TBF, Mags, you have been doing a lot of the heavylifting for the quest, so this will be in good hands.
To be clear to everyone, this is just me burning out on imagination of the quest, since my muse has been hitting me over the head a lot with so many different ideas that I just can't find myself too interested in this.
I'll still hang out here, though, since this still does have a sepcial place in my heart.
I'd like to thank you all for making this a wonderful experience while it lasted.
I'd also like to thank @Magoose, @Fluffy_serpent, and @Martin Noctis for doing so much to help prepare and write this quest. I couldn't have done it without you all.
Rocky:
"He Likes You… He Wants to Fight You."
Directed By: John Guilbert Avildsen
Produced By: Mike Eisner, Bruce O'Brian, Irwin Winkler
Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire, Burt Young, Carl Weathers, Burgess Meredith
Distributed: Lucasfilms Unlimited
Film Quality:D100 + 100 => 199
Audience Roll:D100 + 100 => 198
Critic Roll:D100 + 100 => 195
Production Budget: 1 million
Domestic Growth:184,464,767
International Growth:149,800,010
Total Gross: 334,264,777
Bruce's Profits: 33,426,477
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Mike spent 4 million dollars hyping up this film as the Great American Underdog story and left the production without any cash for barely all the production… which would have been something that you would have fired Mike for, but considering the results, and the fact he was very clearly making sure the production ran right, fast and under budget, it made you wonder just what else the man could do…
You were sure that Great adversity, made Great Art… and the fact that he didn't spend a dime of that 4 million until after production wrapped. And everything was done.
That much was something special when you looked at the huge lines for Rocky that night. Everyone was captivated by Slys personal story of finding his own life, and success, with a one and a million shot.
But you were more focused on the man who was looking at the truly… marvelous spectacle. Sylvester Stallone was on the red carpet, looking at the crowd, looking at the people taking pictures, hell even looking at his fellow co-stars.
Carl was leading everyone into the first showing, but Sly stood back, waiting for you to show up next to him. "You know, I was wondering just how much my life has changed because you took a chance with me?" He said as he waved and you walked beside him.
"Maybe you'd still have your movie made." You stated. "I still can't believe you gave Mike a producer Credit?"
"I owed him for what he did for the film. Irwin did most of the work after that, Mike just made sure we stayed on schedule. And make it so that film is as big as it could."
You nodded. "Still think he could have warned me that he was spending my money on… Well, advertising."
"You know what Mike is good at, so let him work with what he is good at." You replied.
You then sighed before you were embraced by a sobbing Sylvester. "Thank you, Bruce, for everything."
"Any time Sly.
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It surprised you just how much Rocky cooled off for audiences. It made money and lots of it, but there were other films, and some people thought that Rocky was just a little too sappy after a few viewings. But it was still a brilliant debut for Sly and everyone else, as well as Lucasfilms first original production.
America fell in love with Rocky Balboa, and the critics were lauding it as one of the best and most personal films made in the decade.
Some even called it the best sports film of the decade, and it was going to be nominated for many Oscars in the coming year.
A few, very lone voices, called it the Greatest Sports movie of all time.
But it was making so much money that you worried just how much everyone was getting paid.
But Mike made sure most of the profits went to the War Chest.
He wanted to start looting… everything that Warner had.
And Sly, well… you knew one thing he did immediately after he got his first paycheck.
Get his dog something to eat.
Because that dog, before you, and Mike and everyone else… believed in him.
Reward: Rocky has dominated the Box office and the Critics, some even calling it the best sports movie ever.
It has also made Sylvester Stallone a new icon of Hollywood… he has made clear that he would never allow anyone but Lucasfilms to touch his beloved Rocky.
You have helped Restore hope in Sly's life, and that is something he will never forget.
A very strong performance with Rocky going the distance and a great debut for Lucasfilms originals, not as strong as if Star Wars were first, but a good debut nontheless. Thankfully Rocky made more than twice it did OTL and we got a pretty decent cash flow to fund some minor charity and investments. Kind of hillarious how much things escalated if Bruce is disappointed it only made a third of a billion dollars when just two years ago Rocky would have been the highest grossing movie of all time. Guess we're truly in the Blockbuster era.
My only criticism is that Sly buying Butkus back doesn't really make any sense considering he has his boxing income and the paycheck for writing and starring in Rocky. Not to mention you said this earlier Magoose:
My only criticism is that Sly buying Butkus back doesn't really make any sense considering he has his boxing income and the paycheck for writing and starring in Rocky. Not to mention you said this earlier Magoose:
You must have been so happy that Farah came into the picture to give Bruce shit for being a Yankees fan...which I'm surprised hasn't come up more often.
