…to be made for all the wrong reasons it looks like. Here’s the story from IMDB:
…three Hollywood studios are attempting to secure the rights to make a theatrical movie based on the ABC-TV hit Lost. The reports said that the movie project was being launched primarily to avert a crisis over pay involving the TV cast, who, the reports said, objected to earning only a fifth of what their counterparts on Desperate Housewives do. Undermining the stories is the fact that Lost is owned by Disney’s Touchstone TV, and that its movie studio would likely make any film version of the series; that Lost’s cast is at least three times the size of Housewives’; that the producers must incur the added cost of housing them in Hawaii, and that Lost has not drawn audiences that are as large as Housewives’.
Okay. First up it would be interesting how a movie would work in the shortened time frame than the series. I think the series is really strong because each week a little more is being revealed about one of the characters and it makes you look at them, and some of the others, in a different light the next episode. It’s an interesting format and really does keep you guessing where things are going with the characters and the stories. Would that work in two hours? That’s two hours including a crash? Perhaps they’d have to make it branch from the series…how could it work?
The other issue is pay. Who gives a flying fart what Desperate Housewives got paid? The key statements are at the end there, Lost has a much bigger cast, they’re not bringing in the same amount of audience either…plus they’re getting flown to Hawaii!
You know they should think themselves lucky, they could be working as an e-learning consultant day to day in cold Edinburgh sitting in an office and not seeing sunlight apart from through a window. Perhaps they could refuse the gig and go and help out clearing up in New Orleans or something? I think not, over privileged, over paid and not even thankful for what they have!
What are your thoughts on that? Should they be getting paid the same as the Housewives? Should they be right to complain, or should they just be thankful for the amazing work and enjoy the privilege?
I am watching Lost in the UK. Somehow though I get the feeling it is not going to hold the interest as a long term franchise.
If Dominic Monaghan does not get his street value, he will walk. This is a LOTR ($ 1 billion) guy. If Dominic walks, they lose 10 million fan girl viewers.
Sorry, i should have been more specific Pudie. I was not talking about Terry O’quinn or Fox when I said LOST actors are new and haven’t paid their dues. Actors who play Kate, Hurley, and Sawyer are first time actors. This is their first gig. I know terry hatcher’s career is not the most distinguished but she has been around for a while and done a lot of work even if it is only TV movies and cameo roles. I don’t think forst time actors should be paid as much as “veterans” but i also don’t think they should be paid crap either. Everyone should get their due.
Sorry that stayed up so long, I noticed it when it was posted but work distracted me…it’s really hacked me off too as I now know some serious plot twists, and guessed a few too.
As a huge Lost fan I gotta say this is a horrible idea. The only reason for it is to make money off of the success. Not to further the story or anything like that. It’s just lame.
As far as pay, meh. Let em fight it out. Both shows are 2 of the most popular on TV in general. They deserve to at least have somewhat close to the same pay. Jason says they havent payed their dues. Terry Hatcher played Lois Clarke. Whoopdie doo. Terry O’quinn has been acting more then anyone on Housewives. I’d even say Matthew Fox has done more.
It’s hard to comment on the overpaid thing since I don’t know how much they make now and how much they are asking for(if any?) There have been instances in the past where I actually thought actors should get paid more, and there are many where I thought they were money grubbing whores!!! I do think that given the quality of the show, there should be some parity between LOST pay and DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES. That being said it still comes down to seniority. Most of the women on desperate housewives have worked in Hollywood for years and paid their dues. For many of LOST cast, this is their first gig and they should not get paid as much as say, Terry Hatcher no matter how popular the show!!!
As far as the movie issue is concerned: the whole prequel idea is ludicrous!!! First, prequels suck!!! I hate going back, there is no creativity!!! Yes, that includes the Star Wars prequels. As much as I enjoyed them, i didn’t agree with the concept as a whole.
Also, Since almost all the mystery of LOST involves the PAST, any prequel would give away most of the shows secrets!!!
I HATE the idea of sequels!!! The justification of them is always “well, even though we already know what happened, people want to see how it happened for themselves” NO we don’t!!! I don’t sit around wishing I could see the background for every show and movie for myself! Usually, background material explained through discussion and not shown on camera is done that way for a reason!!! If the creators thought the background was important enought to show, they would have shown it!!! I think it was enough for us to see the characters on LOST figure out for themselves how that plane ended up in the tree!!! Was there anything missing that needs to be further developed?!!! The plane hit the tree, there were people on it, they were most likely smugglers judging by the drugs onboard!!! END OF STORY!!!
Nice one Franklin. The series has only just started in the UK, and you’ve included 3 spoilers in your post. :(
(Richard/John: any chance of removing them for fellow Brits that are addicted to the show?)
Talk about a movie has been going on for a while, and just recently picked up steam. The initial reason was simply to capitalize on the show and, in fact, the idea being discussed was that a movie would be a prequel, set before the events of the series. Thus, it would feature an entirely different cast, and probably address elements that the series presented (*** Spoilers deleted by Richard due to the UK still just getting into series one! ***).
The series won’t likely be cancelled due to the actors balking about their pay. The show format happens to make it easy to kill off any one of them. If any one bitches about their pay, then their character is off’ed, and it will be hyped as “daring” and “dramatic” that the producers did that in the storyline. This is the perfect show format for network executives.