What is up with all of these movie musicals coming out of nowhere

[bwybuff87]

Posted: 7/23/08 at 11:30pm

Okay ever since Chicago receieved the Oscar for Best Picture, development of movie musicals have gone into high speed from Phantom of the Opera, The Producers, Rent, Dreamgirls, High School Musical to the more recent Enchanted, Hairspray, Sweeney Todd, and Mamma Mia, movie musicals are everywhere these days.
Even though some of these movies either don't make much money or aren't done very well one thing is clear: the genre is here to stay. Not that it ever went away, but intrest is high in the genre right now.

Now lets look at the future of the genre:

2008- Repo: The Genetic Opera

2009- Nine
Fame
Follies
and the new disney movie The Princess and the Frog

Future planned musicals with uncertain release dates

2010?- Aida
Jekyll and Hyde
Carousel
Sunset Blvd.
The Color Purple
Footloose
My Fair Lady
Rapunzel (Disney)
The newly reported Hairspray sequel

2011?- Jesus Christ Superstar
Wicked
The newly reported Rocky Horror Picture Show remake

Needless to say Hollywood and America has a lot on their plate for the future.

Thoughts?


Updated On: 7/23/08 at 11:30 PM

[fnyboi88]

Posted: 7/23/08 at 11:33pm

Actually Chicago came after the attention of Moulin Rouge.

[bwybuff87]

Posted: 7/23/08 at 11:34pm

that is true

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 7/23/08 at 11:35pm

Honey, do a search.

There are already a gazillion threads on this exact topic.

[CapnHook]

Posted: 7/23/08 at 11:38pm

There are dozens of movie musical projects in the works. I wish I could have afforded to upkeep my MovieMusicals.net website.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 7/23/08 at 11:40pm

Yeah, ever since Chicago came out five and a half years ago, these movie musicals have come out of NOWHERE!

[LePetiteFromage]

Posted: 7/23/08 at 11:42pm

Updated On: 5/2/09 at 11:42 PM

[allofmylife]

Posted: 7/23/08 at 11:56pm

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Updated On: 7/23/08 at 11:56 PM

[wicked_beast4]

Posted: 7/23/08 at 11:57pm

This thread is wider than Clay Aiken's vag!!!

edit- not anymore. Why edit Allofmylife??? Why?

Updated On: 7/24/08 at 11:57 PM

[winston89]

Posted: 7/24/08 at 2:48am

I think that reason why there were/are so many movie musicals comming out post Chicago is that Chicago was the film that showed studios that movie musicals can be successful so more studios were/are willing to take a risk and make them. Chicago was the firs movie musical in a long time that was successful in the box office and in terms of awards winning best picture so it got other studios to want to try to do what Chicago did.

[Tkt2Ride]

Posted: 7/24/08 at 3:09am

I would say it is more of a revival of a trend that happened decades ago with the success of many Rodgers and Hammerstein Musicals? This really isn't something "new" rather than something re-newed. Theater is very expensive and so many don't look there for entertainment because it has such an image of being, "too elite" for the average joe. So I'm not complaining and I own a good amount of Movie Musicals because I just love listening to many of the songs from the shows. Many of them aren't so badly performed so I'm not complaining about it.

I just object to re-makes of Movie Musicals that usually don't turn out as good as the original ones are. We also are not really, usually, getting Broadway, London or Toronto's best work since they rarely use real professional Actors in these Movies.

I can maybe love the Hollywood production a little bit better when I know Broadway Producers have finally hammered out a fair deal to get their shows on DVD. It will never have the allure that a live performance brings. I can't really see it shutting down Broadway, the way so many fear. Instead it would often boost sales through the roof when those who don't usually bother with a Theater discover what it is they are missing. It also allows those who may never have the chance to go to Broadway to own some amazing performances to watch over and over again.

Now, it is still just a dream and a somewhat profitable black market. I rather see their money going into making the DVD's of Broadway Shows commercially available a reality rather than trying to tape and paste together some Hollywood Actors into an already successful video performance re-make.


Updated On: 7/25/08 at 03:09 AM

[TheaterBaby]

Posted: 7/24/08 at 9:25am

They've always been around, but I'm just glad to see them having a bigger impact than they have the past 30+ years.

And I agree that remaking movie musicals (My Fair Lady) is a mistake.
If it's not broken, don't try and fix it.

