated from my original point: it's not just the sets, costumes and scripts; it is also the too-clean-and-perfect actors.

[Jape]

And one more headline: "SUPER MARIO BROS RUNS OUT OF 1UPS OVER THE WEEKEND"

Jesus is crying now.