Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Disney Exec Has a Word for Their Product

Andy Hendrickson: Enemy of Cinema!

"Bullshit."

That's what Disney Animation Studios chief technical officer Andy Hendrickson has to say about the outlandish concept of people actually wanting to see a movie for its story.

Sadly, his comments, delivered at last weekend's Siggraph Conference, are not meant to be looked upon as a call to arms. If anything, he's advising fellow studio honchos to bankroll effects-driven eye-candy as opposed to films that have stories to sell. In Hendrickson's opinion most people would rather spend their entertainment dollars on "spectacle," not storytelling.

Watch out for the tentpoles, Dumbo!

Cinematically speaking, just what is a "tentpole?" Is that what was once referred to as an "event movie," a mindless popcorn picture with enough innovative technological razzle-dazzle to draw even the laziest, most jaded viewer from their living room? Hendrickson defines it as "one where you can seed the desire to see the film to everyone in every distribution channel.”

This isn't movie-making, it's a classroom dissertation on marketing. Who cares if a movie is nothing but two-hours of digitized smoke and mirrors, so long as there is a good-looking 30 second clip to post on YouTube? This type of thinking can only lead to fewer choices at the box office. Why bother producing five low budget $30 million features that have explosive narratives instead of explosions, when one $200 million blockbuster will do the job?

Hendrickson used as his text a list of the top-twelve grossing films of all time. Slash Film published Box Office MoJo's tally of the all-time box office champs and I am proud to say that I have successfully avoided 9 of the top 25. Of those films, only one (The Passion of the Christ) received an R-rating and I will argue that all of them are pitched to a 9-year-old's mentality.

Hendrickson even went so far as to bite the hand that feeds him. He used Disney's recent Alice in Wonderland as a defense of his theory: “The story isn’t very good, but visual spectacle brought people in droves. And Johnny Depp didn’t hurt.”

Hendrickson should have closed by triumphantly pounding his chest while shouting, "I don't care if our picture sucks; we're gonna' to make a billion bucks."

Will your life change that much if you never again waste time on a Pirates of the Caribbean or Transformers sequel? I promise to do the legwork for you. When something superior like Captain America or Rise of the Planet of the Apes comes along, I'll shoot off a flare. Until then, send a message to Hollywood telling them where they can stick their tentpoles.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all

Previous article

Flowering pear trees in Kensington not that nice

Empty dirt plots in front of Ken Cinema

Andy Hendrickson: Enemy of Cinema!

"Bullshit."

That's what Disney Animation Studios chief technical officer Andy Hendrickson has to say about the outlandish concept of people actually wanting to see a movie for its story.

Sadly, his comments, delivered at last weekend's Siggraph Conference, are not meant to be looked upon as a call to arms. If anything, he's advising fellow studio honchos to bankroll effects-driven eye-candy as opposed to films that have stories to sell. In Hendrickson's opinion most people would rather spend their entertainment dollars on "spectacle," not storytelling.

Watch out for the tentpoles, Dumbo!

Cinematically speaking, just what is a "tentpole?" Is that what was once referred to as an "event movie," a mindless popcorn picture with enough innovative technological razzle-dazzle to draw even the laziest, most jaded viewer from their living room? Hendrickson defines it as "one where you can seed the desire to see the film to everyone in every distribution channel.”

This isn't movie-making, it's a classroom dissertation on marketing. Who cares if a movie is nothing but two-hours of digitized smoke and mirrors, so long as there is a good-looking 30 second clip to post on YouTube? This type of thinking can only lead to fewer choices at the box office. Why bother producing five low budget $30 million features that have explosive narratives instead of explosions, when one $200 million blockbuster will do the job?

Hendrickson used as his text a list of the top-twelve grossing films of all time. Slash Film published Box Office MoJo's tally of the all-time box office champs and I am proud to say that I have successfully avoided 9 of the top 25. Of those films, only one (The Passion of the Christ) received an R-rating and I will argue that all of them are pitched to a 9-year-old's mentality.

Hendrickson even went so far as to bite the hand that feeds him. He used Disney's recent Alice in Wonderland as a defense of his theory: “The story isn’t very good, but visual spectacle brought people in droves. And Johnny Depp didn’t hurt.”

Hendrickson should have closed by triumphantly pounding his chest while shouting, "I don't care if our picture sucks; we're gonna' to make a billion bucks."

Will your life change that much if you never again waste time on a Pirates of the Caribbean or Transformers sequel? I promise to do the legwork for you. When something superior like Captain America or Rise of the Planet of the Apes comes along, I'll shoot off a flare. Until then, send a message to Hollywood telling them where they can stick their tentpoles.

Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Lux Bookstore takes doors back off its peep shows

But owner Rick Ford predicts only temporary slow-down
Next Article

San Diego moviegoers rate the ratings

"I don't want to see Inspector Gadget!"
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.