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Update: RiffTrax Wants to Riff ‘Twilight’ Live, But…… they need to get the rights. Enter Kickstarter.
UPDATE: In slightly more than an hour, the $55,000 goal was reached. Amazing–but not surprising, to me. I know you people. Still, when they have to back the money truck up, they’ll need all they can get, so if you still want to contribute, please do. 95 Replies to “Update: RiffTrax Wants to Riff ‘Twilight’ Live, But…”Commenting at Satellite News
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Well, I just posted a ten dollars to the kick starter. I am not sure if they can get the rights but they can try. I just realized I paid money to have the privilege to pay more money to see Twilight. Something must be wrong with me….:eek:
They are just sparkly vampires, sparkly vampires, sparkly vampires, sparkly vampires, it’ll be ok, I hope…
Dan — the Twilight movies have long pauses in them because absolutely NOTHING EVERY HAPPENS!
My wife dragged me out to see one of them at the theater (who knows which one) and I swear to God there was a sequence where the lead just stared out a window for an entire year (I’m not sure how she survived not eating and drinking, let alone taking bathroom breaks, but maybe she was a ghost or a zombie or something by then. I guess it’s apparent I’m not quite clear on the plot details in these things). In any case, I literally fell asleep, something I haven’t done at the movies since I was 8 years old in the back of the car at the drive-in.
The good news is that when I woke up I turned to my wife and she said “you didn’t miss anything”. (Even my very smart wife failed to see the irony in this).
I don’t think Zee has been made fun of enough:
Those bastards! How dare they try to entertain us and even ask money for it! Wankers!
It’s like they don’t even know about GYMKATA.
Rifftrax, quit ignoring GYMKATA.
SOL Daria #40, KidFlash25 #36 –
I’m genuinely curious –
How does a single post of dissenting option constitute trolling?
It (#3) certainly isn’t the most articulate post, but isn’t the most obnoxious either.
I don’t spend enough time here in the comments to know everyone’s reputation. Maybe this person has baggage from other threads. I’d just hate to think that we were turning into some kind of Stepford Fans, unable to think for ourselves.
In the interest of full disclosure, I came to this thread after being fairly underwhelmed by the announcement. ‘We have secured the rights to riff Twilight live’ would be an exciting announcement. But even that wouldn’t be “something that may cause pure joy to shoot ou[t] from your eyeballs” (Kevin Murphy via Twitter) or “THE GREATEST RIFFTRAX LIVE SHOW ANNOUNCEMENT IN ALL OF HISTORY!” (Mike Nelson via Twitter). If ‘We’re willing to do a live riff of Twilight most likely consisting of 60 or 70% recycled material from the original riff if you guys put up enough money to buy us the rights” is “earth shattering” (Mike again via Twitter) then what would Mike and Joel riffing together be? Or a CT/Rifftrax live event?
Don’t get me wrong, I love the idea of Twilight live. It’s the perfect movie to get people to go who otherwise wouldn’t. I haven’t missed a live show yet and I’m certainly not going to miss this one. I was just very surprised to see everyone SO excited about what to me seems more like crumbs under the table compared to what has otherwise been a feast of MST3K/RIFFTRAX/CT goodness over the past five years.
I want to contribute, but Amazon will only let you pay with a credit card and not paypal/electronic check. :cry:
Is there anyway we can contribute through the Rifftrax and still get the cool “gifts”?????
This should be good… whatever they end up riffing.
Just added my more than 2 cents to the cause – they are up to $155,000. I hope they add a riff about Kristin Stewart’s awkward moment at the Oscars.
Oops, only $148,000. Still, pretty impressive.
Sorry, the writing and acting(?) from rifftrax has yet to really win me over…
Don’t get me wrong, there have been moments and I make those purchases. But sometimes its just guys talking during the movie, not comic characters like mst3k. Can’t say i’d dump a bunch of money to see it live. Sorry folks, i don’ t know how it works… Bye,bye.
@55 (tjg) – Well, for starters, it’d be their highest profile Rifftrax Live by far. We are talking about a series that’s only recently just left theatres, and would presumably get more attention in the media than the other live shows. If this comes off, it should open up a whole host of titles that weren’t possible before. So, yeah, big deal.
