When Epic Movie hit the number one slot at the box office a couple of weeks back, CHUD’s own Andre Dellamorte mentioned that an upside to these ridiculously uninspired and formulaic films getting made is that it opens the door for new talents to get in the Hollywood door on low-budget, low-risk product like this.
Today’s news not only proves that he couldn’t be more right, but that any aspiring screenwriters out there may want to start thinking themselves about jumping on this particular gravy train. About a month ago, an employee at the production company Benderspink tossed out the idea of doing a dance spoof movie. As fortune would have, their screenwriters finished the spec script for Dirty Step Stomp (or Dance Movie, if the rather obvious dance movie title swipes rub you the wrong way) just as Epic Movie accomplished the mighty feat of…..performing exactly as it was expected to do on a rather weak weekend of moviegoing.
Nonetheless, Hollywood logic dictates that when anything goes number one, no matter how unexceptional that is, there must either be a sequel or a copycat. So while the Scary/Date/Epic/Fecal Movie writing/directing team of Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer continue their one-trick existence desperately in search of another theatrical trend to recreate – except with slapstick and toilet humor – Benderspink sent out the script out the Wednesday after Epic Movie debuted and started a bidding war.
The Weinstein Company, completing the circle of madness they started by unleashing the first Scary Movie, won the war and landed the script. That’s about the only part that surprises me. This rather obvious continuation is worth a bidding war? I’d think that Friedberg and Seltzer could line up a bunch of rappers, young actors, and SNL hasbeens, and write and film this very same idea on a $2 million budget over the course of a coke-fueled weekend in Vegas. Is it really worth 6-7 figures to find someone who can put the most notable scenes from the trailers to these films in a blender with puerile gags and stretch it over 80 minutes?
Sure, why not?
I have no idea whether these Benderspink guys will otherwise prove to be talents simply taking advantage of an opportunity or just observant bottom feeders. They have projects set up at several studios including Killers (which is also known by the title Last Resort and as Project Greenlight guy Chris Moore’s directorial debut) at Lionsgate and