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Do you know how many people saw The Assassination of Jesse James?…You and seven other people. Paul Blart grossed nearly $200 million worldwide. I’ll take Paul Blart all day, every day.
–Producer/financier Ryan Kavanaugh in a recent Esquire profile. Does this make anyone else PROFOUNDLY sad? Are guys like this and other hedge fund types really going to pan out as the future of this industry? December 21, 2012 can’t get here soon enough if that’s the case.
27 responses so far
1 11-20-2009 at 10:28 am
Ed said...
The true face of the industry – devastating. But hey, we’ll talk in 7 years when we look at the history books….
2 11-20-2009 at 10:33 am
Jordan Raup said...
Sad face.
3 11-20-2009 at 10:36 am
Mark Kratina said...
The difference is everyone who saw Jesse James wanted to see it again. Paul Blart? Not so much.
The difference is two years later you’re still bringing Jesse James up in conversation whereas Paul Blart happens to be the latest film you saw.
The difference is, unfortunately, you’re a producer. You have absolutely no reason to discern an artistic merit from anything where the money will do.
4 11-20-2009 at 10:42 am
Hero said...
I don’t mind putting up with the crap that makes money when it gets reinvested in something good. While folks on the Friday Forecast are shuddering at the amount of money New Moon will pull in this weekend, it’s actually hard to complain too much when without Twilight there might not be a Hurt Locker. On the other hand, this guy sounds like a douche, pardon my language.
5 11-20-2009 at 10:49 am
"Julianstark" said...
Well, the guy’s in it to make money…
But still: even though Paul Blart is a guilty pleasure of mine, I’m not sure if I could live with myself if I was that guy… promoting a low-brow (albeit guilty pleasure) film over a noticeably better one isn’t really excusable. Not to me at least
6 11-20-2009 at 10:50 am
Mike_M said...
Well said Mark Kratina… what a great movie, to this day I still think about it. Really wish WB did a better job with the Blu-ray release. Hoping we see the original extended cut one day released by Criterion so even WB.
7 11-20-2009 at 11:02 am
Fitz said...
At least when Clooney does Ocean’s 13 he follows up with Michael Clayton.
Kavanaugh follows Blart with Blart 2. I’ve never hated anyone so much in an Esquire article before.
8 11-20-2009 at 11:05 am
Guy Lodge said...
It’s crass statements like this that give producers a bad name.
Fortunately, there are still a few Christine Vachons out there.
9 11-20-2009 at 11:21 am
Jamieson said...
I was JUST telling somebody yesterday that The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is the best film of the decade.
Seeing this today is very depressing.
10 11-20-2009 at 11:33 am
Brian said...
In hell, he will have Paul Blart all day, every day.
11 11-20-2009 at 11:34 am
Robert Hamer said...
Do you know how many people saw The Shawshank Redemption?…You and seven other people. The Flinstones grossed over $130 million worldwide. I’ll take The Flinstones all day, every day.
12 11-20-2009 at 11:46 am
Chad Hartigan said...
The only thing shocking about this is that people are finding it shocking.
There’s no Santa Clause either people.
13 11-20-2009 at 11:48 am
Hero said...
Chad! Where’s the spoiler warning?!
14 11-20-2009 at 11:56 am
Christian said...
It’s always tough to be saddled with the truth as to how the industry truly works, but I do agree with what Hero said. Without films like Paul Blart, or more recently, Twilight, the filmmakers wouldn’t be able to have the money to make good artistic fare. I wish it wasn’t this way, but alas, nothing I can do for now.
15 11-20-2009 at 12:03 pm
Jeremy said...
It makes me sad, but I have a hard time feeling anger toward producers for giving the public what they apparently want. Truly original films are a risky business proposition. It’s much safer just to make an innocuous comedy or a straightforward action movie. As long as people keep paying to see those types of movies, I don’t see things changing anytime soon.
16 11-20-2009 at 12:18 pm
Kristopher Tapley said...
Chad: You totally miss the point. No, it’s not shocking that a producer is concerned with making money. This isn’t that debate, though.
