Jackson Comments On Gaming, Kong Sequel

GameDailyBiz has a piece detailing comments from Peter Jackson on next-gen gaming, and the possibility of another King Kong title. From the article: "'It'll be very interesting when a filmmaker creates a video game-based film experience that goes beyond what people thought it could be,' continued Jackson, who is executive producing the Halo film with special effects from the brilliant WETA team. 'For example, music videos were originally just musicians playing music while being recorded on video so people could watch them, but now they are elaborate short movies that do everything from interpret the song through the medium of visual art to communicating political statements.'"

Re:Hobbit

[Winterblink]

Or, God forbid, something new and refreshingly original. You know, something Hollywood has been lacking? Lord of the Rings proved he's a super duper director, let him loose on something other than a remake.

Peter Jackson's role as Executive Producer in Halo

[The-Bus]

Ugh, I know it must seem like a pedantic point to some, but his role as "Executive Producer" is much less interesting than some of us would like to believe. So far, Jackson has usually been the director, producer, and/or screenwriter for all of his movies. With "Executive Producer" the role implies a certain kind of vagueness. Usually, it means they deal with the business side of the film (financing) although they sometimes can leave their own imprint on things (for example, Bruckheimer and CSI). It doesn't mean Halo is his next movie, it doesn't even mean he's very artistically involved with it. At best, we'll see some Jackson-esque touches, at worst he was just paid a lot of money to have his name attached to the film and just occasionally acts as a go-between the different parties.

As far as the article? Jackson says "I definitely see improved graphics and sound as continuously positive attributes for consideration among the Hollywood community. Actors will look more 'life-like' in HD and the sound continues to get closer to the theatrical movie experience." If he had used the terms "rich medium" or "consumer-centric" I could've gotten Bingo on this Buzzwords Bingo tablet I have. It's also a dead giveaway that the interview was done via email, not by phone or in-person.

The game was better.

[syberanarchy]

Honestly, Jackson personifies what is wrong with the current state of Hollywood. A graduate of the George Lucas school of filmmaking (BIGGER IS ALWAYS BETTER), he decided the best way to follow up a movie trilogy lasting 12+ hours was to remake an 88 minute movie about a giant ape into a THREE HOUR EPIC.

Please, give me a break. We all know you're good with a camera. Now try to learn about telling a story with some efficiency. If your movie is going to be nothing but 3 hours of Weta jerking themselves off on film, why not just make your movie a video game and be done with it?

Oh, wait, they did make Kong into a game, and it was so good and so immersive in ways the movie never could have been (especially in HD + 5.1) that after playing, I don't care if I EVER see the movie. If I'm going to watch a three hour movie, it better be more than just "kill/evade exotic beasts on a remote island, reach the boss lair, save the princess." If that's your storyline, what you have is a video game, not a movie.

Now, I'll wait for all the slashtrolls to come out and wave all the money Kong made in my face; as if that's any measure of the product's actual quality.