Hypothetical HHN-film turned house: an IP or original?

[Legacy]

Sure, but the event as a backdrop for a movie is far less interesting thematically than the amazing backstories they've cooked up for some of the icons. If they use the event as a multiverse jumping off point to then spinoff the individual stories, great. But a movie about the event is sort of just another slasher in my book.

You need to make the first movie marketable with a hook before you can get a second. That’s why they’re interested in the event as a backdrop. The icons have “interesting” backstories, but are also fairly generic and contrived by design. They work perfectly for a haunt event because they’re simple and accessible. To market a movie, they’re far less effective.

 

[mks]

You need to make the first movie marketable with a hook before you can get a second. That’s why they’re interested in the event as a backdrop. The icons have “interesting” backstories, but are also fairly generic and contrived by design. They work perfectly for a haunt event because they’re simple and accessible. To market a movie, they’re far less effective.

Yeah, for me a movie where a bunch of kids get killed at the haunt is more contrived than a movie designed around one of the icons. You can easily see a version of A Nightmare on Elm Street but swap in Jack/Eddie etc. In my mind, if you build a movie around an icon without the icon being the lead (which has been done many times) you've got far richer material than Friday The 13th but at a theme park.

Also, the idea that a haunt is more marketable than a character is not one I agree with. Nearly every single successful horror franchise started out by launching the character and then expanding out. SAW, a tiny movie, was marketed well. LONGLEGS, another small movie, was marketed well. Neither of those had any prior market share.

Perhaps marketing the event is an easier route, but in my mind, it's not the better route. And I can see the CW version of this movie with kids at the event, something supernatural happens, and I'm sure that's what the studio wants to do, but it's really low hanging fruit.

I mean, nobody outside of the core HHN fanbase will care if the movie is related to HHN.

 

[Legacy]

Perhaps marketing the event is an easier route, but in my mind, it's not the better route. And I can see the CW version of this movie with kids at the event, something supernatural happens, and I'm sure that's what the studio wants to do, but it's really low hanging fruit.

I mean, nobody outside of the core HHN fanbase will care if the movie is related to HHN.

Bold part is the important part, because if the studio producing the film can’t figure out how to market it (or doesn’t want to figure out how to market it), it won’t be built.

“Halloween Horror Nights,” as an event (scary event in a Universal Studios theme park) is known and profitable in Orlando, Hollywood, Tokyo, Singapore, and (now) Beijing. The event is ubiquitous enough now to justify a standalone location in Las Vegas and will likely occur in Europe. The Caretaker, a generic spooky mortician, is known in Orlando only. Even Jack, the most marketable “face” of the event, has only appeared at non-Florida events once or twice each.

You compared Saw (which came out in 2005 and started the torture-porn trend) and Longlegs (which had Nicholas Cage) to how an icon movie could be marketed. Saw started a new trend of horror genre. Longlegs is/was the “one” R-Rated horror this year, not based in a franchise, to break $100m (again, Nic Cage). The next highest ranking, non-franchise horror? Night Swim at $32m. An icon-based movie is more likely going to be received like Abigail, which came in at a disappointing $25m domestic. THAT’S why they want to leverage the actual event and not a random character from the event.

More so, the people making the movie would be Hollywood-centric. The film likely wouldn’t be filmed in Orlando, and its creatives (even more likely) have no connection to the stories Orlando creates. Even a pitch for an event-centric movie is easier.

I’m not trying to insult your intelligence on this. If you had the access to even make the pitch, you obviously understand these things. But it’s the nature of the business. The best way to approach it is finding the best possible story within the framework of what the studio will best want.

 

[mks]

Bold part is the important part, because if the studio producing the film can’t figure out how to market it (or doesn’t want to figure out how to market it), it won’t be built.

“Halloween Horror Nights,” as an event (scary event in a Universal Studios theme park) is known and profitable in Orlando, Hollywood, Tokyo, Singapore, and (now) Beijing. The event is ubiquitous enough now to justify a standalone location in Las Vegas and will likely occur in Europe. The Caretaker, a generic spooky mortician, is known in Orlando only. Even Jack, the most marketable “face” of the event, has only appeared at non-Florida events once or twice each.

