Tent-pole films are movies that each major studio designates as their estwhile cash cow, the film that will make up for any bad decisions or pretentious art-house, Academy-Award mongering, tear-jerking trash that makes little money but adds prestige to the otherwise filthy studio fare that pummels the American senses the rest of the year.
When a tent-pole film fails, the studio suffers major financial loss, as well as severe critical mockery. Last year’s “Pearl Harbor,” a Michael Bay-helmed, Jerry Bruckhiemer-produced tent-pole film that had success written all over it, was considered a complete and utter failure. Despite drawing nearly 200 million dollars domestically, the bloated budget reached over 150 million dollars. Add to that marketing, and the Disney-owned Touchstone Pictures failed to turn much of a profit on its premiere summer “event” film.
This summer, the major studios are playing it safe, returning to popular films and iconic characters in the hope that the “tried and true” method of filmmaking will provide major profit margins.
While technically an independent film, bankrolled by George Lucas himself, “Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones” stands to make a lot of money for 20th Century Fox, which owns the distribution rights to the film. The studio has been doing very well lately, with surprise hit “Ice Age” under its belt, but for every “Minority Report,” (which the studio will release later this summer) Fox must deal with a “Kung Pow: Enter the Fist.”
As for “the house that Freddy built,” New Line Cinema has itself a standard winner in “Austin Powers: Goldmember.” While the first film in the franchise was a modest hit, the second film nearly earned back its entire budget opening weekend. The second film received a critical drubbing, its box-office gross was sustained throughout its theatrical run, and it went on to make nearly seven times its production value.
The studio that seems to be taking the largest risk is Warner Bros., who is bringing Hannah-Barbara’s cowardly great dane to the big screen in all of it’s CGI splendor. New films based on older cartoons have been on the decline lately. “Rocky & Bulwinkle,” Des McAnuff’s film about the titular moose and squirrel, was D.O.A when it arrived in theaters two years ago. And who could forget “Dudley Do-right?” Apparently everyone.
“Scooby Doo” is a major risk because it appeals more to the Generation X kids than the family set, and Gen X kids certainly don’t respond to Sarah Michelle Gellar and Freddy Prince.
Tent-pole films have become as much of a gamble in Hollywood as the independent film, with the fickle audience changing quicker than the studio can anticipate.