Tom Rothman Must Die

Posted by Ray DeRousse on May 29, 2009 – 12:38 am | 14 comments

This world makes me sick. It’s filled to the brim with indecent and unending horrors that squash your dreams and turn your stomach. Every day we are forced to stare at hideous injustices like warfare, poverty, crime, and Miley Cyrus. But the most revolting thing in this world – lower than the fly-riddled fluke shit of a pedophile’s rotting corpse – is Twentieth Century Fox head honcho Tom Rothman.

tom_rothmansmall

Mr. Rothman has one of the greatest jobs on Earth – he works for the richest studio in Hollywood’s dream factory. Basically, whatever Rothman imagines can become reality. He earns millions of dollars a year to spend hundreds of millions of dollars a year making feature films. It’s a pretty nice gig.

So why does he insist on producing the most vapid, pointless, and artistically bankrupt films in the history of the medium? Rather than create films that break new ground or forge new pathways, Rothman continues to remake the back catalogue of Fox, or turn toys and board games into movies. It’s bewildering.

Rothman held the previous record for most unimaginative production slate in Hollywood history; almost everything currently in production is either a remake or a sequel/prequel. Do we really need another version of THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY? Can FANTASTIC VOYAGE really have any relevance today? You almost have to slap yourself to stay awake while reading their list of upcoming films.

One of the worst recent Rothman decisions involved remaking the Arnold Schwarzenegger classic PREDATOR, which needs no revision. The fanbase howled in agony over that decision, which Rothman shrugged off as he calculated the potential first weekend box office tally.

But nothing can prepare movie fans for the truly awful decision, announced this week, that Rothman and his monosyllabic goons are planning to sully the ALIEN franchise yet again. The initial idea was a remake, which has now been scaled back to the less egregious (but still shitty) idea of doing an origin story about the aliens.

From Rothman’s perspective, this is a golden egg just waiting to be broken open. He must be ejaculating all over himself at the idea that he can make an ALIEN movie – which is sure to be number one at the box office upon release – without having to pay $20 million to Sigourney Weaver or any other actual talent. Imagine … hire some twentysomething actors, bring in a yes-man director, and slather on the CGI. It’s a guaranteed $80 million opener!!

But from any other rational perspective, this is a kick to the dangling fruit. ALIEN is one of the greatest science fiction/horror films ever made. Besides that, the film remains one of the best examples of direction, cinematography, and editing. Its simple story and well-designed alien are compact, needing no further embellishment. Part of the thrill of the first one is not having all the answers about the alien. We are basically dropped into the middle of a discovery in process, and we’re forced to survive it along with the characters onscreen.

But Rothman feels that more needs to be said. Or, rather, more money needs to be made. In fact, you can almost smell the inevitable ALIEN PREQUEL TRILOGY announcement coming next week, since everything needs to be made into a trilogy these days. Rothman is so delusional with greed that you could see him bending his own mother over the kitchen table if he thought he could squeeze a nickel out of her inflamed hemorrhoid. It’s disgusting.

Few film franchises have ever gone astray with such recklessness as the ALIEN franchise. Fans are still smarting over the incredibly misguided ALIEN : RESURRECTION, as well as two “team-up” films with the PREDATOR franchise that made ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN look like CASABLANCA. You’d think Rothman would finally give up, but, like a shark in bloody water, he cannot stop until the final dollar bill is snatched from moviegoer wallets.

I sadly admit that I agree with Rothman on one thing: an ALIEN prequel will make a lot of money. Moviegoers will line up for the film, desperately hoping to savor a little magic and excitement. Unfortunately, they are doomed to an endless loop of nightmares served up by Rothman, the Freddy Krueger of Hollywood’s imagination-free dream factory.

Sad.

14 Comments

tommy on May 29, 2009 at 6:05 am

starting an article with someone “must die” is highly unprofessional for a (i thought til now) professional movie news site… if you hate someone write him a email or something, this is just childish

The Glove on May 29, 2009 at 8:50 am

You have such a way with words Ray! Look at that guy’s Face man. (it says it all really.)

