Is there a reason why no director redo a movie (based on a book) that have already failed in box office ?

Submitted by Otherwise-Revenue-44 t3_10opm48 in movies

Let's take the movies "The golden compass" (The golden compass) or "John Carter" (A Princess of Mars) for exemple. Would that be possible for a director that loved one of these books to make a new movie about it ? Or will it be harder for him to obtain funding from productors since the disney movie already failed ? It happened for other movies like "The lord of the ring", but could it works for a book that is less known ?

TL;DR : I used the example in my post, but my question is not specificaly related to these movies

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TheWaterBound t1_j6hfgn8 wrote

Directors don't make movies; movie studios make movies.

Why don't businesses relaunch failed product lines? Because they're concerned that the reason the product failed the first time wasn't poor manufacturing, but poor concept.

This is only surprising if you look at movies as art rather than products.

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Iogwfh t1_j6goafx wrote

The Golden Compass was recently remade into a TV series that was quite successful so think licensing might be a issue there. I don't know who owns the option for John Carter. The issue comes to the licensing. Not anyone can just remake a book adaption. Studios and production companies basically rent a licensing agreement and it is up to them whether they use it. Sometimes they can be locked away for years till they expire and either someone else buys it or they renew it and lock it away again or use it. It comes down to whether they prioritise making it or not. I suppose if a director comes to the owner of the agreement with a really could pitch perhaps they would let them make it.

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AlanMorlock t1_j6ha23y wrote

Wouldn't John Carter be public domain?

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Iogwfh t1_j6hm1rv wrote

No, I actually had a google after posting and it turns out the movie rights in 2014 reverted back to Edgar Rice Burroughs Inc. They are shopping them around hoping to kick start a franchise.

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AlanMorlock t1_j6hwqrd wrote

I'd heard similar but was wondering jownrjst wasn't he case. Apparently the last 4 Barsoom novels are from after 1928 buth the majority of the series should be in thr public domain now. I wonder if it's similar to thr Conan Doyalw estate being litigious over random elements like Sherlock "having emotions" diento the last few Sherlock stories still being outside thr Publix domain until this year

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theyusedthelamppost t1_j6grpra wrote

Dredd 2012 remade Judge Dredd (which was considered to be a box office flop)

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DrRexMorman t1_j6h0l42 wrote

Many directors remake their own successful work.

Many directors remake other director's unsuccessful work.

But it seems unusual for Hollywood to give directors money to remake their own unsuccessful work.

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uncultured_swine2099 t1_j6hoayd wrote

Id love to see them do this to 2 Micheal Crichton novels, Sphere and Congo. Theyre very good books, but the films just dont do them justice.

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Nord4Ever t1_j6igznf wrote

Congo was so popular in my day thought it did well, so odd

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uncultured_swine2099 t1_j6k2hak wrote

It was fun in a campy way, but the novel was serious and much more frightening and tense.

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LadyLurkerHandz t1_j6iw4wx wrote

Did we not like sphere?? I thought it was great! Or do you just mean in terms of box office performance. Maybe in comparison to the quality of the books?

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uncultured_swine2099 t1_j6k0sgh wrote

I thought there were some good points, with that cast there was bound to be, but it just doesnt quite live up to the slow burn dread of the novel. The book also had a better stinger of an ending.

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Agreeable-Drop661 t1_j6hwibm wrote

Yeah it’s common just look at “Mowgli” and other “The Jungle Book” movies

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Nord4Ever t1_j6igptr wrote

I liked John Carter

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bookwormaesthetic t1_j6kbn6b wrote

I have read some interesting articles on what happened, but essentially it flopped because of executives at Disney changing and not giving the movie the standard Disney press push.

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Ashamed_Ladder6161 t1_j6ikg0w wrote

Dracula, repeatedly. LOTR, following on from the cartoon. Red Dragon, Manhunter was poorly received at the time.

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saideeps t1_j6haux9 wrote

There are 3 different spiderman and 3 different Batman iterations in the last 20 years

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Chen_Geller t1_j6hkfcf wrote

>It happened for other movies like "The lord of the ring",

The Bakshi film didn't fail at the box office: its budget figures range from $6 million to $12 (the latter is, I believe, hyperbole on the part of the director: the movie doesn't look anywhere near a $12 million movie) and it made $30.5 milion in the US alone. There were facts eating away at the profit margins for the studio, but on the whole it seems it made a decent (if a little underwhelming) profit.

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staedtler2018 t1_j6hclxu wrote

It's very common for books that have a decent shelf life. Most don't, so they get the one adaptation and that's it. That's true for genre fiction and for literary fiction.

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mickeyflinn t1_j6hkbm1 wrote

> Let's take the movies "The golden compass" (The golden compass) or "John Carter" (A Princess of Mars) for exemple. Would that be possible for a director that loved one of these books to make a new movie about it ?

Sure, go buy the rights.

> Or will it be harder for him to obtain funding from productors since the disney movie already failed ?

Yep

> It happened for other movies like "The lord of the ring", but could it works for a book that is less known ?

It has happened many times.

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charleyismyhero t1_j6lizom wrote

Studios are like superstitious gamblers. If it failed once, it’s obviously cursed. Avoid it at all costs. If it succeeded once it will be a winner forever (until it isn’t). Rinse. Repeat.

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