Last night I saw Cloud Atlas. It was hard to do because I have heard the book is so good. But I have enjoyed Game of Thrones after watching the show on HBO, so I thought why not? The movie was OK but it occurred to me that it could have been better if it was longer. Which is an odd thing to say. The movie is already pushing 3 hours, which is suicide in the movie world. But think on this: how stupid would it have been for someone to try to make a 2 or three hour movie of Game of Thrones? What a loss! It would have been horrible. The story is too rich to squeeze into such a short span of time. And then it hit me. Have we out lived the 2 hour movie?
Why do movies have to be 100 to 200 minutes long? Look at HBO and how successful they have been with the serial. Maybe they are on to something. I think people want to be invested into an epic, long stretching story. Think about it. Star Wars. X Men. Batman. You have episode after episode. Think of all the hours you have invested into these universes. The deeper and richer, the better. I am not saying do away with the one hitter. I’m just saying maybe a blockbuster maybe should mean something with multiple volumes made all at once. Think Kill Bill. Maybe Tarintino was on to something.
Let me leave you with a great story. A huge company, I forget which one, was trying to think of any way to increase revenue. They promised an executive position to any employee that could come up with a way to increase revenue. It was a janitor that hand the golden ticket. He suggested that they increase the hole in the toothpaste tube. Simple. People would just squeeze out more toothpaste. It worked, too. And he went from cleaning toilets to being an executive. Hollywood needs to make the hole bigger. Why sell one movie ticket when you can sell three or four? Riddle me that!
