Python Notes for mca i year students osmania university.docx
Research on hollywood films
1.
2. Minions is a 2015 American 3D computer-animated comedy film, serving as
a spin-off prequelto the Despicable Me franchise, Produced by Illumination
Entertainment for Universal Pictures, it was directed by Pierre Coffin and Kyle
Balda, written by Brian Lynch, and produced by Chris Meledandri and Janet
Healy. The film stars the voices of Coffin (as the Minions, including: Kevin,
Stuart, and Bob), Sandra Bullock, Jon Hamm, Michael Keaton, Allison
Janney, Steve Coogan, and Jennifer Saunders, with the narration provided
by Geoffrey Rush. It was first foreshadowed in the end credits of Despicable Me
2 (2013), where Kevin, Stuart, and Bob, three of the Minions and the film's main
characters, are seen auditioning for the film.
Minions had its premiere on June 11, 2015, in Leicester Square, London, and
went into general release in the United States on July 10, 2015. Critical response
was mixed: some critics praised the comedic aspects of the film and the vocal
performances of Bullock and Hamm, while also saying they felt that the title
characters were not able to carry the film on their own, and that the villains
were flatly characterized. The film has grossed over $1.1 billion worldwide
(outgrossing each of the Despicable Mefilms), making it the fifth-highest-
grossing film of 2015, the seventeenth-highest-grossing film of all time,
the third-highest-grossing animated film (behind Incredibles 2 and Frozen) and
the highest-grossing non-Disney animated film. A sequel is scheduled to be
released on July 3, 2020.
3. Production:
Universal Studios and Illumination Entertainment first announced
in July 2012, that the Minions from Despicable Me would get their
own spin-off film, then planned for a 2014 release.Brian Lynch,
previously known for co-writing another Illumination
film, Hop (2011), as well as DreamWorks Animation's Puss in
Boots(2011), was asked to write the film's screenplay, due to his
prior work writing for the theme park ride Despicable Me: Minion
Mayhem.
On August 21, 2012, it was announced that the film would be
released on December 19, 2014. In February 2013, Sandra
Bullock joined the cast to voice Scarlet Overkill,with Jon
Hamm joining two months later as her husband Herb Overkill. On
September 20, 2013, the film's release date was pushed back from
December 19, 2014, to July 10, 2015,due to Universal's satisfaction
with the successful July 2013 release of Despicable Me 2and desire
to exploit fully the merchandising potential of a summer film
4. The first trailer for Minions was released by Illumination on November 3,
2014, through YouTube. McDonald's released Minions-related Happy
Meals on July 3, 2015. A series of comics and graphic novels based on the
film is being published by Titan Comics. The series includes four comic
book issues, two digest collections, two hardcover editions and a
paperback collection. Drawn by Didier Ah-koon and Renaud Collin, the
series launched on June 17, 2015, with the release of the first issue of
the Minions comic book and the first digest collection. In April
2015, Pantone announced the creation of a new official Pantone color,
'Minion Yellow' (displayed at right), in partnership with Illumination
Entertainment.Universal's parent company, Comcast, and its partners
spent $593 million in advertisements and promotion across all media and
platforms. Universal spent a total of $26.1 million on TV advertisement
for the film. Universal described the promotional campaign as the "largest
and most comprehensive" in its history. However, due to the sheer size of
the film's marketing campaign, a backlash towards the Minions started
hitting social media with hate blogs towards the characters appearing on
sites like Reddit and Tumblr.
5. Minions grossed $336 million in North America and $823.4 million in other
territories for a worldwide total of over $1.159 billion. Worldwide, it is the fifth-
highest-grossing film of 2015, the highest-grossing animated film of 2015,
the third-highest-grossing animated film, the 13th-highest-grossing film, and
the third-highest-grossing film released by Universal Pictures. It topped the
worldwide box office for three consecutive weekends. By breaking $1 billion
worldwide, Minions became the first non-Disney animated film, third animated
film after Toy Story 3 and Frozen, and the 23rd film in cinematic history to do
so. Needing 49 days, it became the fastest animated film to reach $1 billion,
surpassing Toy Story 3 (75 days). This made Universal Pictures the first studio
ever to have three films earn more than $1 billion at the worldwide box office
in a single year following Furious 7 and Jurassic World.Deadline
Hollywood calculated the net profit of the film to be $502.34 million, when
factoring together all expenses and revenues for the film, making it the most
profitable animated film of 2015, the most profitable Universal Pictures film of
all time and the second-most profitable picture of that year overall, behind
only Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
6. Jack the Giant Slayer" was the latest high-budget film to bomb opening weekend.In what has
been a six-week slump to the start of year, Warner Bros. fairytale-inspired film earned $27.2
million on a bloated $195 million budget.
