24 finale is probably not so finale
The millions of viewers who鈥檝e followed Jack Bauer鈥檚 every move for the last eight years will have to get their thrills elsewhere. The final episode of the hit thriller 鈥�24鈥� aired Monday night.
Then again, agent Bauer just might live on to fight terrorists another day, maybe on a big screen at a movie theater near you.
The TV credits had barely faded from the screen Monday night when the blogosphere began buzzing about the possibility of a 鈥�24鈥� movie, which
Considering the surge of TV shows being made into movies in recent years 鈥� Tuesday's premiere of 鈥�Sex and the City 2,鈥� based on the hugely popular HBO series, is the latest example 鈥� a "24" movie seems likely.
Why is Hollywood mining the airwaves for silver screen hits these days?
鈥淚t all has to do with risk,鈥� said Paul Schneider, chairman of the Film and Television Department at Boston University.
For a film industry hit by the recession, a movie with a built-in audience is a safe investment.
鈥淭he calculation is, if it did really well on TV 鈥� if everyone鈥檚 heard of it 鈥� take that recognition and turn into a feature film,鈥� said Dr. Schneider.
There are generally two categories of shows that are being made into movies these days:
鈥� Remakes of classics (many of which weren鈥檛 necessarily big hits in their own day) like 鈥�The Dukes of Hazzard,鈥� which aired on the small screen in the 1970s and was made into a movie in 2005. These films seek to attract younger date movie audiences and older folks who remember the shows from their youth.
鈥� Remakes of recent hit shows, like 鈥�Sex and the City鈥� and 鈥�The Simpsons." These aim to cash in on the shows鈥� success.
Both types of adaptations generally consist of lighter fare 鈥� comedies or action movies 鈥� aimed at a summer blockbuster audience. They鈥檙e meant to rake in big bucks for the studios.
But that鈥檚 not always the case. Many TV show adaptations don鈥檛 actually do so well in movie theaters. 鈥淏ewitched鈥� (yep, the 1960s series was remade in 2005) performed dismally at the box office, costing $85 million to make and grossing just $63 million domestically.
The trend also does not necessarily make for good film. 鈥淰ery few of these movies are being done for an artistic purpose,鈥� said Schneider. And with movie executives hedging their bets and investing in TV adaptations with blockbuster potential, original mid-budget movies are getting squeezed out of the market.
Here are some of the higher and lower grossing TV-to-movie adaptations and their domestic box office receipts, according to Box Office Mojo:
鈥�Mission: Impossible鈥� franchise (1996, 2000) $530 million
鈥�The Simpsons Movie鈥� (2007) $183 million
鈥淪ex and the City鈥� (2008): $153 million
鈥淕et Smart鈥� (2008): $130 million
鈥淐harlie鈥檚 Angels: Full Throttle鈥� (2003): $100 million
鈥�Starsky and Hutch鈥� (2004): $88 million
鈥淭he Dukes of Hazzard鈥� (2005): $88 million
鈥�South Park: Bigger, Louder, Uncut鈥� (1999): $52 million
