More change is on the way for WWE. And its not coming cheap

[IANdrewDiceClay]

LOL that would be funny if Bischoff bought it and then renamed it WCW.

Dont tease me. You've got me thinking of posibilities now

 

Imagine if WWE did go out of business? It would be like that scene at the end of Ghostbusters II when the Statue of Liberty cracks the smile shell of the museum and the Ghostbusters mop up. If WWE went bust, you'd have all kinds of people trying to nab the copyrights to the promotions and video libraries WWE owns. Bischoff would probably whore his wife out (again) to get WCW back.

[DJ Kris]

Alot of times when people list down a movies budget they don't include promotion costs. The Condemned may have had a budget of 20 mil but the promotion costs are usually either half or more of the movies budget. So for a movie to make any profit it has to make at a minimum 1.5 times it's budget/promotion costs.

I don't think a few adverts on Raw cost ten million, like.

In The Condemned's case that would be true, I heard WWE were pissed at Linesgate for not giving it the amount of promotion they shoudl have. See No Evil though, and I think some of the others did have more promotion behind then than just Raw and Smackdown.

[KillerTwist]

At the risk of sounding like a complete mug, what's debt financing/leveraging?

I was wondering the same thing. This sounds like something that could seriously risk WWE's future and I honestly don't think that's a risk he should take. I've actually been looking forward to the day Triple H and Stephanie take over because I have a strong feeling that Triple H would look to put the missing W back!

 

Here here mate, and to be honest if the rumors are true about the new wwe logo, Im all up for it..the scratched attitude logo is abit outdated now with the p-g era but I guess we'll have to see and the one thing Im hoping HHH does the day he takes over is get rid of that stupid concussion policy that he and 'Taker got fined over

 

What's this? New logo?

[ClassicsGuy]

At the risk of sounding like a complete mug, what's debt financing/leveraging?

I was wondering the same thing. This sounds like something that could seriously risk WWE's future and I honestly don't think that's a risk he should take. I've actually been looking forward to the day Triple H and Stephanie take over because I have a strong feeling that Triple H would look to put the missing W back!

 

Here here mate, and to be honest if the rumors are true about the new wwe logo, Im all up for it..the scratched attitude logo is abit outdated now with the p-g era but I guess we'll have to see and the one thing Im hoping HHH does the day he takes over is get rid of that stupid concussion policy that he and 'Taker got fined over

 

What's this? New logo?

 

Somebody photoshopped a Money in the Bank ppv poster featuring a new WWE logo for a joke and conned the Pro Wrestling Torch into printing it as a real news story.

 

People not in on the joke now think a new logo is afoot when it isn't.

[ThePhenom]

I would rather him spend his company's cash on making WWE huge again, try and get himself on NBC

How could he spend cash on getting himself on NBC?

I meant that he should use all this money he is wasting on crap films, and use it to have adverts for WWE everywhere you turn in the street and on the telly. Try and get it everywhere like they do with other big american TV shows like NFL and American Idol and that, and popular singers, and then try and get more and more viewers by promoting it that much. He should try and make it bigger than it's ever been, and maybe if instead of doing loads of PPVs, they could do specials on NBC or something, and try and get a massive amount of viewers, and maybe there could be a new boom period. I can dream anyway.

[FireBrand]

In fact when you factor in the DVD sales as well as box office I'd dare say all were profitable.

Their film division hasnt turned a profit since it started. They do well on DVD sales, but they take a massive fucking according to the WWE yearly reports. And is it really worth selling a few DVD's of their films, when they'd easily make that much by putting out another Steve Austin 3 Disc DVD and do it without the cost of making a film? They've already lost over $1 Million already in 2011. Thats why I found it odd that they are doing this now, since last year PPV's, ratings, house show attendance and their film division are down from the previous year. They still rake in a shitload of money, but you would think they'd want to improve on the areas of business that are suffering right now than go outside the box.

 

 

The films fail because they don't stand up as being worth anything to anybody outside the fanbase of the wrestler it stars, why the hell would you watch a film with Cena playing vice jawed marine if you weren't a fan of his wrestling?

 

Basicaly it's a fifth rate actor in a tenth rate film that will only attract wrestling fans, doing things like that will only ever make as much or at best a little more than Cena head lining a major WWE PPV.

 

Even shite straight to DVD films staring people like Gary Daniels are better than the what WWE's film studio could produce or what their wrestling talent could ever hope to make. Two talents that have genuine acting skills Rock and Stone Cold work for real film studios but even then their acting talent is limited when you look at the film industry as a whole.

