Peter Bart: Hollywood Studios Face Extinction Unless They Retool; One Filmmaker Has Been On That Mission For Decades
15.09.2023 - 00:11
/ deadline.com
Will the Hollywood studio become extinct?
One hundred years ago, Louis B. Mayer unfurled his grand idea to mobilize “all the stars in heaven” for his filmmaking adventure. His dream factory, once prolific, now seems adrift amid the economic debris of streamerville and linear TV.
The studio system still has its advocates, one of whom, Francis Coppola, attempted to re-invent the studio on three occasions. He’s still trying.
His intriguing, if bizarre adventure, is told in a gripping new book by Sam Wasson titled Path to Paradise, vividly chronicling how the director leveraged his two great movies into an assembly line of cinema.
Well, almost. Coppola’s effort to orchestrate the genius of The Godfather and Apocalypse Now into an enduring filmmaking enterprise was defeated by two realities: The eccentricity of his management style and the frailty of his infrastructure.
Zoetrope was to be owned and run by creatives who were dedicated to the art of cinema. Though defeated three times, Coppola was back in Venice last week with cuts from his latest film, Megalopolis, and with a re-edited print of his 1982 romantic musical One From the Heart – the show that bombed.
The completed $140 million Megalopolis (Coppola’s own money) will shortly be offered to worldwide distributors, hopefully pumping new energy into the Zoetrope brand.
Will he succeed? Says a cautiously optimistic Wasson: “It’s time for Hollywood to embrace a new kind of studio system and Francis has the right idea: With the proper infrastructure, talent and new technologies, his concept ensures a balance of risk and security for filmmakers plus quality product for audiences.”
Skeptics might argue that the timing of a new studio would confront a traumatic moment in