Posted November 11, 2019
low rated
TheMonkofDestiny: Perfectly fine, though you seem to have taken that as me saying it's impossible for anyone to like it at all and that's not what I was aiming for.
I was simply responding to you saying... TheMonkofDestiny: You also make my initial point in regard to it bombing based around how much it differed against the television series - if it had been released within the last decade or so then I believe it would've had a slightly different reception than it got back in the late 90s. It still would've never avoided being compared against the show but that's just the reality for films of its kind.
I don't believe I made that point at all. TBH I don't think there are so many The Avengers fans (circa 1998) -- 30 years after the series ended (over a generation later) -- that differing from the tone and / or style of the original series mattered at all to box office reciepts or general perception. No, I believe the knee-jerk extremely critical responses were the very beginnings of what we see now -- cynical critics demanding dark, serious, and ironic fare and being out-of-touch with many filmgoers. The only difference to now being that 20 years ago critics held more sway on the life or death of films and the over-all shape of public opinion. From my time working in Hollywood, I feel pretty safe in saying that tastes of the public are fickle and cyclic... and except for the most incompetent movies, a film that is hated today might be loved a few years from now. Heck, It's a Wonderful Life was a total bomb when it was released. It essentially killed Liberty Films.
I think it's completely valid to say "I don't like that" or "I like that," but I don't think it's particularly valid to say "that is bad."
As to the other point of this thread...
I don't think in this day-and-age that the studios have particular "personalities" and fare. Where early in their "lives" the studios were known for particular brands and genres of entertainment, it's all just seems a jumbled mess now... except for distributors who specialize in types and genres.
Post edited November 11, 2019 by kai2