But to come on here and essentially make a snooty comment about artistry (#31, the comment I was responding to) is misguided and trollish, in my opinion. I love the public domain stuff too (almost all the riffs I have are of the PD titles), but it’s clear that these riffs have been big sellers. So if they’re going to go on Kickstarter and get after the big fish, why not go after the biggest one they’ve skewered in the past?
It’s a matter of preference, really. I don’t own the Twilight titles and have no intention of ever owning them. But if a successful live show puts more media attention on Rifftrax and allows them to be more flexible with titles, wonderful.
I can’t imagine a good Twilight show means no more Neutron the Atomic Superman because they’ll only do blockbusters from now on. They’ve maintained a good balance for seven years now, why would that stop?
But the thing is, sure, riffing Twilight and other big Hollywood blockbusters might be higher profile. But it’s also not as amusing.
RiffTrax chasing the big money by riffing Hollywood Blockbusters is the same mentality that produced those blockbusters in the first place.
Thank you to tjg (#55) for better articulating my point (#3). Now that I’m sober(er) I’ll elaborate: I have no problem with the Rifftrax guys doing a Kickstarter. I have no problem with them wanting to do “Twilight” live (even if I’d prefer them to do a movie they haven’t already done). However, I felt jerked around that for days Bill, Mike, and Kevin teased something HUGE and it simply wasn’t. I put it to you that they would have made just as much money if they just announced their damn kickstarter, rather than announcing days in advance they had something mind-blowing in store for us, when they don’t even have a deal in place yet to do “Twilight”. The whole way it unfolded left a bad taste in my mouth, although that might’ve been this cheap rum.
That said, when I came back here I expected to be ragged on WAY more than I was for my opinion (and clearly I’m in the minority, and that’s fine).
Oh, and please don’t lump me in with EricJ, I don’t even know that [expletive deleted]
Now don’t get me wrong, I love the PD and cheap movies that they skewer for their DVDs and VODs, but the blockbusters are also very funny. I’ve only watched Twilight once, and that was with Riffs, and it was possibly the most brutal riffing they’ve done. Several of the movies they’ve done, like the Star Wars Original trilogy, LOTR movies, etc. have been almost fanboyish, but they gave Twilight what it deserved.
“But the thing is, sure, riffing Twilight and other big Hollywood blockbusters might be higher profile. But it’s also not as amusing.
RiffTrax chasing the big money by riffing Hollywood Blockbusters is the same mentality that produced those blockbusters in the first place.”
To you they’re not as funny – and that’s fine. I got a friend a $20 RT gift certificate for Christmas, and tried to sell him on the VODs being substitutes for MST3k episodes. (We’ve gone to Manos and Birdemic live, so it’s not as if he’s allergic to the low-profile stuff.) He’s only interested in the blockbuster riffs, should I tell him his taste stinks?
I mean, the whole point of Rifftrax in the beginning was to have a chance to rip on movies that the show would never have been able to get the rights to, correct? Sometimes that means turds that wouldn’t have been out of place on the Satellite of Love, sometimes that means Fast and Furious. There’s a little something for everybody in the Rifftrax catalog and that’s great.
@michaeljnelson: Twilight Breaking Dawn 2’s on DVD soon. We just might riff it.
@BillCorbett: Sneak peek you may regret! Just wrote this line for a new, yet-to-be-announced RiffTrax: “Sorry about the fraternal devotion boner.”
@#66 KidFlash25: Yes. Tell your friend that his taste stinks. Then pants him and drag him around the track. ;-)
Ha! I have, but he makes fun of his taste as well. No pantsing, though. He has MMA training and would beat me senseless.
Man, Mike Nelson totally sold out, man! He should be riffing the movies I want and doing the announces that only appeal to me, man. Charging money for a product, that’s totally racist…man.
Awesome! Just pledged…can’t wait to see what it is. :-) :film:
they lost me at “riffed live”, I don’t want live riffing with audience laughing over the riffs or the distraction of faces off to the right of the screen. I want a normal riff VOD so I can burn it to dvd and have it like all my other Rifftrax.
I would have donated if it was a VOD and not live, no way would a local theater in my state participate, so I basically get nothing out of this.
