by Tom on 01 Jan 2019, 13:04
I would suspect even an advert like Volvo would be just as lucrative (or maybe even that ITV show) as some of the DTV films he's been doing. There's just no money in them any more. Dead Trigger looks so cheap, I'd be astonished if Dolph earned anything significant. If he did, it probably accounted for a huge majority of the budget.
And I'd hazard a guess that a big slice of budget ending up in some pockets somewhere to, and certainly not on screen.
I just hope he can hold fire a little. He just bought that 3 million dollar house recently (Was it Beverley Hills?) so he can't be desperate. He could get well paid doing a reasonable DTV production for a more reputable company. I'm just hoping the Shark Lake days are, for now at least, behind us.
Trouble is, I see a worrying DTV trend. Most of the top selling DTV films in stores in the UK in 2018 weren't really star vehicles. REX, a film about an army dog was the most successful, staying in the overall charts 28 weeks. But looking at some of the stats, a lot of the 'star' vehicles didn't do particualrly well. Black Water wasn't very successful as a seller over here. Don't think it made much headway in the US either. (But overall because of the Asia gross probably ranks as one of D and JC's most successful DTV sellers in recent years). Like Big screen, where franchise and concept is king over star (as I said in an another thread, Keanu can't sell anything besides Wick...). There are very few bankable leads that people flock to now, Dwayne Johnson being one. That aside you could easily interchange cast in Marvel, Disney films, blockbusters etc. People see Bond to see Bond, rather than to see Daniel Craig for example.
That trend appears to be following in DTV, and I suspect we'll see budgets drop even further. So films like Dead Trigger will be an inevitability for D, even Sly etc, but I really hope this little wave gives him a couple of years grace to do better, get a couple of directorial gigs greenlit, and perhaps come to a point where he can retire gracefully. Sly's last two DTV films have been horrific and he's looking ridiculous now.