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Post by notobfukwiv on Mar 1, 2005 12:50:31 GMT
How do we measure honesty and integrity? Are Pendragon, or Hines for that matter, people of their word? I find it offenesive and extremely ill-mannered that no word has yet been released by Pendragon/Hines outling what the state of play is. I also find it deeply unprofessional that no replies have been received by inquisitive parties via email, myself included.
They made a statement and said March 3oth, it's on their trailer as well although I'm only stating the obvious. I seriously have to question the moral fibre of Pendragon in relation to their practise which, in my opinion, is extremely sharp given their cavalier approach.
What is wrong with these people, communication is the key, if one can't deliver then one must inform especially when a commitment is made. As a professional, I wouldn't stay in business very long if I adopted the same attitude and business model as theirs.
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Post by EvilNerfherder on Mar 1, 2005 17:47:11 GMT
I think perhaps you're overreacting a little there. I conceed that they would seem to be having some kind of trouble there but I don't think it's a case of dishonesty and intrigue. We don't know what's going on in the Pendragon camp so we can't really accuse them of anything. Whilst I agree it's looking doubtful, I wouldn't be surprised if TH has decided not to release anything more til the last minute. Then he could flick a big 'I told you so' to all the people who sent nasty e-mails and caused so much trouble over the trailer delay. I wouldn't blame him for that either. If this is the case, then we brought it on ourselves. Every piece on news he has released so far has been met with derision, you think he wants to go through that every time he puts out a snippet? If I were him I'd concentrate on finishing the thing and release it when I'm ready. If nothing else, he's got us talking about his film...
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Post by I own a cylinder on Mar 1, 2005 19:01:15 GMT
Certainly Pendragon haven't adopted the best marketing strat ever, and its defied everything i thought i knew about movie marketing and distribution.
Its left me thinking somthing.
No way is this movie a hoax. And aside from me hanging onto it to the very last piece of thread, will this be consigned to the vaults of history like Ray Harrihausen and his version. A foot note at the bottom of the WOTW annals.
and many years down the line, when we are all living as holograms with super real digital deisplays. there suddenly appears a note for a film on CHannel 5 or summit,
The Cult Classic...H.G. Wells' THe War of the Worlds. Never before seen.
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Post by themotile on Mar 1, 2005 19:43:48 GMT
I think perhaps you're overreacting a little there. I conceed that they would seem to be having some kind of trouble there but I don't think it's a case of dishonesty and intrigue. We don't know what's going on in the Pendragon camp so we can't really accuse them of anything. Whilst I agree it's looking doubtful, I wouldn't be surprised if TH has decided not to release anything more til the last minute. Then he could flick a big 'I told you so' to all the people who sent nasty e-mails and caused so much trouble over the trailer delay. I wouldn't blame him for that either. If this is the case, then we brought it on ourselves. Every piece on news he has released so far has been met with derision, you think he wants to go through that every time he puts out a snippet? If I were him I'd concentrate on finishing the thing and release it when I'm ready. If nothing else, he's got us talking about his film... I totaly agree with you about the dishonesty and intrigue not being an issue nerf but I cant see how somebody sending nasty emails did in any way sway their decision to release any more material, surely investors would not accept "hurt feelings" when they dont get their money back. I feel it has more to do with the fact that they simply dont have anything else to release yet and they have no hopes of meeting their deadline so in essence the rush to get it out has stopped and the reason the date is still on the website is because the person that runs the website is just realy crap at it, its as simple as that. The website has never been any cop, even now its lame by amature standards. So what we should do is relax, kick back and when and if something comes out then celebrate. Until then mines a pint...
