For the last few weeks of the year, I’m going through stories I saved, but never posted. Today stories from March 2009:

* Here’s something I started to post re Hwood box office in 2010 and 2010:

Amidst this boffo year at the B.O., concerns about 2010 and 2011 in this Daily Variety article,

After several years of moaning that hedge funds had overfilled the release schedule, studios began threatening to cut back their slates. Now, they may be cutting back more than they wanted.

Their output has hit a serious speed bump, thanks to a number of factors: The economic crash and retreat of private equity money, a protracted writers walkout, a production slowdown over fear of an actors strike and the dismantling of studio specialty labels.

The effects of these things probably won’t show up at the box office until late 2010 and 2011. So far, there are 118 wide release set to open in 2009. That’s a 16% drop from the 140 last year. But how much more of a drop do studios want?

Perhaps good news for the studios in that less competition means less dollars needed for marketing — to distinguish Movie A from Movies B, C, D, E, etc. Also with more breathing room, maybe the pressure won’t be as great for movies to producer huge numbers the first weekend. But the article hits a really rather shocking point:

Summer 2009 is as crowded as last year, but there are hints of a shift, since there are fewer similarly themed films opening close together.

Last summer, for example, two R-rated comedies produced by Judd Apatow and released by Sony — “Step Brothers” and “Pineapple Express” — opened within days of each other. They were quickly followed by Paramount’s R-rated comedy “Tropic Thunder.” All three pics were gunning for the same audience.

Under the new thinking, it’s OK to have two or three studio releases on one weekend, but you’d better make sure they are playing to different eyeballs.

Hwood has been around nearly a century and they’re just now figuring out not to schedule similar movies with similar target demos for the same weekend release?

* I thought this logic — “5 reasons why a Watchmen movie was unnecessary” —
was sound:

1. Faithful adaptations of graphic novels are redundant
2. So many movies satirizing and subverting superheroes already exist
3. Watchmen has no contemporary relevance
4. What was once intended for realism now comes off as ridiculous
5. There was only ever room for disappointment

Logic, however, never stopped Hwood from going after a buck.

* Speaking of Watchmen, the writer of the graphic novels Alan Moore sticks to his principles:

Per this Daily Mail article, it appears that Alan Moore, writer of graphic novels “Watchmen” and “V for Vendetta,” is not seeing a dime from the movie version of Watchmen — and by his own choice:

The 55-year-old author says he wants nothing to do with the film because his story, published in 1986, is not suited to the big screen. He said: ‘It was designed to exploit all the things that comic books can do and no other medium can.’

He has insisted any royalties go to the artist who drew Watchmen, Dave Gibbons.

Now that’s a man who stands by his principles.

What if you were in Moore’s shoes: Would you stand on principle or take the money and run?

* And to round off March’s stories, this one is just weird: