CINEMA BUZZ by Seymore Flix

'Tentpoles' - What Are They In The Movie Business

The word 'tentpole' is frequently used to describe movies that are box office blockbusters.  These are the franchise films that the studios are betting will hit it big. Currently, these are the high-impact, action or fantasy films that moviegoers crave and support.

Tentpoles are known quantities that the studios are banking on and have strategically positioned there release dates to garner the best possible grosses - so as to prop-up the year's releases that will be flops.

But where does the term 'tentpole' come from?  Well, it been around for decades.  In fact the term goes back to 1917 when a theatre critic, Alexander Woolcott, described the stage actor Harry Mestayer as a "tentpole".  Mr. Woolcott wrote, "Every now and then a visitor to a play sees an expert actor holding up a scene as a tentpole holds up an acre of bellying canvas"  That phrase has resonated for decades and somewhere along the line tagged it to movies that bolster (lift up) box office grosses.

The term was first used in reference to movies by then Paramount chairman, Frank Mancuso. "Tentpoles are movies that because of content, star value or story line have immediate want-to-see"., stated Mancuso. That phrase stuck and 'tentpoles' are what drives the movie industry today.

No Flats At The Cannes

Oui! Oui!

It's Cannes Film Festival week and as usual things got ugly.  This year it's all about footwear - or at least women's footwear.

Aucun! Aucun!

It seems there is an unwritten Cannes rule that says women MUST wear high-heeled shoes to all red carpet events.  Well, I, for one, was appalled when a number of women tried to circumvent the rules and were promptly turned away for wearing flats.  The gall of it all.  Anyway, so what if some of the women had medical or phyicial conditions which prohibited the wearing of high-heels.  Rules are rules!

The Cannes dress policy for red-carpet events states, "men must wear black tie with black shoes and women must be elegantly dressed with smart footwear".  I guess high-heels are smart and rhinestone loafers dumb - at least at Cannes.

Ah, the superfluousness of it all- the glitterati arguing over shoes - I love it!

World of Warcraft ...... Finally

Doomhammer -  so cute.

Nine years in development the first scenes of the movie based on the gigantically popular video game, 'World of Warcraft' has hit the web. Released by the film's director, Duncan Jones, the clip is a shot of orc chieftain - Orgrim Doomhammer (to know him is to love him). Doomhammer comes to life via the efforts of Industrial Light and Magic, which also did the Hulk in 'Avergers: Age of Ultron'. The creatures, in the film, are real characters yet are regenerated using digital filming techniques.
"We've gone beyond the point where these are just creatures in movies. We now have the technology and the ability to make new characters entirely", says Jones.

'World of Warcraft' is scheduled for release in June 2016 and will mimic the video game's on-going battle between humans and orcs in the fantasy world of Azeroth.


Seymore Flix