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Post by dudalb on Mar 1, 2005 20:11:40 GMT
"Certainly Pendragon haven't adopted the best marketing strat ever, and its defied everything i thought i knew about movie marketing and distribution. " I worked for a number of year as a theater manager for a major chain,(sorry to repeat this ad infinitum) and the main reason I am firm in my belief there will be no March 3oth opening in the US or elsewhere is that ythe deadline has passed for booking the film into theaters...even on a small, limited release basis. I have no problem with a delay, I have no problem with waiting, I just want Pendragon to level with us. If it si going to miss the March 30th date, just say so. I am not making any final judgement as to the quality of the film, but The PR and Marketing aspects of the film have been balled up. And those are important...very important. The idea "they are working so hard on the film that they don't have time for the marketing or the PR " just shows, if true, we are dealing with amateurs here. Well intentioned amateurs to be sure, but still amateurs.
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Post by dudalb on Mar 1, 2005 20:18:26 GMT
"Whilst I agree it's looking doubtful, I wouldn't be surprised if TH has decided not to release anything more til the last minute." Then TH does not know how to market a film. You can withold some stuff until the last minute..in Fact it is good marketing to do so... but you have to pre sell a film. You have to have a trailer in theaters a couple of weeks before the film opens, you have to have posters, you have to out the idea of a film in people's minds. And if you are competing against another , similiar film that even becomes more important to set you film apart from the other one. I hate to tell you this, people, but there are not enough hard core HG Wells fans out there to justify making a film just for them, even on a small scale level.You have to sell it to the non hardcore, even at the indie level. And Hines has done ,so far, a poor job of this.
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Post by Charles on Mar 1, 2005 20:36:20 GMT
You guys crack me up with all this speculating and good advice for Pendragon.
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Post by FALLINGSTAR on Mar 1, 2005 20:43:25 GMT
"Whilst I agree it's looking doubtful, I wouldn't be surprised if TH has decided not to release anything more til the last minute." Then TH does not know how to market a film. You can withold some stuff until the last minute..in Fact it is good marketing to do so... but you have to pre sell a film. You have to have a trailer in theaters a couple of weeks before the film opens, you have to have posters, you have to out the idea of a film in people's minds. And if you are competing against another , similiar film that even becomes more important to set you film apart from the other one. I hate to tell you this, people, but there are not enough hard core HG Wells fans out there to justify making a film just for them, even on a small scale level.You have to sell it to the non hardcore, even at the indie level. And Hines has done ,so far, a poor job of this. Yes, there's no doubt a film like this can't just be made for fans - it has to be sold to the general public as well if it's to make money.
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Post by I own a cylinder on Mar 1, 2005 20:48:36 GMT
You guys crack me up with all this speculating and good advice for Pendragon. I think it comes with being a fan, lol
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Post by FALLINGSTAR on Mar 1, 2005 20:49:25 GMT
You guys crack me up with all this speculating and good advice for Pendragon. Do I detect a slight air of confidence in Pendragon Charles?
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Post by the Donal on Mar 1, 2005 21:02:08 GMT
Maybe Pendragon are confident that the film will be finished in time and released when they say.
Tim Hines may just feel that he doesn't need to explain or justify this confidence to any of us and believes that we will all (or most of us) invest in our hard-earned to see it one way or another.
The fact is we've nothing more to go on at the moment except a statement to Charles that the film is on shedule. The deadline is still there- you have to have a deadline to work to, or probably nothing would ever get finished.
I agree with other posts that the initial theatrical release may be very small scale- he has not said much about this yet. Maybe he will use initial releases and submission to film festivals such as Cannes to gain a bigger audience and with the Spielberg film due, the interest will be there.
Who knows? I'm sure the tension and sense of expectation will rise throughout this month until the 30th, whatever eventually happens...
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Post by Charles on Mar 1, 2005 21:26:09 GMT
Confident. Yes. Its a brave new world in certain aspects of the entertainment industry (much to the chagrin of many mainstream exes), and many things are not as they once were. This is the first film to take an original Wells text and attempt to recreate it largely as he wrote it. I'm an optimist. My personal speculations are aimed more at if or how the film might represent a couple more positive firsts. But we have to wait and see. What is meant to be, will be.
