Bronte Woodland 17.10.

2013 AS Media (Mr Ford)

Dredd Essay:

The film Dredd was released in 2012 and was written and produced by Alex Garland who wrote the famous novel The Beach in 1996. Development of the film was announced on 20 December 2008; it would be an independent project under British studio DNA Films who worked with sales agency IM Global to sell worldwide distribution rights. In September 2009, it was confirmed that Alex Garland was writing the film and that comic artist Jock was developing concept art. However, by October 2009, no director was attached to the film. Garland began writing Dredd in 2006, however he had other films in the process of being written so Dredd was postponed for a couple of years. The idea for Dredd came from the 2000AD comic which was released in 1977. This film had a budget of $45 million a fairly low budget compared to successful blockbusters such as Batman: The Dark Knight Rises which had $250,000,000 to spend. Dredd made around $36.5 million at the box office meaning that the film wasnt successful and actually lost money. Additionally, Batman made $448,130,642 in total, showing that Dredds budget was too small and therefore no profit was made. Firstly, one of the reasons that this film lost money was because the stars in Dredd werent particularly famous, the most recognisable being Karl Urban who is mostly known for featuring in Star Trek and The Bourne Supremacy. However throughout Dredd we dont see Karl Urbans face, therefore making him unrecognisable to a majority of the target audience and almost making him insignificant as a famous actor. Olivia Thirlby played Anderson and again isnt classed as a star throughout Hollywood and film. On the other hand Batman had a long list of A list stars such as Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Anne Hathaway, Morgan Freeman etc. This made the film widely known because of the number of fans that each of these stars has and also on a trailer it attracted people because they want to see their favourite star in action. Secondly Dredd is certificated an 18, therefore catering for a small target audience because not everyone can view it and not all people feel comfortable viewing an 18 marked film. This was because of the high levels of violence and language used making this film stand out from other marvel/comic book films because they are globally certificated 12 or 12As to appeal to all four quadrants of the target audience across the world. In comparison The Amazing Spiderman, Superman and Batman are all 12A/PG13 movies therefore they could be enjoyed by families and overall a wider audience than Dredd. Furthermore the production company for Dredd was DNA Films and IM Global, both being rather small companies, instantly making the film less likely to succeed because the backing for the film wasnt a s strong as other US blockbusters. However Lionsgate Entertainment distributed the film and that company, while not dominant, is still an impressive business that is well recognised in the film industry, the NET worth being around $2 billion. However still wasnt enough to compete with other Marvel and comic book films. We see this again, in Batman, because the producing companies included Warner Brothers, Legendary Pictures and DC Entertainment all of which are large, accomplished companies.

Bronte Woodland 17.10.2013 AS Media (Mr Ford)

Christopher Nolan was the director and producer for, not only Batman, but Inception and he also wrote Man of Steel, thus making him a difficult man to outshine. Dredds director was Pete Travis who has directed films such as Vantage Point, End Game and Omagh none of which were high budget blockbusters like Nolan meaning that he didnt have the experience necessary to make Dredd a worldwide success and also the budget wouldnt have allowed for this to happen either. The marketing of this film was done using a viral advertising site called the "Dredd Report to launch the film. The site featured a video encouraging the use of the Slo-Mo drug, and links to news about the film. A tie-in comic book was published in August 2012 (a month before release); its plot serves as a prequel to the film's story and follows Ma-Ma's life as a prostitute. This is much like hoe Batman Marketed the film, by using a viral campaign; however Batman also used 3D billboards and thousands of posters and TV advertisement to promote the film whereas Dredd lacked TV coverage and visual marketing. Other reasons for lack of success include the fact that originally the film was shown in cinemas as a 3D film (as the film was shot using S12K & RED MX cameras) meaning that not all cinemas had the equipment or screens to show 3D films, therefore the film didnt receive as much coverage as they had hoped for. On the opening weekend Dredd was shown on 2,506 screens, whereas Batman was shown on 4,404 screens. Also the film was based on the 2000AD comics and for the people who hadnt read or heard about these then the concept of the film may not have been put across very clearly. The comic book character of Judge Dredd isnt as familiar as the likes of Batman and Spiderman therefore the public may have thought that the film was a completely new concept and may not have wanted to take the risk of watching it in case the narrative wasnt decent. At the end of superhero films we often see a joyful outcome where the villain dies or suffers and the hero saves the world. This was the case in Dredd; however it seemed at the end of the film that they had only conquered a small part of the evil in America and that they would have to do it over and over again to make any change in the world. Also the character Anderson just walked away at the end of the film maybe showing that the things that had happened in Peach Trees had seriously affected her and that she wouldnt be going back to work as a judge, showing a small dystopia ending, quite the opposite to Batman: The Dark Knight Rises because Batman saves Gotham and ends up with the woman he loves and lives happily, portraying a utopian ending. Finally, Dredd wasnt a great success because of the certification and due to the marketing not being enough to inform or attract people. Also the budget was too low and therefore the special effects suffered and the director and producer had little to work with. There were no a-list actors in this film and that also contributes to the failure of this film because nobody was attracted to the film simply because they wanted to see their favourite actor. Personally I enjoyed the film, but had it have been my own decision I probably wouldnt have gone to see this film at the cinema and I wouldnt have purchased it either due to the fact that I never saw it advertised or heard it being talked about.