The Perfect Formula For Box Office Success

Julez writes "According to icLiverpool, the formula for creating the "perfect" film has been discovered by a UK academic. The research will be used to assess the potential success of possible film sponsorship deals. Apparently, the perfect feature must have: action 30pc, comedy 17pc, good v evil 13pc, love/sex/romance 12pc, special effects 10pc, plot 10pc and music 8pc "

This is a direct rip off of the Flintstones

[jj_johny]

There was that episode where Barney and Fred (in P-31) [topthat.net] write a song and analyze what needs to be in it to be a hit. I would not be suprised if this is just a hoax.

Not so

[Anonymous Coward]

The funniest joke was written by a British joke writer. When he read it, he died laughing.

It was translated into German and the British read it to the Gernam soldiers during WW2, turning the tide for the Allies.

triumph of taylorism

[gobbo]

Thank you, Sue Clayton, for indirectly pointing out that Hollywood is suffering from creative necrosis.

There are, of course, scientific guidelines behind any art form, such as the Golden Ratio [maths.org], but this isn't one of them. While I am open to the possibility that there may be some universals in human narrative [muohio.edu], I shudder to think that the commodified culture of Hollywood might impose its formulas on us like a mental template. Or is it too late?

Whenever Taylorism [muohio.edu] is applied to a creative endeavour, we get quanity over quality and the fears of General Ned Ludd and the Army of Redressers [schoolnet.co.uk] as well as Socrates [film-philosophy.com] become valid.

Dehumanized art is dead art.

Re:pc?

[Anonymous Coward]

It's an abbreviation of the Latin per centum.

percent [reference.com]

Re:*snicker*

[silhouette]

A quick search on the lovely capalert site reveals that there is exactly one movie that has received a perfect zero rating: American Psycho [capalert.com].

My favorite choice quote from the "review":
There is no listing of Chapter and Verse references for this movie. There is not enough room.

Bwahaha!

Re:Good grief!

[BZ]

> "never toss a dwarf", "second lunch" , etc. I
> don't remember reading these lines.

The first one never appears in quite that form, though it's there in a slightly more extended version. The second one is in the book nearly verbatim on a few occasions.

> And here's a crazy idea - let's make a love
> triangle with Eowyn

You mean like the love triangle in the book? It's not as pronounced in the book, but definitely there....

Re:Not so

[Anonymous Coward]

- MY DOG HAS NO NOSE
- How does he smell?
- AWFUL

Re:Been Tried for Real

[imaginate]

I can't believe that no one has mentioned Dave Seigel's nine act structure [dsiegel.com] or Joseph Vogler's adaptation of Joseph Cambell's work, the Hero's Journey [angelfire.com]

Filmmakers and producers have been using these for years (the more you know about them, the more depressing it is to watch stuff like the Matrix), and this isn't much that's new (look at MGM's formula films in the 30's).

One thing that is worth noting is that it's still *difficult* to write a movie that perfectly utilizes these ratios, while making it "different" enough to fool the audiences.

Also worth noting is the fact that, while the best-selling cars are a rather generic ratio of certain features - power, luxury, price, safety, etc., the cars that people often really like are the ones that go out on some extreme (WCM Ultralite [wcmultralite.com] anyone?).