"Picture this: a film studio complex and public entertainment venue in Nashville that would capture the look and feel of Universal Studios Hollywood — only without the rides and with a project pipeline loaded with films targeted at heartland audiences.
That's the pitch being made to redevelop the Tennessee State Fairgrounds by Woodland, Calif.-based Tower Investments and Nashville's 821 Entertainment, whose projects include a forthcoming film about the life of the Rev. Billy Graham, as well as a biopic on music legend Hank Williams."
And speaking of the Bill Graham movie, be sure to look for the movie theatre scene it might just be a place you know....
-Josh
13 comments:
It's an interesting idea - love the idea of more movies produced her in Tenn., but then read this part of the article:
"Beyond incentives, crews and amenities, Marks and Geadelmann envision having a "heartland" component to their Browns Creek Media Village concept, an identity meant to attract productions that roughly mirror the themes in country and Christian music.
"That heartland brand is extremely key for us," Marks said.
Geadelmann said the success of films such as The Passion of the Christ and The Chronicles of Narnia series presented a compelling business case for films that appeal to people who live in between the coasts. But it's not just Christian themes the brand would focus on.
821's list of active or pending film deals, representing as much as $250 million according to Geadelmann, includes categories such as "Southern Drama," "Music Biographies" and "Inspirational Sports."
"Our goal is to plant the heartland flag, to dominate those niches and build a lasting brand," Geadelmann said. "Regardless of the actual site, this effort is a true legacy opportunity."
Sounds like pap - if people want to watch 'Inspirational Sports' there's plenty of folks making that stuff - does 'heartland' have to mean mainstream and mediocre?
THE PASSION OF CHRIST is the highest grossing R rated film of all time, and the NARNIA series has grossed over $433 million domestically, sounds like that's a good niche to get behind if you're a studio.
I agree with wraith7000 that there's money to be made - and of course would be great to have a functioning and productive studio space/facility here in town - it's just that the world is already full of the average, the mediocre and the middlebrow.
The Narnia pictures are standard corporate cinema that do nothing to enliven or elevate our culture, and 'The Passion of the Christ', while obviously heartfelt, was a ludicrous picture on every level.
I would take that "heartland brand" with a grain of salt: that sounds like something said to ease the minds of neighbors and city planners. It also sounds elastic enough that they could make almost anything rated PG-13 or lower fit the description.
I don't think "heartland" has to mean "mainstream and mediocre," but you can't exactly let your freak flag fly when you're making a pitch to the property holders and the already nervous residents nearby. Wasn't one of Geadelmann's projects a fiction version of the 2003 prison-boxing-coach doc The Dance, set to star Nicolas Cage and 50 Cent? And 821's Anastasia Brown was heavily involved in the Robin Williams-Freddie Highmore musical fantasy August Rush. Those might be examples of the kind of films they'd make.
Speaking of the Billy Graham film, do they really expect theaters to run a 5-minute+ trailer? Damn, I could barely sit through that thing just watching it on my computer. Maybe they're playing it before THE CLONE WARS.
Well, The Dark Knight had a 7 minute IMAX trailer...could you imagine BG in IMAX :P
Mr. Pink makes some good points
+ was the IMax trailer the first 7 minutes of the film (same thing done for Speed Racer) if so this is a great way to get people interested - give them the first few minutes free then they have to go to the cinema to see the rest (same model as the video game 'Doom' back in the day = first level is free then pay for the rest of the game)
Yeah, the TDK trailer was the scene with the opening bank heist and was only on the IMAX I Am Legend.
wraith: cool - i really do think that's a great idea, (better than trailers that give everything away!).
+ does anybody know where the Billy Graham trailer is = I looked at the production company website for couldn't find it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVwTzPKF3Y0
Billy: The Early Years
http://www.billytheearlyyears.com/home.htm
Scroll through this one to see some scenes filmed in the Belcourt
http://www.billytheearlyyears.com/selectedscenes-khris.htm
"I don't know the first thing about preachin'!" ;)
cheeeers :)
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