Jack's tumble from the box-office beanstalk shouldn't come as much of a surprise.
The film not only changed its title months before opening, but also underwent changes in
director and multiple delays ahead of its March release.
1. Catered to the Wrong Audience:
Originally titled "Jack the Giant Killer," a nod to the 1962 movie of the same name, "Jack" was
supposed to be a grittier version of the fairytale for older audiences.
One of the CGI giants in "Jack." Warner Bros.However, the studio opted for a more family-
friendly name after the film was pushed back last year (more on that in a minute).
As a result, the film seems to have suffered from much of the same demographic issue as
DreamWorks Animation's recent "Rise of the Guardians."
Based off a children's nursery tale, the idea of seeing a reimagined "Jack and the Beanstalk"
may have seemed too childish for older audiences. At the same time, the film may have come
across too scary for young children with the word "slayer" or "killer" in the title.
7. 2. Rewrites, delays, and change in directors:
Bryan Singer came on as the second director for "Jack," overseeing an
entire overhaul in the script. Sean Gallup / Getty ImagesIn January 2009,
D.J. Caruso ("Disturbia," "Eagle Eye") was named to helm the
adaptation.A few months later in September,Bryan Singer ("X-Men: Days
of Future Past") became attached to the film as director instead. When he
signed on, there was a complete rewrite for the project.
While production was set to begin summer 2010, it became delayed until
2011 after Singer voiced concerns for the visual effects along with a
budget crunch.
The film's release date then moved around a couple of times.
"Jack" was set to release last June after the successful "Snow White and the
Huntsman" and before Disney's "Brave"; however, last January, Warner
Bros. pushed the film back to March 22, 2013 to focus on reshoots.
Instead, Tom Cruise's eventual flop, "Rock of Ages," took its place.
Later in October, the film was moved up to the first week of March with
the altered title "Jack and the Giant Slayer."
3. Too large of an investment:
$30 million isn't a bad opening weekend, until you consider that $200-
million budget. "Jack" fell far short of other productions with similar
budgets:
8. 4. Too many fantasy titles:Jack's run at theaters came less
than a month after Jeremy Renner's fairytale adaptation of
"Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters" hit theaters.
The film received negative reviews and opened to $19.7
million which may be a sign to studios that audiences aren't
interested in nursery rhymes and Grimm fairy tales being
adapted and altered for adults on the big screen.
There's a reason why "Alice in Wonderland" and "Snow
White and the Huntsmen" became huge sellers for
Hollywood as opposed to these recent two flicks.
1. Both fairytales aren't pulled from toddler tales.
2. Despite darker takes, both "Alice" and "Snow White" have
the luxury of popular and profitable Disney characters
before them so its less of a risk at the box office.
Of course, "Hansel & Gretel" picked up overseas, as "Jack"
may do in the coming weeks, but neither will come close to
the billion dollar hit of "Alice."
5. The box-office slump:
For the past month and a half, the box office has been down.
10. It’s a very traditional fairytale, probably the most
traditional thing I’ve ever done. But it’ll also be a fun
twist on the notion of how these tales are told...
Fairytales are often borne of socio-political
commentary and translated into stories for children.
But what if they were based on something that really
happened?.. What if we look back at the story that
inspired the story that you read to your kids? That’s
kind of what this movie’s about.
Bryan Singer, director of Jack the Giant Slayer, about the
film
11. In October 2010, New Line gave Bryan Singer the green-light to begin pre-
production work on Jack the Giant Killer, with production scheduled to begin
the following spring. In November 2010, Singer began screen-testing for the
male and female leads. Aaron Johnson, Nicholas Hoult, and Aneurin Barnard
were considered for the role of the young farmhand, and Adelaide Kane, Lily
Collins, and Juno Temple tested for the princess role.