Kind of hillarious how much things escalated if Bruce is disappointed it only made a third of a billion dollars when just two years ago Rocky would have been the highest grossing movie of all time. Guess we're truly in the Blockbuster era.
Forget Worm, Bruce O'Brian is the real escalation meme.
On a more serious note, @Magoose, I think I noticed an error(could be wrong though). The threadmark for today's turn is listed as April-June, obviously being 3 months as you said, but I thought Rocky was supposed to come out in July for the Bicentennial?
Fuck Worm, Bruce O'Brian is the real escalation meme.
On a more serious note, @Magoose, I think I noticed an error(could be wrong though). The threadmark for today's turn is listed as April-June, obviously being 3 months as you said, but I thought Rocky was supposed to come out in July for the Bicentennial?
Somewhat sad that my option with Herbert failed, but glad that it wasn't the catastrophe Magoose hinted it could be in the end. I'm sorry I got too into it, I just wanted to get George the chance to Direct a Dune adaptation that wouldn't suck. I still want to speak with Frank Herbert and get the rights though, but perhaps we could wait a turn or two before trying again.
Now then, let's see what Mike wants, and what we can give him.
Not really how that works. Rocky is a perfect example of this. It got near perfect rolls all around with an additional +100 bonus, but it's described as having cooled off pretty quickly. Basically, no matter how high we roll, it will always be bound by what is capable of what makes sense. No matter how high we roll on effects, for instance, it can easily be beaten by similar rolls 50 years from now because the technology exists to do better on a grander scale and for cheaper.
Not really how that works. Rocky is a perfect example of this. It got near perfect rolls all around with an additional +100 bonus, but it's described as having cooled off pretty quickly. Basically, no matter how high we roll, it will always be bound by what is capable of what makes sense. No matter how high we roll on effects, for instance, it can easily be beaten by similar rolls 50 years from now because the technology exists to do better on a grander scale and for cheaper.
I honestly don't agree with this, special effects are like the least important part of 99% of movies because the actual meat of the dish will alway be the scripts and actor performance. It doesn't mmmmatter if you have the best special effect or spices on top of food if what the spices are enhancing is rotten trash or at best undercooked. when the dish you where doing a new take on had high quality ingredients cooked to perfection with few options as seasoning. Same with movies and special effects.
movies like peter jacksons lord of the rings are gonna age better then the hobbit movies for the simple reason that practical effects and models stand the test of time better then cgi
You're missing the actual point and are getting fixated on one minor thing. The point I was making, again, is that the movie we make will be only as good as the period allows for or what's available to us, factoring in restrictions like limited effects or actors available or whatever else(I may be phrasing it poorly, but basically, it's always going to be limited by various factors as appropriate). If we roll perfectly on an earlier film, and roll similarly on a film 30 years later, that later film is likely technically going to be better because it not only has everything that makes the previous film strong but also benefits from the more modern time it's made during. I used effects as an example previously because it simple and easy to grasp that it's changed and the effect it has. No matter how good we roll in this field, it can still be beat by similar rolls on a later film because of tech advancement. For all the faults of the Sequel Trilogy, they are visually stunning films. The question at that point more so becomes whether or not your earlier effects hold up. You can apply this to whatever other aspect of the rolls. This is, of course, ignoring the fact that my response in the negative, regardless of how I justified or qualified it, it's still correct as evidenced by Rocky not sustaining interest for very long despite how great the rolls were.
As an aside, no, effects are not just "spice." Visual effects can make or break a film. It doesn't matter how well written or well acted the film is if it looks like ass. Film is, of course, a visual medium and any failures on that front can immediately take someone out of the experience. As a recent and topical example, Lord of Ring: Gollum(No that's not a typo, the game actually calls itself that at points, it's that bad). That game could have the most incredibly written story in history, but because it looks like a bad PS2 game in 2023, it would always sour the experience. Hell, some film or games survivie purely off of it's visual effects. Horror is one such genre that relies heavily on this, and many shitty horror films are elevated purely on the basis of their special effects. I also don't agree with your claim that practical effects inherently stand the test of time better than CGI. True, that's how it's been so far because of how rudimentary CGI has been for a long time, and how it's always been improving, but there are plenty of CGI in films that hold up far better than older or contemporary, or fuck, even things right now. CGI is generally like video/photo quality, you can only improve so much before it becomes inconsequential because there's only so much that the human eye can pick up and human brain can process. It's why improvements beyond 4k are generally pretty pointless, because you can't really perceive more than that. The same applies to CGI.