 

If Vince wants to his studios make real money and decent films they need to take out ALL the wrestlers he feels he can market the pictures with or it only ever be a film company that consists of awful films with wrestlers trying to act (and painfully so).

 

I think Kurt Angles film project is about making actual films with real actors and something TNA seem interested in developing.

[mdh85]

WWE Films is a concept which could turn a small profit and be a positive for the company very easily. Both 'See No Evil' and 'The Marine' made decent profits, and the early films in particular did garner the wrestlers a small amount of mainstream coverage as well, which can only be a good thing. I'm inclined to think 'The Condemned' would have done pretty well at the box office too, if Lionsgate hadn't basically abandoned it - especially since its the only WWE Films production which is even vaguely good.

 

It's clear that people WILL pay to see Cena play a "vice-jawed marine". They did. Not that many of them, I'll grant you, but enough to make the film profitable. They also payed to see Kane play a serial killer. Why? Presumably because they were both big, daft, mildly entertaining genre movies that conceptually worked well with the wrestlers' established star images. Audiences knew what they were getting, and cared enough about the stars to be interested.

 

Since then, the films have become even more daft, the stars are being miscast, and people who watched the early films have probably cottoned on that WWE Films are all a load of balls. Nobody is going to pay to watch Triple H chaperone some kids on a field trip in a "comedy" with no jokes, or to watch Ted DiBiase do anything.

 

It's a shame, because considering there's such a huge amount of talented writers and filmmakers out there who can't get established, I find it unbelievable that

 

a) WWE can't find better screenwriters for these projects, and

 

b) a marketing genius and sometime master-manipulator of the mainstream media like Vince McMahon seriously believes stuff like The Chaperone is going to establish his boys as mainstream celebrities. He's living in the 1980s.

[KillerTwist]

Somebody photoshopped a Money in the Bank ppv poster featuring a new WWE logo for a joke and conned the Pro Wrestling Torch into printing it as a real news story.

 

People not in on the joke now think a new logo is afoot when it isn't.

 

That's a shame. I'm starting to think they'll never bother with a new logo.

[Doctor Whos Next]

Anyone up for chipping in for this, if it goes up for sale? We could get ourselves a little consortium going. I'm the chairman, of course, since it was my idea.

 

Won a tenner on the lottery last night

 

Can I have a Brooklyn Brawler role

[TapOut Tapes]

Anyone up for chipping in for this, if it goes up for sale? We could get ourselves a little consortium going. I'm the chairman, of course, since it was my idea.

 

Won a tenner on the lottery last night

 

Can I have a Brooklyn Brawler role

 

I could name a few on here who wouldnt mind "Pat Patterson'ing" you

[FireBrand]

WWE Films is a concept which could turn a small profit and be a positive for the company very easily. Both 'See No Evil' and 'The Marine' made decent profits, and the early films in particular did garner the wrestlers a small amount of mainstream coverage as well, which can only be a good thing. I'm inclined to think 'The Condemned' would have done pretty well at the box office too, if Lionsgate hadn't basically abandoned it - especially since its the only WWE Films production which is even vaguely good.

 

It's clear that people WILL pay to see Cena play a "vice-jawed marine". They did. Not that many of them, I'll grant you, but enough to make the film profitable. They also payed to see Kane play a serial killer. Why? Presumably because they were both big, daft, mildly entertaining genre movies that conceptually worked well with the wrestlers' established star images. Audiences knew what they were getting, and cared enough about the stars to be interested.

 

Since then, the films have become even more daft, the stars are being miscast, and people who watched the early films have probably cottoned on that WWE Films are all a load of balls. Nobody is going to pay to watch Triple H chaperone some kids on a field trip in a "comedy" with no jokes, or to watch Ted DiBiase do anything.

 

It's a shame, because considering there's such a huge amount of talented writers and filmmakers out there who can't get established, I find it unbelievable that

 

a) WWE can't find better screenwriters for these projects, and

 

b) a marketing genius and sometime master-manipulator of the mainstream media like Vince McMahon seriously believes stuff like The Chaperone is going to establish his boys as mainstream celebrities. He's living in the 1980s.

 

 

See my point wasn't that they wouldn't make ANY money from their Film Company but going the route they currently do it's only ever going to be limited at best. WWE are better suited at making their film studios a genuinley independant spin off company and create original quality movies with genuine proven directors and talent.