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Post by Topaz on Mar 1, 2005 21:49:49 GMT
Oh, you're just bursting to tell us, aren't you Charles? ;D
Come on, give innnnnnn to temptation! ;D ;D
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Post by themotile on Mar 1, 2005 22:18:10 GMT
Ok I will play along. So there is going to be a world wide theatrical release of Pendragons H G Wells' the war of the worlds on March 30th. Apart from us and a few others like the guys at SFX and other sci-fi publications and a handfull of other fans dotted about the place who else knows? Who ever thought of keeping it a secret to the general public needs a medal, its the bravest PR stratagy ever devised, its so secret even the cinemas dont know they are getting it, I got to tell you guys thats pure genius.
If its not a master stratagy then we can wait and see all we want, then wait a bit more, and a bit more, just a little bit more until BAM this all becomes some vague memory.
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Post by jeffwaynefan on Mar 1, 2005 22:39:08 GMT
As details have been exchanged between Tim and Charles, posted up on here for all the world to see, and with the latest post from Charles saying that the film is on schedule, then its polite to take note be it if others see it differantly.
Charles if he feels is under no obligation to post any information up if he feels so, and for what we have read so far I am pleased he has done so.
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Post by themotile on Mar 1, 2005 22:52:07 GMT
All very well but theres no point in building up peoples hopes when PP are clearly not on schedule, if that schedule is still a world wide theatrical release.
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Post by jeffwaynefan on Mar 1, 2005 22:58:27 GMT
Tell TH that.
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Post by themotile on Mar 2, 2005 11:00:19 GMT
If he reads these boards (he is aware of us is he not?) then I have told him again and again but whether he listens is a different matter.
Besides he obviously is on schedule for their amazing 5 cinema world wide (only in America) release.
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Post by notobfukwiv on Mar 2, 2005 12:05:42 GMT
Hi Nerf,
I have read your reply to my post and I am struggling to see your viewpoint.
You state that I'm overreacting. I would call it being sceptical, objective and raising valid questions, that in my opinion, need to be asked. If I tell one of my clients that I will see him/her at say 11am and then show up at say 11.30am, I told my client a lie, nobody can question that. With respect you can read into that what you will.
You state that you don't think that this is a case of dishonesty, well see the above statement.
You state that we don't know what's going on in the Pendragon camp so we can't accuse them of anything. As an observer, I have to disagree, I see a severe lack of communication and appreciation to people who take the time and trouble to write to these people and then just to be ignored. To me that's disrespectful and a lack of empathy in every regard. I see what I can only describe as 'organised chaos' within their camp, there are too many loose ends and ultimately serious questions will linger given their lack of information.
It's been a big opportunity for Pendragon, nobody can deny that and leaving things to 'the last minute' as you say could be viewed as suicide from a business standpoint. There has been hardly any awareness advertised to the populous in terms of propelling the whole product forward. Their marketing strategy, communication amongst other factors has been left to be criticised in the manner it has been. If Hines/Pendragon had any doubts about statements made in terms of the films release, he/Pendragon should have beat the news home to the masses. Although people would have been frustrated and annoyed, at least their integrity would have stayed intact and not left itself open to negativistic criticism.
Regards
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Post by EvilNerfherder on Mar 2, 2005 13:31:52 GMT
Actually, Notobefukwiv, I DO see your points. I just thought that it was put in a slightly over dramatic way, if you'll excuse my candour. Obviously you see their behaviour as rude and discourteous whereas I see that something is clearly wrong but we don't know the reasons for it. We all know TH has really put himself 'up against' it and some of his, admittedly rather grandiose, claims may possibly have been just that. Undoubtably because of this his credibility is slipping a little within the fanbase. I still don't think, however, that we have been lied to per se. We can accuse him of lying, cheating us out of the chance to see Wells' masterpiece in all it's glory, or whatever until we are blue in the face but it will change nothing and be counter productive. Especially as we are in no position to accuse him of anything concrete as we have had no news and we really don't know what difficulties he is facing. Of course, the fact that there is no news is, in itself, enough for some to rip into the guy. I myself prefer to wait until nearer the time before I accuse anyone of anything.
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