Universal Studios Chief Ron Meyer Admits That His Studio Makes Crap

http://www.movieline.com/2011/11/03/universal-chief-ron-meyer-addresses-tower-heist-vod-fiasco-admits-cowboys-aliens-land-of-the-lost-wo/

Let's focus on two of the crappy movies green-lit by Ron Meyer:

Cowboys & Aliens

Yes, the movie could have been much, much better than it was. But what astonishes me the most about this movie is how Steven Spielberg and Ron Howard both erroneously believed that it was an incredibly unique idea.

Executive Producer Michael Garrison and his stars Robert Conrad and Ross Martin had already done this sort of stuff in the 1960s television series "Wild, Wild West." Stuff as in Science Fiction concepts taking place in the wild west of 1870. Arch enemy Dr. Miguelito Lovelace subjected James West and Artemus Gordon to atomic bombs, the miniaturization of people, mutant plants, and other futuristic stuff all in 1870s America while West and Gordon traveled cross country in their cool train working for President Grant.

The difference here is, is that "Wild, Wild West" was extremely well written while "Cowboys & Aliens" wasn't. "Cowboys & Aliens" came across as a mundane episode of the "Wild, Wild West" (without West, Gordon, and Lovelace) if there is such a thing.

Land of the Lost

Remember that nonsense from the early 2000s when Universal Studios actually said that one of the reasons why they didn't want to revive the "1978 Battlestar Galactica" series is because they didn't think anyone would remember the series?

Yet they went ahead and green-lit a multi-million dollar movie based upon an obscure Saturday morning television series ("Land of the Lost") from the year 1974 sandwiched in between "Dick Clark's American Bandstand" and "Multiplication Rock."

According to Universal Studios logic, a heavily promoted prime time series from 1978 wouldn't be remembered while an obscure, low budget Saturday morning kids show from four years earlier would be remembered.

I think one of the reasons why Universal Studios makes crappy movies as frequently as they do is that they have really crappy research analysts in their employ. And their logic is all topsy-turvy.

Getting back to the movie itself, "Land of the Lost" sucked as much as it did because:

1. Will Ferrell isn't funny in anything he does.

2. No one knew that the movie was based upon an obscure kids show from 1974.

3. What marginally worked on snowy television screens in 1974 on Saturday mornings is not going to work on multiplex movie screens in the 21st Century.

4. Without any knowledge of the 1974 television series, the general public assessed this Will Ferrell movie as being a stupid ass, misfire of a "wannabe tent pole movie."

Ron Meyer states more than once that yes, his studio "makes crappy movies." Yet Meyer himself could have stopped these movies from being made by not greenlighting them.