Hey again. I don't know if the reason noone responded was because noone had anything to say, or if I was right and my post sounded confusing. Either way, I know that yesterday I basically had to compress about 24 hours of on-again off-again thinking on the subject, into about 5 minutes of typing. So I thought I'd run back throught that post and see if there are any portions I can better clarify.
O.k., you were mentioning profits of $3.25 million, but the retailers would take about 40% of that.
Retailers naturally not footing the bill, so you must first multiply that by .6.
Plus, the budget wouldn't be a cheap as you might think. Comparing it to TNS,
As an example of a sci-fi show with which I'm familiar with the budget.
the budget per episode is $1.5 million,
Each episode being an hour (or what passes for an hour on T.V.), the first reaction would be to just double this.
but that's AFTER the casting and set building were done for the mini.
Since these things were already accomplished, the episodes themselves weren't as expensive. So, since this continuation would require new sets and casting, it would be closer to the price of the mini.
Two hours of the mini cost $9 million (assuming this would be two-hour movie).
It was four hours, and the total was $18 million (I know that this argument falls apart under the very logic I just used, but these are pretty much napkin calculations, just trying to get us within the right order of magnitude of the price).
However, that brings me to the subject of anime. Ghost in the Shell was made for $4 million. That was a decade or so of inflation ago, but in the case of TOS you already have the music recorded, the sets designed, and multiple scripts ready.
With GITS they had to do all that stuff to get it ready, where in this case we have the original series, plus the continuation efforts, to provide us with lots of material to work with. Let's just (once again, napkin calculations), pretend that off-sets inflation, but does no more than that, because I like working with the $4 million figure, when I have nothing better to go with.
Now, sure you could just do it on DVD, but release it on Sci-fi and you probably get at least the same ratings as TNS (their average movie gets slightly lower, and this would have a fanbase to back it up), which justifies $1.5 million a week. So you can throw that on top.
Two showings of TNS is what actually justifies it. That's two hours of viewing, the same as the movie. Plus, in the case of TNS, one of those two hours is a rerun, which gets much lower ratings. The continuation would get consistent ratings all the way through. So, CA-CHING!
Plus, in addition to selling DVDs to TOS fans, you can sell them to anime fans as well. That should at least double your sales. Plus, now anime fans are interested in TOS, so they go out and buy the box set, plus probably watching TNS too. That throw huge profits on top.
Congradulations, you just expanded the BSG fanbase. This could make Universal huge profits.
Then, get Larson's permission to do a limited theatrical release, and you could get the same $500k GITS did easily in the US (GITS2 got $1 million).
Or, you could do a wide release, but
just a limited release would be fine. Plus, anime fans have been waiting for some time now (or at least I have) to have an anime movie that FINALLY gets rid of
Pokemon's title as the anime movie with the highest domestic gross. Maybe the continuation could break that, with a wide release (although with dropping box office grosses, I kind of doubt it, but I can hope).
The way to get Larson's permission is simple. Either buy and use the script to Battlestar: Atlantis,
I've already pointed out that it would be less expensive to take an already written continuation script.
or use Armageddon, but plan a trilogy followed by Warhawk with the ending tailored (haven't finished it yet, but I bet it can be done) to tie into Atlantis.
Forgive me if I'm wrong, since I haven't gotten there yet, but I've read the reviews on amazon.com, and alot of people aren't thrilled with Hatch's writing after
Warhawk. But since in WH they meet up with Cain, and in BSA Cain is looking for the Battlestar Atlantis (I think I got that right), I'm sure it wouldn't be to hard to make it work.
Larson would jump at the chance to have his movie made (if he doesn't we have proof he was just trying to stop Hatch, and no script really exists for him to sell, so we can finally get mad)
Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I don't think he ever released more than a few details concerning BSA. And those seemed to come at just the right time to derail
The Second Coming. So maybe he didn't really plan a movie at all. If I'm wrong, and we have proof he actually wrote a script, and did pre-production please tell me.
Laurette Spang Forums
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