In December 2010, Singer said, "I’m very much looking forward to using
the EPIC Red for my next movie Jack the Giant Killer which will be shot in, what
else, 3D. The camera’s incredibly compact size and extraordinary resolution are
ideal for the 3D format. But more importantly Jack the Giant Killer is my first
movie set in a time before electricity. The EPIC’s extraordinary exposure
latitude will allow me to more effectively explore the use of natural light".
In February 2011, The Hollywood Reporter reported that Stanley Tucci had been
cast as the antagonist, the king's advisor who plans on taking over the
kingdom, and Bill Nighy and John Kassir were cast as Fallon, the two-headed
leader of the giants; Nighy would play the big head and Kassir would play the
smaller head. Also in February, Nicholas Hoult was offered the lead
role. Singer said he had liked him since Skins and was very supportive of his
casting in X-Men: First Class. Later that month, Ewan McGregor joined the cast
as the leader of the king’s elite guard, who helps fight giants.
In March 2011, Eleanor Tomlinson was cast opposite Nicholas Hoult as the
princess and Ian McShane was cast to play her father, King Brahmwell. Two
days later, New Line and Warner Bros. announced a release date of June 15,
12. The giant beanstalk, before and after it was rendered with computer graphics.
In January 2012, Warner Bros. moved back the release date by nine months, from June 15, 2012, to
March 22, 2013. The Hollywood Reporter stated: "Warner can likely afford the move because
of Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises, which opened in July. And moving the film back gives
the studio more time for special effects, as well as a chance to attach trailers for it to Peter Jackson's
Christmas tentpole The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey". In October 2012, Warner Bros. again moved the
release date, this time to March 1, 2013, three weeks earlier than the previous date. Warner Bros also
changed the title of the film from Jack the Giant Killer to Jack the Giant Slayer.
The film's special effects were completed by seven different visual effects houses: Digital Domain,
Giant Studios, The Third Floor, MPC, Soho VFX, Rodeo FX and Hatch Productions. Creating the
giants took four main steps. The first step was Pre-Capture, in which performance capture was used
to capture the actor's facial and body movements and render them in a real-time virtual environment.
The second step took place during principal photography, where Simulcam technology was used to
help the human characters virtually interact with the giants that were rendered earlier in Pre-Capture.
The third step was Post-Capture, a second performance capture shoot to adjust giants' movements to
seamlessly fit the live-action performances. The final step involved putting the finishing touches on
the giant's animation, skin, hair and clothing, and composition in the shots. Creating the beanstalk
involved two main requirements: set extension for shots of the actors interacting with the beanstalk,
which were shot against a bluescreen, and complete CGrenderings for shots of the beanstalk growing
and extending from Earth into the world of the giants.
Singer stated that he had to tone down the special effects to keep the film age-appropriate for
children. He said, "This movie probably has a bigger on-screen body count than any movie I've done
before. It's done in a way that's fun, but it was a challenge to get away with that without it becoming
upsetting to people... It was about creating a tone like Raiders of the Lost Ark or Star Wars that allows
you to get away with a lot of stuff because it feels like a movie."
13. Pre-release tracking showed that Jack the Giant Slayer was projected to
gross $30 million to $35 million in its opening weekend, a
disappointing figure considering it cost at least $185 million to
produce. The film grossed $400,000 from Thursday night and
midnight runs, ahead of its wide release open on Friday, March 1,
2013. Through the weekend, the film grossed $28.01 million in North
America at 3,525 locations, taking first place at the box office. The
audience was 55% male and 56% were over the age of 25, despite the
studio's efforts to target families.At the same time, the film took in an
additional $13.7 million in 10 Asian markets at 1,824 locations.
Four weeks into its theatrical run, The Hollywood Reporter reported that
the film was on track to lose between $125 million and $140 million
for Legendary Pictures, suggesting that the film would likely close at
$200 million worldwide, short of its combined production and
marketing budget. Jack the Giant Slayer closed in theaters on June 13,
2013, grossing a total of $65,187,603 in North America and
$197,687,603 worldwide. In explaining its box office failure, analysts
pointed to the conflict between the director's darker, more adult-
themed vision with the studio's desire for a family-friendly product,
leading to the final compromise of a PG-13 film that did not
sufficiently appeal to adults or children.
