Posterized: Promotions to Film for TV Casts

With Downton Abbey (2019) in theaters today and already threatening a sequel let's talk movie spin-offs of TV shows. TV shows have been adapted into feature films for as long as we can recall, but up until the 21st century it was more common for feature films to be adapted into TV shows.

Examples of TV series getting their own theatrical film outing with the original cast intact dates back to, we think, Dragnet (1954) and Batman The Movie (1966), both of which had one theatrical release during their TV runs. But it was fairly rare until recently and it has usually only happened after a television series has wrapped. A large part of this becoming more common obviously has to do with the narrowing gap between how audiences experience TV and film. On a less obvious and more theoretical level we suspect its due to the even newer cultural trend of immediate / perpetual nostalgia. It used to be that there had to be a bit of distance before the populace got collectively teary-eyed with longing but... no longer! 

Batman got a movie in the summer of 1966, even though it has just premiered on television in January of that same year.

You can now be wistful for things you experienced just the year or even a few months before and demand that they come back to you in the closest approximation possible. 

Let's look at some examples of this increasingly popular trend leading up to Downton Abbey (2019). How many of these spinoffs have you seen? The posters are after the jump...

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Veronica Mars: Noir Hidden in Teen Angst

by Jorge Molina

The thing about noir is that, at its purest, most classic, most Maltese-Falcon-iest form, it’s a fairly recognizable genre. The character tropes are clear, the themes are evident, and the stylistic elements jump off the screen. For the most part, you know a film noir when you see one.

However, the more interesting members of the genre are those that won’t have a smoky detective office telling you that what you’re about to watch. They either subvert the learned expectations of the noir, or they hide them in original packaging...

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Veronica Mars and the Case of 'What Is Cinematic'?

Glenn here to discuss Veronica Mars. Did you see it this weekend?  Maybe you streamed it on demand or (like me) trekked to a cinema to see it on the big screen and watch the crowd collectively laugh at the exploits of Neptune, California’s best young private detective. Either way, I find it hard to believe that anybody who loved the series wouldn’t also find the film a whole bunch of fun. I know I did, and even if it does spend a lot of its time providing lip service to fans, given its Kickstarter origins there was never any hope for a Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me style reinvention, you know? Not at all.

Among those who admitted to not having seen the show prior to the film, many complained that it looked like a 100-minute extended 'very special episode' of a series. While it’s hard to argue that creator/director/writer Rob Thomas pushes the envelope for the new larger canvas, I almost feel like that's missing the point. But I find it interesting that many were calling into the question the notion of what makes something cinematic.

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We Can't Wait #14: Veronica Mars

[Editor's Note: We Can't Wait is a Team Experience series, in which we highlight our top 14 most anticipated films of 2014. Here's Dancin' Dan on Veronica Mars.]

Veronica Mars
Kristen Bell reprises her role as the title character in this neo-noir murder mystery that picks up nine year after where Season 3 of the eponymous TV series left off.

Talent
Rob Thomas, creator of the original series is in the director's chair. Kristen Bell is joined in front of the camera by other series regulars including Jason Dohring.

Why We Can't Wait

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Yes, No, Maybe So: Veronica Mars

I have a confession to make. I, Dancin' Dan, am one of the crazy Veronica Mars superfans who donated to the record-breaking Kickstarter campaign to fund the Veronica Mars movie. And I have followed the making of said movie very eagerly. So when the official theatrical trailer was released yesterday, I was quite excited to see both what it would look like and what the reaction from non-fans would be. So while my answer to our eternal trailer query may be obvious, I'm very curious to know what people with little to no knowledge of the TV show think. Marshmallows, come gush with me!

Y|N|MS breakdown is after the jump...

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