 

It could be as you say an outlet for writers and actors who need a break int the film industry and a way of getting decent films to an auidence over saturated with remakes and..."re-imaginings". I just think if Vince tries to use wrestling talent and ideas in the films it's going to fail because a Film Studio needs a different kind of ethos.

[Van Dammer]

Firstly, I doubt WWE will change their logo again, its too established. When do you see established brands ripping up their most recognisable branding tool and getting a new one? GAP tried it a year ago and it cost them millions and quickly changed back.

 

The idea Vince has in fair enough but hes forgetting his bread and butter. He has NEVER made money from anything other than wrestling. All this WWE Universe, non wrestling and scripted speeches at Hall of Fame stuff is just diluting his brand with something he has no history of making money on. I really think that in a few years he'll regret this when his fan base dwindles.

 

He'd be much better spending his time building a top wrestling brand like he had in the 90's and early 00's which catches mainstream attention and develops cross over stars like Austin, Rock etc, its a policy which made his fortune and would make him far more money than trying to make more very poor films and ridicule his wrestling brand by flogging it like a dead horse on his main programming.

[mdh85]

See my point wasn't that they wouldn't make ANY money from their Film Company but going the route they currently do it's only ever going to be limited at best. WWE are better suited at making their film studios a genuinley independant spin off company and create original quality movies with genuine proven directors and talent.

 

It could be as you say an outlet for writers and actors who need a break int the film industry and a way of getting decent films to an auidence over saturated with remakes and..."re-imaginings". I just think if Vince tries to use wrestling talent and ideas in the films it's going to fail because a Film Studio needs a different kind of ethos.

 

The problem is, most proven directors and actors won't touch WWE Films with a shitty stick - and they couldn't afford them anyway, without wildly inflating the films' budgets and doing away with any chance of them making a profit. I am absolutely stunned that Yeardley Smith (Lisa Simpson) popped up in The Chaperone. She can't possibly need the money. I can only assume she's struggling to transition into live-action movies and isn't getting offered many projects.

 

The whole point of the WWE Films idea is that it uses the established star power of WWE's wrestling talent to draw people into the films, and on the flip side to broaden WWE's audience by exposing their stars to mainstream cinema-goers. It's more of a long-term plan to build crossover stars and keep WWE in the mainstream conciousness, than a short-term money-spinner. And although the films were shit, it was having a small degree of success initially. As I said, I think that's largely because 'The Marine' and 'See No Evil' played up to the wrestler's star images pretty well, without simply lifting their wrestling characters from an episode of Raw and plonking them into a film narrative. I don't think either of those films (or any of the others to be honest) used "wrestling ideas" though.

 

The cross-promotion ethos could work very well, and has for WWE in the past in hundreds of different ways in a variety of media. It's basically what turned WWE into a mainstream global brand to begin with (crossing over into MTV and the music scene, animation, toys and other merchandise, getting their stars out there onto the mainstream chatshows etc.) And if Vince had done this with the same kind of movies in the 1980s (rather than with No Holds Barred, which really did use wrestling ideas) he might well have made an absolute killing. But he's making '80s movies in 2011, and film audiences are looking for something different these days. That leads to them losing money on the films, and much worse than that, damaging mainstream audiences' perceptions of WWE rather than drawing people in to the product, by making the company and its stars look out of touch and very far from cool. The problem with WWE Films is the same problem WWE has across the whole of their business right now - their collective finger is a substantial distance from the pulse of popular culture.

 

That and the scripts are fucking dreadful.

[HarmonicGenerator]

If anybody has this month's issue of Empire magazine, on page 57 (just after the reviews) is a full page ad piece on a new WWE Studios film called That's What I Am. It stars Ed Harris, and though Randy Orton is in the cast list, it doesn't look like he features heavily or, indeed, is being used in the promotion of it. He's certainly not on the poster. And it's got a theatrical release date over here (which only 12 Rounds has had previously as far as I can recall). So it looks like the film division is branching out a bit from "look, it's one of our guys - in a film!"

[GlennCullen]

If anybody has this month's issue of Empire magazine, on page 57 (just after the reviews) is a full page ad piece on a new WWE Studios film called That's What I Am. It stars Ed Harris, and though Randy Orton is in the cast list, it doesn't look like he features heavily or, indeed, is being used in the promotion of it. He's certainly not on the poster. And it's got a theatrical release date over here (which only 12 Rounds has had previously as far as I can recall). So it looks like the film division is branching out a bit from "look, it's one of our guys - in a film!"

 

I saw the trailer for that yesterday. Orton appears for all of 1 second with one line of dialogue so I don't think he has a major part.