Blockbuster
The prime minister already knows that her Gozo film is going to be a blockbuster
The prime minister knows already, because he is a seer, that a film which does not yet exist, but which will be filmed in Gozo starring Angelina Jolie (prepare your best cock, Franco) is a blockbuster.
That’s how he described it.
It’s bums on seats that make a blockbuster. It’s the box office that makes a blockbuster. Saying that a blockbuster film is soon going to be filmed in Gozo is like having a famous writer say, when you ask him what he is doing right now, “I’m writing a bestseller.”
At the same event, the prime minister also said that the Malta Film Commission “has just landed its first film from China”. Oh my, what a surprise.
Who is China’s most famous ‘cultural ambassador’ right now? Ai Wei Wei. But Muscat’s dictatorship friends won’t be sponsoring an Ai Wei Wei Museum of Art in Malta any time soon, will they. China’s most internationally acclaimed ‘cultural ambassador’ is also a repeatedly harassed enemy of the state.
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And, somehow, I get the feeling where Muscat is going to regret touting the film:
“”It’s not a big movie, it’s not an action movie,” the Maleficent star previously told Extra of the film, which would feature her and her fiance, 50, in their first onscreen reunion since Mr. & Mrs. Smith.
“It’s the kind of movie we love but aren’t often cast in,” she added. “It’s a very experimental, independent-type film where we get to be actors together and be really raw, open, try things.””
http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2014-07-05/news/alan-deidun-jokes-angelina-jolie-chose-mgarr-ix-xini-after-watching-his-video-5726765057/
Blokkbustid
I bet they wish they had a blockbuster to unleash upon you.
In Daphne’s case, they would need a blog buster.
Er, that was exactly the pun.
What the country needs is a bollockbuster.
The project in question is “a love story,” the source adds. Details are scarce, but it’s believed to be the film that Jolie, 39, wrote. “It’s not a big movie”
That is from the horse’s mouth and exactly the opposite of what the PM said! Blockbuster my arse.
http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/brad-pitt-angelina-jolie-to-film-new-movie-in-malta-get-the-details-201447#ixzz36cBU1Hki
“I’m writing a blockbuster” – Muscat would say that kind of thing, wouldn’t he?
Surely, by now any normal person should have realised that attention to such trivial details as the true meaning of words is not something that bothers our prime minister when it comes to boasting about his perceived, or anticipated, achievements.
Muscat seems to have learned another very British word: “delighted”.
http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/brad-pitt-angelina-jolie-to-film-new-movie-in-malta-get-the-details-201447#ixzz36cbUW6Bi
What irony if the film is based on refugees and their plight.
Daphne, I think you will like this:
http://mondediplo.com/2014/07/13english
The prime minister is obviously trying to take credit for this film being filmed here. Besides the fact that it cannot be a blockbuster as you correctly point out, at least not yet, by hyping it up he has done precisely the thing producers of films want to avoid. That is getting unnecessary attention for their film and spiking prices. What an idiot.
The film industry in Malta is experiencing a revival of sorts. Lets hope it is not just a fluke. Having said that this government has made one good appointment even though it too was an iced bun. The new film commissioner is a vast improvement on Peter Busuttil, but then after Busuttil the only way was up as Busuttil single-handedly destroyed the Maltese film industry.
The Nationalist government and especially Tonio Fenech failed to listen to the pleas of various persons in the industry which in turn lost them the support of many whose livelihood is dependent on the industry.
This is but one example of where the Nationalists, who did so much for the country, messed up by taking the ‘we know better’ approach, rather than listening to those who really knew.
The Labour Party and the Malta government are the complete opposite of Ai Wei Wei’s thinking and art.
I saw his exhibition in Toronto and it was great. He is a hero in today’s world except for Malta, since they have no clue who he is.
My spies tell me a private company brought this film to Gozo and not the commission.
So the Prime Minister is being so very transparent that he is even sharing his assumptions and gut feelings with us.
Well, instead of having him talk about petty news, we would rather have him tell us what is exactly going on in our country under his administration.
http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2014-07-06/news/ngos-united-against-enlargement-of-white-rocks-site-5734268928/
On White Rocks, NGOs are right to be concerned about the extensive area of land being committed to development. A more sensible approach would be to limit development to those are which are already committed by the British barracks.
Another concern is that this is speculative development, pure and simple. Residential development is acceptable. It is inevitable that the eventual development will consist virtually only of residential. This generates jobs in the short term in construction but does not generate added value.
White Rocks development will result in a MASSIVE increase of vacant properties across Malta.
The past proposal for White Rocks by the PN government (I believe it was the late nineties) was for a development which GENERATES LONG TERM JOBS. The proposal was for a tourism resort development (all inclusive accommodation). The intention was to increase tourism visitors by providing a type of accommodation which at the time was totally lacking.
The PN government’s proposal was to add value and create long term jobs. The PL government’s proposal is to fuel speculation and create short term jobs, jobs which in any case are already being provided for through speculative developments elsewhere.
Although the term “blockbuster” was originally defined by audience response, after a while the term came to mean a high-budget production aimed at mass markets, with associated merchandising, on which the financial fortunes of film studio or distributor depended.
It was defined by its production budget and marketing effort rather than its success and popularity, and was essentially a tag which a film’s marketing gave itself. In this way it became possible to refer to films such as Hollywood’s Godzilla (1998) or Last Action Hero as both a blockbuster and a box-office disaster.[9]
From Wikipedia
[Daphne – God bless Wikipedia. I think you had better read what Angelina Jolie herself said about the film, which is hers, to Extra magazine: “It’s not a big movie, it’s not an action movie. It’s the kind of movie we love but aren’t often cast in.” In other words, not a blockbuster.]
Reminds me of a half-built showroom I saw in Santa Venera some years back. Splashed across its large shopwindow panes was this massive banner already describing the unfinished building as ‘PRESTIGIOUS new premises’.
AE you are spot on in every sentence. My close relative works in the industry. The disaster created by Busuttil in the last years of the PN admin, placed as a political favour by Tonio Fenech, created shockwaves. Even the former PM was informed in person and nothing changed.
Lawrence Gonzi never listened to anyone. He always knew best.
And the Minister of Gozo follows suit and also calls it a ‘blockbuster’
http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/national/40854/joliepitt_movie_could_leave_20_million_in_gozo_economy#.U7pRemthiSM
This type of article is precisely the type that the producers would have loved to avoid. They prefer discretion and being left in peace to get on with their film-making.
Creating hype like this only causes prices and costs to increase which could thrown the budget out of the water.
Just because there are big names attached it does not follow it is a big budget studio film. Not only, even people/studios who have money don’t like to be fleeced.
This is what happened with ‘Troy’ – with the amount of backhanders made, Malta earned a reputation of being “a bunch of thieves”. It took years for Malta to build its reputation again.
The media should exercise discretion and our politicians too. But with this lot I don’t think they understand the meaning of it. I am already cringing at the thought of Michelle Muscat hankering after an ‘audience’ with Brangelina.
Not even Jolie and Pitt themselves are expecting this movie to be a blockbuster:
http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/jul/07/angelina-jolie-brad-pitt-shoot-movie-malta-august