I stopped buying Cinematic Titanic because they went to the live format, live format is terrible I hope Rifftrax doesn’t switch to doing live exclusively. I can’t be the only one that hates recorded live shows.
Ah, fickle, fickle misties!
I remember back in the 90s, it was always, “oh, love these old bad movies but wouldn’t it be great if they could skewer Hollywood blockbusters the way they skewer Monster-a-Go-Go?”
Now that they can, it’s “oh, blockbusters aren’t funny, why can’t they stick to the public domain shtick!”
Personally, I prefer the bad old movies too and buy every one they release, but there have been a number of blockbuster Riffs that are as funny or funnier than the old-style MST-y bad movie riffing. I would recommend Eragon (which is just Mike & Kevin) and 300, for a start.
But Mike, Bill & Kevin have all opined in interviews that the Twilight riffs are among their very best and, having watched them all (thanks to my devoted mistie wife), I have to agree.
These movies have EVERYTHING that makes a riff-perfect movie: they take themselves seriously to the point of solemnity while being utterly ridiculous; there are pauses long enough to fit all of Touch of Satan in; and they’re bone-stupid.
Not to mention that it’s the Twilight riffs that the guys credit with bringing in a whole new generation of fans.
Well, we gave a hefty (for us) donation towards this event and really really hope it happens.
And sorry, Thirt3n or however you spell it, there’s nothing like watching the guys riff with an audience, both where they are and where you are; there’s an infectious electricity you just don’t get with a cold studio performance.
Don’t really understand this attitude that one type of movie – cheap public domain cheeseburger or big-budget cheeseburger – makes for better riffing fodder than the other. If the movie can serve up plenty of contextual footholds to hang funny riffs on, who cares what kind of movie it is? The RT guys do a great job with both.
Exactly! Before I was aware of Rifftrax, I’d describe bad films as MST3K-bad. And this was during a period of time where I lost touch with the show. For a lot of us, the idea of MST alums torching the blockbusters is just too much to resist.
KidFlash25 #61
Sorry about the assumption. I’d assumed you were referring to #3. I think we all recognize the “artistry” comments as relics from the M vs J wars, which, for many, never ended. I don’t see that stuff ever going away.
And I agree with you about Twilight. It’s their greatest hit and the perfect choice for widening their audience. I have several friends that I’ve almost convinced to attend previous live shows who will definitely go to see Twilight riffed. I don’t have a problem with the choice. My only issue really was in the way the kickstarter was rolled out. I’ve thought about it a lot the last couple of days because I wasn’t really sure why I found the whole thing so off putting. I think the problem, for me, was that for the first time in twenty years they made me feel like a customer. It’s a little silly, but I always felt there was a ‘we’re in this together’ vibe with MST3K. Even more today, following them on Twitter. It felt like we were on the same side. Pointing and laughing at the Hollywood/Internet circus. Except, all of a sudden, they became part of the circus. Luring me into a tent, promising a unicorn and delivering a deformed goat (That’s too harsh. It wasn’t that bad, but I wanted to continue the metaphor). Of course, I am a customer and always have been. They should get paid for what they do and I wouldn’t suggest otherwise. I just felt a little bamboozled which isn’t something I ever expected from these guys. Again, it’s just based on stuff in my own head.
Ultimately it doesn’t really matter. I’ll support the kickstarter, go to the show and have a great time. I’ll go the show after that, as well. And keep buying the riffs and VODs. I just won’t bother getting excited the next time Rifftrax says they have a big announcement.
And just to throw in my 2 cents – I don’t see how the people who prefer the B-movie riffs have anything to complain about. The ratio has definitely shifted in their favor. What do they do, like four or five blockbuster riffs a year now? If anything they need more in-between stuff. The Highlander 2s and Above the Lawses. How is it that Steven Seagal remains unriffed?
M vs J wars? Is Mary fighting with Jo again? :-P
@76: Ah, I was never really privy to the Mike-Joel Internet Wars, so my mind didn’t immediately go to that default. That statement just struck me as the wrong way to look at this and I felt compelled to defend. No worries.