You compared Saw (which came out in 2005 and started the torture-porn trend) and Longlegs (which had Nicholas Cage) to how an icon movie could be marketed. Saw started a new trend of horror genre. Longlegs is/was the “one” R-Rated horror, not based in a franchise, to break $100m (again, Nic Cage). The next highest ranking, non-franchise horror? Night Swim at $32m. An icon-based movie is more likely going to be received like Abigail, which came in at a disappointing $25m domestic. THAT’S why they want to leverage the actual event and not a random character from the event.

More so, the people making the movie would be Hollywood-centric. The film likely wouldn’t be filmed in Orlando, and its creatives (even more likely) have no connection to the stories Orlando creates. Even a pitch for an event-centric movie is easier.

I’m not trying to insult your intelligence on this. If you had the access to even make the pitch, you obviously understand these things. But it’s the nature of the business. The best way to approach it is finding the best possible story within the framework of what the studio will best want.

Oh it’s all good, I enjoy the conversation; not insulting at all! And I don’t disagree with you about how the studio is going to think through it, I disagree with the notion of building a film from a marketing first perspective.

My opinion is simply that I think that’s the lame way to produce anything. And in my experience that sort of thinking is the absolute hardest part of working on any film/tv project from a development level. The second marketing gets involved the pieces start to shift and many times the story suffers, the execution suffers and ultimately the results suffer. Of course they will base it on the haunt, it’s risk vs reward and they’re always going to say “well how was I supposed to know it wouldn’t make XYZ dollars, the haunt is successful!”

It’s the same thing at Disney. Much easier to remake known IP than develop something new. You don’t have to market it in a way to educate people to drive them to the theater, I get it.

I 100% agree that the studio is going to take less than zero risks, they’re going to produce a simple, broad movie that takes place within the haunt, it’s going to be put on the streamer and then get lost in the mix. That’s the current business model, without a doubt; be broad as possible. I’m just saying, that’s a disservice to the event when they could roll the dice and attempt something richer.

And I wasn’t comparing those movies to how an icon could be marketed, I was saying those are two examples of movies that came out of nowhere, with no IP and slick marketing campaigns that drove people to the theater and produced results.

And again! Never insulting, this is what it’s all about !

 

[Midnight Detective]

A movie/show following a Carey, Ohio group like the Police or a News Crew would be the pick.

But if I were making HHN Hellfest, but different enough from Hellfest to be unique, there's a lot of different ways to approach it.

During the normal hours of operation of the event, you show off the event with character building scenes of the main cast. It could follow guests or employees/scareactors. Free marketing! It also gives spatial awareness to the audience - what is where.

Then introduce an element to make the event lethal without just having a random killer:

- The storage warehouse has a prop(s) that's actually evil.
- Cursed/haunted masks Universal order turn people evil.
- A group breaks in after hours to find out they're not alone

Etc, etc

What I'd be curious about from the corporate side is what would be allowed/cut in regards to not encourage poor guest behavior.

 

[Legacy]

My idea was always a fan poisoning the fog, causing all the other guests and performers to turn into a destructive mass. Nothing supernatural, just toxic fandom. But I digress.

 

[mks]

My idea was always a fan poisoning the fog, causing all the other guests and performers to turn into a destructive mass. Nothing supernatural, just toxic fandom. But I digress.

That's fun! How do you avoid the police showing up and shutting it all down?

Cops and cell phones, always the problem, haha!

 

[mks]

A movie/show following a Carey, Ohio group like the Police or a News Crew would be the pick.

But if I were making HHN Hellfest, but different enough from Hellfest to be unique, there's a lot of different ways to approach it.

During the normal hours of operation of the event, you show off the event with character building scenes of the main cast. It could follow guests or employees/scareactors. Free marketing! It also gives spatial awareness to the audience - what is where.

Then introduce an element to make the event lethal without just having a random killer:

- The storage warehouse has a prop(s) that's actually evil.
- Cursed/haunted masks Universal order turn people evil.
- A group breaks in after hours to find out they're not alone

Etc, etc

What I'd be curious about from the corporate side is what would be allowed/cut in regards to not encourage poor guest behavior.

I like the prop that's actually evil, that's a cool idea! You can go a lot of different ways with that, too.

Anything that takes us out of the real world in some way to avoid the ease of someone shutting down a killer etc.