Apple Magazine - USA - Issue 409 (2019-08-30)

(Antfer) #1

But it doesn’t have what typically scores such a
large budget in today’s Hollywood: franchise-
making IP (intellectual property). It might as well
be a unicorn.


“With the amount of mergers and streaming
operations coming up to speed, I think there’s
a real question whether the theatrical film is
really just the tentpole. Independent films are
struggling. Even mainline dramas are struggling
to find an audience,” said Mangold, who has
been a regular filmmaker at Fox, which Disney
acquired earlier this year.


“In that sense, we’re a throwback film,” he
continues. “We’re a modern movie in all
the senses of modern storytelling, modern
technology, modern sensibility. But we’re
trying to do something that I really miss
seeing in the movies, which is a movie for
grown-ups that’s entertaining and thought-
provoking and moving and isn’t selling you
the same old thing.”


And this fall movie season, in particular,
Mangold is far from alone. Oscar season always
brings a welcome wave of originality after the
reboots, remakes and sequels of summer. But
this fall is especially rich in big, audacious bets
on original films that will try to invigorate movie
theaters with the most time-tested of methods:
megawatt movie stars, genre twists, innovation.


The stakes are high. As the opportunities for
adult-skewing movies made with scale dwindle,
the pressure rises on those that do get that
once-in-a-blue-moon greenlight to excel.
Following the success of Quentin Tarantino’s
“Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood,” there’s
reason for optimism.

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