633: Blockbuster Mining

Explain xkcd: It's 'cause you're dumb.
Revision as of 14:19, 1 March 2024 by 172.69.194.115 (talk) (Trivia: What a silly point fo have a CN (and how silly to change it from the original long-form).)
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Blockbuster Mining
The 2007 Bridge To Terebithia trailer put me off too much to see that particular movie, but I am cautiously optimistic about Where The Wild Things Are.
Title text: The 2007 Bridge To Terebithia trailer put me off too much to see that particular movie, but I am cautiously optimistic about Where The Wild Things Are.

Explanation[edit]

Cueball has acquired the intellectual property rights to produce a movie, but is unsure of how to make it appealing to a wide audience. An off-screen character suggests hiring Michael Bay, a director and producer well known (and occasionally criticized) for his style of film adaptation. Cueball is unsure that the IP would be a good fit for a summer blockbuster, but is dismissed.

The following panels depict violent and gritty scenes from a spy thriller, starring an unknown and brutal female spy. In the last panel, she is revealed to be Harriet the Spy, the 11 year old protagonist of a bestselling children's book written by Louise Fitzhugh, as well as other spinoff books written by various other authors.

The comic references Hollywood's search for new stories to adapt to film, and how poor (not to mention violent) some of these adaptations can be. There is additional humor in the fact that the original novel is about school-child concerns such as friends and is not violent.

The film adaptation of Bridge to Terabithia had trailers that made it appear to have very little in common with the themes and tone of the novel. The actual movie is one of Hollywood's better book adaptations [1] but the trailers were extremely misleading and off-putting to fans of the novel, as in the title text. Viewers who were unfamiliar with the novel and saw the movie with expectations based on the trailer were also unprepared for the actual movie [2]. The trailer was essentially every single special-effect shot from the movie, giving the impression it was a special-effects extravaganza, which would have been very inappropriate based on the novel, and does not reflect the actual content of the movie.

The film adaptation of Where the Wild Things Are was met with favorable responses from critics, the public, and the book's author.

Transcript[edit]

[Cueball holds a script in his hands.]
Cueball: We've acquired some new rights, but I'm not sure it's in the spirit to make it a blockbuster--
Voice: Do it anyway. Take $100 million, hire Michael Bay.
Cueball: But--
Voice: NEXT!
[Panel is inverted, white on black background.]
[Two men, played by Cueball-like actors are pointing machine guns at Harriet, played by a Megan-like actress. Harriet points two handguns back at them.]
Harriet: They said if I were captured I should take my own life.
Harriet: But I'd just as soon take yours.
[Harriet jumps off a cliff carrying a spiral notebook and a gun, while the cliff explodes behind her. In the background is a helicopter, some mountains, and the sea.]
BOOM
[Panel is inverted, white and red on black background.]
[A man played by a Cueball-like actor is tied to a chair. Blood is pooling on the ground below. Harriet stands in front, holding a bloody pipe.]
Man: Stop! I'll talk!
Harriet: No, I know everything. This is just for fun.
[Crosshairs follow a Cueball-like man.]
Harriet: I'll be watching.
[The panel is inverted color, white on black.]
Harriet
the
[in red] SPY
[A bloody spiral notebook, with blood streaks leading from it.]

Trivia[edit]

Apparently, Harriet the Spy was actually adapted into a film in 1996. Presumably it was more faithful to the novel than this xkcd.


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Discussion

Why do we think that this is Danish? The hair isn't the same and there are no other indicators. LadyMondegreen (talk) 12:59, 13 June 2013 (UTC)

I'm also sure it's not Megan, she isn't that violent. And for now we have chaos here because Danish is still at the transcript.--Dgbrt (talk) 11:45, 18 June 2013 (UTC)
I'm only using Megan because it's drawn like Megan. Megan, like Cueball is basically the default girl. Her personality changes as necessary. Besides, we're seeing an actor play Harriet the Spy so none of the violence is a character trait. I'd classify it as Harriet the Spy, but it's not only not completely accurate but it steps on the punchline. LadyMondegreen (talk) 16:48, 20 June 2013 (UTC)
I will tag this as incomplete. Megan is not that violent and we still have to find a better solution.--Dgbrt (talk) 19:49, 20 June 2013 (UTC)
"Woman" is a fine alternative to "Megan", but too generic. "Female spy" might give away the punchline a little early. "Testosterette" looks too much like the name of a toaster pastry flavoured with bacon, gunshot and a hint of Jack Daniel's. Thokling (talk) 18:11, 28 September 2013 (UTC)

Misuse of "to" in the title text. I'll check this out. --Quicksilver (talk) 19:22, 20 August 2013 (UTC)

Randall has targeted grammar nazi's and people afflicted with OCD in the past. Consider yourself a member in a special breed of Internetter! Thokling (talk) 18:11, 28 September 2013 (UTC)

The "rectangular object" appears to be be the spiral bound notebook when looked at closely. Or is it just me? 108.162.237.120 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

Do we know which particular action scenes of which particular movies are satirized in each frame? I get the feeling they're either extremely generic or from something familiar. 108.162.226.228 15:28, 1 January 2014 (UTC)

The one in the "stop I'll talk" frame reminds me of the scene in Mission Impossible III (I think three) where the bad guy gets the info and then shoots the girlfriend anyway, however it could be from any movie. It was my impression that the panels are more of a "spy goes bananas" aspect so this could just be a reference to the stereotypical spy information extraction tactic gone awry. 108.162.215.65 20:57, 1 January 2014 (UTC)

The movie based on this book already and by the same name deserves mention here somewhere.--108.162.219.192 03:35, 2 January 2014 (UTC)

Bitch II Terror Beater?

I used Google News BEFORE it was clickbait (talk) 00:40, 29 January 2015 (UTC)

Is the person playing Harriet perhaps Margaret, thus making this her first known appearance? 173.245.50.94 07:16, 30 June 2015 (UTC)