See, I still feel that way. I go back to the early 90s with a fondness for the show, of course, but I’ve only really dug into the series/Riffrax/CT over the last two years. Everything I’ve read and heard from these guys is that they’re really grateful for the fact that they’re still making fun of movies 25 years later and people love them for it.
Oh my god, a Highlander 2 riff would be AMAZING. But which version? And there’s no way in hell it could be a VOD… the producers are pretty tight with the property. However, there’s still the US theatrical cut to consider.
See, tjg, that’s interesting, because I had the opposite reaction to the Kickstarter announcement — to me it was like, “gee, gang, let’s put on a show! We have this great idea that we’d all get a huge kick out of, but it’s insanely expensive, so can you help us out?”
I guess, like they were pulling back the curtain and making us all part of the production team.
Almost like some friends who are making an indie movie but need just a few bucks more to finish it, and they come to you and ask for help.
I guess what I’m trying to say it, it made me feel closer to the guys, not more removed. And of course, no one has to contribute if they don’t want to, or can’t.
Not saying your reaction is wrong or invalid, I just find it interesting how it hit us from two opposite angles.
The runaway success of this Kickstarter portends a possible avenue of last resort for Shout! when the day comes to secure the rights for that last, stubborn batch of MST3K episodes.
@RiffTrax: To illustrate their point, our new short “Ten Long Minutes” is 12 minutes long. Get it here: http://t.co/pwNNLKqcuF
@ 76: “I think we all recognize the “artistry” comments as relics from the M vs J wars, which, for many, never ended. I don’t see that stuff ever going away.”
I see Joel vs. Mike posts less & less – I think there are only a handful of bitter curmudgeons who feel they have something to prove that still keep it alive online &, when they pop up, they are usually treated as trolls. It seems like most modern MST3K fans have their preferences but enjoy the show as a whole & appreciate both hosts for what they brought to the show.
Alot of my fellow fans are going to disagree with what I have to say, but here it is. I am very disappointed Rifftrax has jumped on the e-begging wagon. Though, I am not surprised since Bill started E-begging last year, it was only a matter of time before the rest of Rifftrax followed suit. They are asking money to make a product to sell to you. That is not donating, it is profit. Hate to say this but I have less respect for Mike and Rifftrax now. Flame me all you want but that is just MHO.
It’s not “e-begging” if you get a product in return for your donation. It’s more like a pre-order, with the option to chip in more if you want to help the cause. In Bill’s case, your donation got you a download of his book. Your donation to the Twilight riff project gets you a recorded copy of the performance. The donation levels that get you those goodies are pretty much in line with what you’d have to pay for them if they were already produced, but by paying for them in advance you make the creation of those things possible. I see no ethical problems here.
Obviously it depends on the specific case, but in general I applaud the Kickstarter model. A favorite band of mine – Marillion – started using a fan-funded pre-order model to finance the production of their albums way back in 2000, about as early as such a thing would have been possible with the Internet. It freed them from the obligation to do business with record companies (other than for distribution of the album), and allowed them to keep more of the money from the sale of their albums. It also allowed them to spend more time making the records and produce the kind of music they wanted to make without badgering from the record company execs (think of the clueless notes the MST guys got from the studio execs when the big studio was providing the money). As a result, the band’s made some of the best albums of their career since going independent. When artists are patronized by people who want the work to be good, rather than by entities driven mostly by profit, it can create a space for them to produce better work.
What Brian Said.
I just have respectfully disagree with you Brian.
In general I, too, am opposed to KS projects, but this model (donate and get be assured of getting something in return, unlike a lot of other KS stuff) seems reasonable. In particular, it trades upon the track record of folks who are proven producers.
KS projects from folks who haven’t demonstrated their worth (or their ability to deliver) as well as those projects where you get little, if anything, in return are basically patronage, and something I think (in these tough economic times) ought to be outlawed (there is a saying about a fool and their money but it’s hardly sporting when the internet makes it so easy). Still, it IS your own money, and you can throw it away any way you’d like.
In any case, with nearly $180K reached it’s hard to argue with success (my gut tells me this will top out at around $250K, although the initial rush has passed and perhaps lack of further publicity will slow this speeding train down quite a bit).