The Glove on May 29, 2009 at 8:53 am

Oh! by the way, they’ll be ok if the get Brett Ratner to direct everything!!!!

Norbert on May 29, 2009 at 11:29 am

Ray, I rarely agree with your rants but this time you’ve hit it spot on. While the fanboy in me wants to see more of my my fav. movies my brain is still working and I really want a new movie as today it seems like we live in a time when b-class cinema (just with bigger budget and some cgi) became mainstream. I always liked those movies but I don’t want to see them 5 times a week.

BTW. If him and retner unite than we need Keanu Reeves to play (and try to be charismatic) ;)

Ray on May 29, 2009 at 1:22 pm

@ The Glove – Yeah, his face seems to be saying, “Oh, you love movies, eh? Well I’m going to fuck your favorite movies right in the ass!”

I was going to draw Devil horns coming out of his head, but I thought that might be “unprofessional.” Thanks tommy!!!!

MEDavidson on May 29, 2009 at 1:56 pm

Well….

You blame Rothman, but he works for FOX, a publicly held company that is owned by stockholders. If Rothman doesn’t do what the stockholders want (make a profit) he will be out of a job.

Since he makes so much money and * appears * to be successful, he is rewarded by the free market, which supports his ideas by increasing the value of a share of stock.

He’s just the public face of your anger.

So where, really, is the blame?

You probably already know the answer. Look in the mirror.

You (the collective you — me, Ray, everyone) goes to the movies, spends their cash, buys the DVD’s to support shit-movies. That’s the truth. We’re our own worst enemies and we’ve created a vicious cycle.

Just a thought.
Mark

Justin on May 29, 2009 at 3:12 pm

Yeah.. I really feel like Im gonna throw up if I sit through another shittily done remake…or prequel ..that guy sucks.

Kikstad on May 29, 2009 at 7:34 pm

I agree with your frustration, but can you blame the big studios for being afraid to invest millions of dollars in unknown projects? It’s safer for them to bet on sequels, remakes, adaptations, reboots, stuffed based on existing content. Every once in a while, we’ll still get the new idea, like Matrix, but then the fans will clamor for more and the studios will gladly oblige and then even that will get ruined. Remakes and sequels and adaptations aren’t always a bad thing, but I agree that I would like to see the studio heads show come creativity and conviction and greenlight some new story ideas once in a while.

entertainmenttodayandbeyond on May 30, 2009 at 2:03 am

An Alien film cannot be done any better than Cameron’s Aliens-A true masterpiece. I just think the Alien thing is exuasted and Im not excited in the least for any more!

chuck

Ray on May 30, 2009 at 7:22 am

@ kikstad – Do they really need to pump millions of dollars into unknown projects??? Most small films do not need to be made for tens of millions of dollars. For the $100 million that would be spent on another ALIEN movie, they could finance 100 or more small films … surely they could all break even or make small profits, and one or several could hit like NAPOLEON DYNAMITE or BLAIR WITCH. It is actually smarter investement to do that.

Roman on May 31, 2009 at 2:45 pm

Your views are spot on Ray. Its an ongoing road to mediocrity.

Pete Aldridge on June 19, 2009 at 1:28 pm

Surely there would be more profit to be made from a full HD re-release of the first two films.

Ben Olko on August 7, 2009 at 8:21 pm

First off! F@$% Off tommy!! You obviously know nothing about the hatred that moviegoers such as the writer and myself feel towards someone like Rothman. The movie going world would be a better place without this douchebag sullying the cinematic world with these abortions! This guy is only interested in making a quick buck. He doesn’t have an artistic vision in his peebrain. He’s Fox’s pimp and he doesn’t care who gets f@$%, as long as he can justify his dumdass micromanagement style! Okay, so maybe the heading of the article is a little strong. If it were me I would have written ‘Tom Rothman Should Die And Then Go Straight To Hell Where He Has To Watch All The Shitty Movies That He Greenlighted During His Time At Fox!’

Ben Olko on August 7, 2009 at 8:31 pm

Just for fun I googled ‘Tom Rothman is an a$$hole’ and I got 260,000 hits!! WOW!! That just about says it all!!!

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