I think Aida will be great as a MM. Same with Sunset Boulevard (though I really wish they weren't going with Glenn Close as reported). Wicked, should it ever happen, would be great.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 7/24/08 at 9:31am

I'm pretty sure the Rodgers and Hemmerstein musicals were some time longer than a decade ago.

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 7/24/08 at 9:45am

Evita kick started the Movie Musical back off

[winston89]

Posted: 7/24/08 at 9:49am

I would still say that this recent batch of them comming out one after another after another is all thanks to Chicago. A movie musical who won the oscar for best picture and who proved that the genre can be successful in the box office. It got other film producers wanting to see if they could repete the success of Chicago so that is why more and more are made recently then there have been in the past 10 or so years.

Posted: 7/24/08 at 9:55am

You could say that movies have always been musicals- first with live musical accompaniment to silent films and then, as soon as was physically possible, musical films with synchronized sound.

[toanythingtaboo 2]

Posted: 7/24/08 at 10:02am

I think it's great to be honest. Yes, they could all be improved a lot without the 'big names' mediocre performances, but on the whole they're boosting the industry, which is awesome for us.

As much as Chicago and Moulin Rouge were successful, I feel that High School Musical is really what has boosted the genre.

All the kids want to go see them, dragging parents/families along. As much as Chicago brought the idea that movie musical adaptations have the potential to be a box office hit...I get the impression that Hairspray and Mamma Mia wouldn't be around without High School Musical.

However, now that musicals are becoming more successful....they're trying different things.

We have the darker ones, Repo! Sweeney Todd, the possible remake of Rocky Horror.

The less known and/or more interesting ideas...such as Color Purple, Aida, Nine etc.

Then there's Wicked, which is probably going to completely redefine the term 'successful movie musical'.

[legallysam]

Posted: 7/24/08 at 10:30am

fame is being done..? is it the musical version?

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 7/24/08 at 10:32am

no its not the musical

and musicals are back thanks to Evita, if you read interviews etc about Chicago they said that they only got Chicago of the ground thanks to Evita's success

[TooDarnHot]

Posted: 7/24/08 at 11:18am

CHICAGO is not responsible for all of the recent movie musicals, Winston.

[tazber]

Posted: 7/24/08 at 11:19am

Evita wasn't a success.

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 7/24/08 at 11:24am

It made 141 million and with inflation that will be around 170 million, it gained oscar nominations, golden globe awards etc

I think its safe to say it was a hit

[allofmylife]

Posted: 7/24/08 at 11:24am

Wicked_beast4 I self-edited. It hurt, but it had to be done.

The main reason that there are so many musical projects is the herd mentality of Hollywood Studios. As a working writer/producer, I pitch two or three times a week, on average, to studio development executives and I can tell you, they are one frightened crowd. You have to realize that many of these guys (and yes a few gals) have a gun with about six bullets in it. If they firs off their gun and miss, they still have a few bullets left, but just a few. So they hedge their bets by moving with the crowd.

Every time I see a VPD (vice-president of development) they say "Do you have a comic" as that is all that is seriously getting greenlit these days. And they are a dwindling resource. All the good stuff is taken. I swear to God, they're going to do a movie soon based on the Daisy Air Rifle advertisement cartoons they ran in the back of comics in the 50's... hey, that's a great idea!

So when "Chicago" and "Hairspray" did well, every musical property was suddenly trotted back out again.

Oh well, next year it's be American remakes of Bollywood musicals and... hey, that's a great idea!!!


And Jimi Mistry inherits the earth.

[StageManager2]

Posted: 7/24/08 at 11:24am

Rub it in, why dontcha, taz!

[CHGriffiths]

Posted: 7/24/08 at 11:33am

(Please note, this is for England, but I guess it is relevant in America as well) there was a report the other day saying theatre ticket sales are up 30% in England compared to 10 years ago, and I think these films are a way of pulling people in, they see the big names in the adverts for the films, they go see it for the names, but fall in love with the songs and this makes them want to see it live! It's an easy cycle and it works, it's also a VERY good way for producers etc. to make abit more money from the show, the film will make ALOT of money, and (Depending on there involvement with the show) they will get royalties, and it draws people into the theatre, I think the simple answer to why these movies coming out is just MONEY!