I've just been listening to some Studio 360 podcasts (highly recommended). The October 1st issue has an interview with Neil Gaiman, which I really enjoyed. I've tended to avoid his stuff in the past, looks a bit too goth for me, but I think I'll have to yield. He talked really interestingly about a bunch of stuff.
One of the things he discussed was the dreadful predicatibilty of many Hollywood movies - you know exactly what's going to happen from minute to minute with a lot of them. Partly because you know how long the average movie lasts, and you know that they've still got X amount of time to fill.
Anne and I once discussed a solution to this which, if I was Global President, I'd immediately impose.
You know how a lot of movies like to open with a bit of suspense? There's a chase scene about 10 minutes in, the heroes in peril, or something. But you know he's going to be OK becuase he's the big name movie star and they're not going to kill him so soon. Or at all, probably.
Well, they should have a quota system that means that some movies do end about 10 minutes in. So the car is teetering on the edge of the cliff, the hero has to grab his girlfriend's hand to escape, he stretches to reach her, their fingers touch, he grasps her fingers, he falls, pulling her down on top of him, they both die, movie ends. If, say, 1 in 10 movie ended 15 minutes in, like that, wouldn't that make all the others that much more suspenseful?
I think you'd have to do it so each movie was available in two cuts, one of 15 minutes (or whatever), one the full 90, and they'd be served up randomly by the projectionist.
That'd add interest at the multiplex.