This is the new face of an industry that has no more money, is consistently turning to hedge funds, things like Relativity and Legendary, etc. These are scary times, and if guys like Kavanaugh, with no real insight into the art, are going to so vigorously take the business by the reins due to a lack of capital elsewhere, any self-respecting child of the cinema should be concerned.
There’s a reason there are a thousand profiles on Kavanaugh out there. This (barring a crash and burn, which some think could happen) is the future of the industry. It is, indeed, shocking that it has come to this.
And this isn’t a conversation of “without one there isn’t the other.” At…all. We are all well aware of the fact that modestly financed films can’t make it through the system without the fruits of blockbuster entertainment. But there is some dignity in the notion that movie-minded people are at least behind those projects. Kavanaugh is not born of this world. He’s out to make money, and he has money to dish out. And a crippled industry will come to him, and other similar types, grovelling for it, in greater numbers than they used to.
These aren’t idle particulars, friends.
17 11-20-2009 at 12:41 pm
Chad Hartigan said...
This isn’t the future of the industry. It’s the history of the industry. It doesn’t matter where the money has been coming from. The only difference is that in the 1970’s, a film like The Godfather actually made hundreds of millions of dollars.
The key to his quote is that Hollywood serves the public’s taste and we vote on what we want to see with our wallets.
18 11-20-2009 at 12:50 pm
Kristopher Tapley said...
The economy is a big reason guys like Kavanaugh are having their day, Chad. This is a different story than the history of the industry whether you admit it or not.
And The Godfather made hundreds of millions of dollars, not merely due to public taste, but due to a new system of distribution that made it POSSIBLE for such a thing to happen. Jaws and Star Wars then planted the seeds for what would eventually be twisted into what we have today.
That said, indeed, the public’s taste for movies is unbelievably poor at this stage. But it’s almost a chicken or egg kind of thing.
19 11-20-2009 at 1:03 pm
geha714 said...
With this interview, what Kristopher wrote, the fact than New Moon just did 26 million in midnights screenings alone and the reaction of SAG to Nine, I’m concerned more than ever for the future of cinema in the US of A.
20 11-20-2009 at 1:14 pm
Alex Billington said...
Wow, this is ridiculous. I just lost ALL respect for this guy, won’t be supporting his movies. And I totally agree with you Kris. God help us all if it’s people like this who run Hollywood!
21 11-20-2009 at 1:22 pm
Puchika said...
Who is this Kavanaugh? Haven’t even heard of him…can’t be too important of a bloke
22 11-20-2009 at 1:28 pm
Puchika said...
“Jesse James’ was a wonderful hybrid of “Days of Heaven” and “Barry Lyndon”–a timeless work of art for the ages. I’m grateful that film was even made in the age of such poor taste, as Kris nicely put it.
If “Jesse James” was released in the 1970s, it would have:
(a) swept the oscars and got all the acclaim it deserves (INCLUDING award recognition for Nick Cave/Warren Ellis b/c the Academy wouldn’t have had some arbitrary rationale for excluding multiple composers); and
(b) have been released in its full 4 hour version with no one tampering with it (”while a pork chop burned on the skillet”)
23 11-20-2009 at 1:46 pm
aristo said...
What ? Some people are in it for the money ?
Who knew ?
24 11-20-2009 at 1:49 pm
Matthew Starr said...
I think we have to be very thankful that guys like Brad Pitt and George Clooney actually want to make quality films.
Without their power to single handedly green light a film there would be little to no chance of a Jesse James or Michael Clayton being produced.
Imagine if Pitt and Clooney had the same thought process as this producer? The industry would be in some serious trouble.
25 11-20-2009 at 1:59 pm
Chad Hartigan said...
I, for one, don’t think Jesse James is a good film. Ambitious and admirable, sure, but a failure. That’s just me and the point is that quality is subjective. Grosses are objective and you can’t fault them for using that as their barometer.
26 11-20-2009 at 3:35 pm
Simone said...
Stunning? No. Typical? Yes.
Money talks and these bastards will be funding more ‘Paul Blarts’ in the future.
Tis sad indeed.
27 11-20-2009 at 5:11 pm
Mad Max said...
Sigh. Sometimes I hate people.
*goes to watch my dvd of AOJJ*