The End of the Era of the Movie Musical

Gabe

Tom Hardy's a really professional actor, I bet he got in only a couple.

I'm currently pissed off at Patreon, specifically about the arduous login requirements. It pisses me off that if my device is unrecognized I have to wait for an email verification, and if I use a VPN I have to go thorugh a multiscreen captcha. So I'm in the midst of threatening them with ending my subscription when I hit Lindsay's new essay. Well, crap. I'm not quitting. Lindsay is, as always, worth it.

Rachel Lackey

I loved this! Beautifully written, performed and edited. Just discovered you. Looking forward to more.

Sam Strom

This was awesome as always. I'd totally forgotten about Dr. Doolittle... So creepy! Curious what you think about the recent Les Mis and Into the Woods forays.

Cosmic Frog

*Checks date* - Last day of the month Ah. Lindsay must have uploaded her video!

Esme

That is the weirdest bit of movie trivia I've heard in ages.

The Thinking Cat...Former Cthulhu Pofit Neo Normie and Masked fat guy but now a Cat ??

The kid stays in the picture the bio pic of Robert Evans talks alot about how hello dolly almost bankrupted the studio but amazingly some of the sets were reused in the planet of the apes movies

Sabbir Ahmed Saby

Hello, I am a new user at Patrean and trying to find some patrons for my works. Any help? Thanks in advance!

Sarah Jesness

I don't think anything is too big to fail. Like, a lot of people think that superhero films will just keep going, but I bet people thought the same thing about big musical movies back then. A movie trend will only last as long as studios can make good movies with it. Marvel movies are doing really well but many other superhero films are underperforming. 10 years ago, no one would have thought that a Doctor Strange movie would make more money than a Justice League one.

Sarah Jesness

I'm interested in the idea that media trends are a reflection of societal troubles, though it can be hard to say for sure whether that's the case. A lot of people think that the popularity of superhero movies right now has to do with hard times but there are a lot of other factors playing in too.

Andrew H

"Early" access.

Grace

It's perfectly OK to like flawed things. If it's OK for Wall-E to like Hello Dolly, it's OK for you.

De

The more gimmicks movies have the less I want to see them. 3D gives me a massive headache. I would however love an intermission. Why don't we have intermission any more? What saddens me is the videogame industry is doing just exactly this. The response to ever increasing costs is to either make "games as service" microtransaction money abysses or to argue that games need to cost $80 or $100 at release not counting DLC and "season pass" BS. All of this in an era where more and more people are making less than $40K a year and paying more for basic needs like health insurance. The whole industry so reliant on an ever shrinking supply of disposable income. Why is the answer never "lets make a smaller game with a compelling hook" or "smaller movies focusing on interesting characters"? Why is the industry answer to making less money always bigger and more expensive or gimmicky nothingness designed to trick people out of their money?

Matthew Dunne

So here's the million dollar question: can a movie adaptation of modern megahit musicals such as Wicked and Hamilton work? I personally think no for the latter, as I can't really imagine an effective screen transition for a lot of the dense, layered numbers that convey a lot of info and cover a long period of time. How exactly can Non-Stop work off of the stage?

Brenton Clark

Hey, I've heard of the Happiest Millionaire! Well well well, let's have a drink on it! :D

Rich Stoehr

Super interesting video! I've heard good things about 'The Greatest Showman' and I'm probably going to be watching it this weekend...I wonder how that would factor in? I hear even people who don't like musicals really liked that one - how does that factor in? Or does it?

Gabe

1. That was a great video! 2. Editing was really on point! Great job Angela! 3. Can you do one about the "return" of the movie musical in the 2000's with Chicago?

The Princess and the Scrivener

me: [adores Hello, Dolly] you: [points out its issues] me: I mean…you're not *wrong*.

Scott Greene

I'm glad you read along with the title cards, they are pretty hard to read in this video.

Curt Clark

"But then, oh boy, here come the big guns!" ...I see what you did there. Oh man, is that REALLY what Venom's going to sound like? Geez guys, don't try to chase Nolan's coattails THAT hard, you'll hurt yourselves. At least most of the Marvel Studios characters are intelligible. <strike>edited twice because SHUT UP I CAN TOO SPELL</strike> Also, most sarcastic sponsorship ever. I adore it. :)

Luke Fowler

Taking a few editing cues from Natalie with those close-ups, I see!

Jacob Haller

Are you at the $10/month level? That's the level that gets a credits mention.

Franco Nero, not Francis.

Frances Webb

A lot of the titles are hard to read unless the video is full screen. Some of the citation footnotes aren't that legible even when the video is maximized.

This will sound very self absorbed, but oh well. I've been a patreon for a few months now but I never see my name is the credits :(

Do rich people not chew gum?

Stephi Anne-with-an-E

How many takes were needed to say "like turds in the wind" with a straight face?

Be the wine mom bankrupting Movie Pass you want to see in the world

Andreas Wanda

Thank you, Lindsay, for your analysis of movie musicals. I wonder if their prevalence in certain eras of film history is an indicator of societies needing and asking to be relieved of terrible horrors they have experienced. Austrian and German cinema was synonymous with musicals. Scores of existing "operetten", light musical plays were getting the silver screen treatment in the 50ies and 60ies. The format was also applied to entirely new productions such as, incidentally, "Die Trapp Familie" and its sequel "Die Trapp Familie in Amerika" (1956/7). It‘d be interesting to compare other countries‘ film histories to see if the musical trend was perhaps a global phenomenon as far as local film industries were concerned.

Rodrigo V. Perez

Yay, I was afraid I'd miss this till monday because weekend trip!

That ending fucking killed me! Like turds in the wind

I SUPER enjoyed the cinema history lesson!

Two nits to pick: It's FRANCO Nero, not Francis Nero, and I'm honestly a bit surprised that you didn't mention at least one non-musical 1968 roadshow release that DID turn a wild profit: "2001: A Space Odyssey". (Oh, and maybe Tarantino's attempt at a roadshow with "The Hateful 8", but that wasn't really vital enough to bring up, anyhow.)

MercuryBuddha

OMG! THIS MADE MY NIGHT! I was totally wanting you to talk about Mamma Mia: here we go again and movie musicals after your Q&amp;A video! You fabulous goddess you!

Thanks, I love it.

What? It's not a video about TLJ? How shock am I? ;-)

Sarah Potter

Fyi, there's a mouse on screen at 13:52. Love the video though, what a fascinating deep dive!

Lex Gray

I learned things. Yay!

LINDSAY ELLIS HAS A NEW VIDEO!!! :-D

Certainly learnt something new. Even though grew up watching these with my Mum, had never heard of the roadshows. Was it primarily a thing in the USA &amp; the UK?

Angel Hutchins

Awesome this made my night!!