The True Story: Hollywood's Newest Blockbuster
What the "True Story" means to Hollywood is no mystery: it is an advertising point, a method to draw in audiences, and accolades.
The Popularity of a True Story
Unfortunately, it is not viable to determine the monetary effect of attaching the "Based on True Events" tag but we can compare the initial success of a film to its novel counterpart for example.
Slumdog Millionaire will suit this example, although there are many others. Slumdog Millionaire is based on the novel, Q & A by Vikas Swarup, released in 2005, to weak, if any, success in America. According to a NYTimes.com article from 2009, Q & A did not do well until it was renamed to Slumdog Millionaire and following the movie's release. The movie on the other hand opened to 360K in its first week, with critical acclaim which lead to sales jumping over a million by its second week and growing. |
The Quality of a "True Story"
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To say that the genre of "True Story" is a small aspect of Hollywood film entertainment would be an understatement. Dating back all the way to the 1890's there is a slow increase in films taking inspiration from real life events. According to Wikipedia's compiled list of movies under that genre, roughly 500 films have been made either "based on true events" or "inspired by true events."
In fact, in the past five years (2007-2012), about 30% of the Academy Award Best Picture nominees are either "based on a true story" or "inspired by true events." Perhaps more important to note is that out of the past five Academy Award Best Picture winners four are a part of that 30%; Argo (2012), the King's Speech (2011), The Hurt Locker (2009), Slumdog Millionaire (2008). |
But What Does It All Mean?
So, now we know the definitions and discovered that the "based on true events" genre is popular and occasionally brings in top awards. Big deal? It is a big deal once you look back at the Occam's Razor about this genre: "Some of it is true, some of it is not true."
What are we as an audience accepting if movies that have history skewed are becoming blockbusters and winning the top awards?
Let's take a deeper look at the misconceptions that come along with movies "Based On True Events" and "Inspired by True Events" within Film.
What are we as an audience accepting if movies that have history skewed are becoming blockbusters and winning the top awards?
Let's take a deeper look at the misconceptions that come along with movies "Based On True Events" and "Inspired by True Events" within Film.