Mike @87: Agree with your comment about KS projects from “folks who haven’t demonstrated their worth.” Those are the people I had in mind when I included my caveat about it depending on who’s using it and how. I think KS is a great tool for proven artists who have other options but would rather harness the power of their hard-won fanbase to make things happen. On the flip side, there are a lot of schlubs out there with a half-baked idea and no track record who are probably more likely to use their KS funds to pay their rent than provide a service.
Sadly KS can also be a a way to abuse fan loyalty ala AVGN. At least Rifftrax offers shorts on the low end, but the high end rewards are a little lacking for the price and that you have to pay your own way is always a hoot to read. Hopefully Rifftrax has the brains not to abuse KS to the point of causing backlash like AVGN did. They are really walking a fine line here. Internet backlash is like a wildfire which spreads and hard to control once it starts. Many internet personalities have jumbed on the KS bandwagon already, and it is better to lead than to follow.
I rather see them riff oddball B movies than mainstream stuff including dumb mainstream stuff for their live shows but that is just my preference. I have zero interest to ever watch Twilight in any form including being riffed. Also I dislike Rifftrax’s increasing catering to the hivemind internet geek culture groupthinking and it’s stale memes. Even last year when they re-riffed Manos, I thought it was a lazy copout choice. Guess all this makes me sound bitter, but I am just concerned about the direction Rifftrax is going, I hate to see them burn out like AVGN and TGWTG have.
Lotta people on here – who presumably would happily sit through Castle of Fu Manchu – proudly declaring that they’d never debase themselves by watching Twilight even if it’s riffed. Not a criticism, just a curious observation :)
Well, as an old guy whose wife made him sit through one of them (who knows which one?) and as one who has always decried the RT model of riffing current films (because old cheese always tastes best) I can certainly tell anyone who says they wouldn’t sample the RT of Twilight that it’s a riff well worth seeing.
I broke my vow of never buying one of their MP3 tracks (I do buy all their VOD stuff) mostly because I really hate that vapid girl lead, and I was rewarded with a very good time. I do think this is the exception that proves the rule of never doing current stuff, and thus is a very good pick for them.
However, I am also of the opinion there is no amount of money they could raise that would get the Powers that Be to allow them to do Twilight — I think they could get the rights to riff it live (perhaps) but NEVER allow it on disc (and that would go against the stated aims of the project, as well as violate those who have paid for just that). So I suspect they will fall back on their second tier projects.
And none of those interest me in the slightest — they DO fit the model of “too recent — too little cheese”. I think a film has to be a true stinker (like “Battlefield Earth”) for them to consider a blockbuster. The only one I’d even consider is “Mario” and that’s a pretty old film. So that is why *I* won’t go see them this time around (although I do wish them all the best, and I secretly hope they raise about a bazillion dollars if nothing more than to show those Powers there are a lot of people out there who want this kind of thing).
There is such a slim chance that they could get the rights to “Twilight” but it could happen since it is the “oldest” film in the dynasty and the current owners, Lionsgate, which purchased Summit might be able to be loosened with some coin and fan support, which this KS would more then show. They have already milked their cow as best they could but maybe carving out some cuts for riffing might be just a little too soon?
The real wildcard is Stephane Meyer, the author of the books. Would she be happy to allow a company to lease out her baby for open mockery? This deal would get tons of press and what might end up also affecting this Rifftrax opportunity is if Lionsgate, which produces a lot of TV, can get a werewolf series going for the Fall of 2013 which is something that they are rumored to be hot to get going. Get a TV show and the dynasty stays relevant but if not and if the “The Host” (Non Korean) version of Meyer’s work doesn’t hit the theater big, there might be a chance.
All things considered, this might be more likely to happen next January as the possible TV project, “The Host” flick, and the fifth anniversity of the first Twilight movie will have all either occured or became vapor.
I saw the original Twilight riff. Yes, I had to go rent the movie from Blockbuster. They had a RECORD of my having rented it. Nonetheless, I regret nothing. It was hilarious. (Of course, Blockbuster’s collapse probably renders it moot anyway…)
The success of this is pretty unlikely, but at least unlike many Kickstarter projects, RiffTrax has a “failover” plan.
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