Moneyball strikes out

I'd comment at length on the Moneyball fiasco, but much of what I'm thinking has already been said by David Poland over at The Hot Blog. I still think that adult dramas would be fine and dandy if studios would stop spending $60-80 million on them. But the idea that the recession/strike/shrinking DVD market is leading studios to gut anything that isn't a preordained event film is a scary concept. Gee, a preordained blockbuster based on an existing property... that sounds an awful lot like... something that will celebrate its twentieth anniverary tomorrow. Regardless, any healthy studio would be foolish not to snap this project up. Worst case scenario, you have a $60 million Brad Pitt baseball movie (even if it should cost no more than $45 million). The film may be more about statistics and less about the glory of the game, but audiences won't know that until after opening weekend. Pitt is one of the true absolute movie stars, and even his domestic underperformers make it up overseas. This is a tiny bet, as opposed to the huge tentpole bets that studios seem so much more confident in making.

Scott Mendelson