As Halloween approaches, we’re challenging you to create a scary movie on a budget of $15,000,000. The catch is, however, you can only choose one option (rated from $1,000,000 to $5,000,000) from each of the five selected brackets. Pick wisely and pitch your movie in the comments below!
You can read James’ pitch below or listen to the below episode of the Close-Up Culture Podcast to hear how Anna and James fared in the past.
Overall Budget: $15,000,000
Category 1: Monster
Frankenstein – $5,000,000
Pennywise – $4,000,000
The Pale Man – $3,000,000
Totoro – $2,000,000
Nemo – $1,000,000
Category 2: Lead Actor
Emily Blunt – $5,000,000
Mahershala Ali – $4,000,000
Jonah Hill – $3,000,000
Miley Cyrus – $2,000,000
Dylan and Cole Sprouse – $1,000,000
Category 3: Comedic Relief
Jim Carrey – $5,000,000
Eddie Murphy – $4,000,000
Kevin Hart – $3,000,000
Rebel Wilson – $2,000,000
Bert Kreischer- $1,000,000
Category 4: Location
A haunted house – $5,000,000
A prison – $4,000,000
A secluded cabin – $3,000,000
Disneyland – $2,000,000
McDonald’s – $1,000,000
Category 5: Director
Alfred Hitchcock – $5,000,000
Coralie Fargeat – $4,000,000
M Night Shyamalan – $3,000,000
Tyler Perry – $2,000,000
Logan Paul – $1,000,000
James’ Picks
Category 1: Totoro ($2,000,000)
Category 2: Miley Cyrus ($2,000,000)
Category 3: Jim Carrey ($5,000,000)
Category 4: Disneyland ($2,000,000)
Category 5: M Night Shyamalan ($3,000,000)
Total: $14,000,000
James’ Pitch – Totoro Terrorises Disneyland
It’s a special day at Disneyland: Miley Cyrus is the distinguished guest at the park for a celebration of her iconic Hannah Montana character. A big parade and evening fireworks are planned, but events begin to unfold that turn the happiest place on earth into a bloody nightmare. But who, or what, is behind it all? Amidst the chaos of malfunctioning theme park rides and disembodied Disney characters, Miley must confront her own complex relationship with Disney to stop the unruly monster who is wrecking havoc.
That’s a pretty compelling synopsis, am I right? I spent most of my budget of Carrey… I’m not sure how wise that is, although he’ll bring the kookiness and I actually think his intense physical comedy could be tweaked a little to become rather creepy. The inner turmoil caused by Miley’s history with Disney would offer an interesting psychological layer to this tale – and it’s a shame I couldn’t afford Hitchcock to get the most out of that aspect of the story. After seeing The Substance recently, Fargeat might have even been a better choice to direct, but I can’t resist the fun the comes with M Night. I will always pick him on these fantasy films because it’s amusing to think of the crazy twists he could conjure up. Toroto also seems like a natural fit, as the Studio Ghibli v Disney (animation for art v animation for profit, perhaps?) angle gives us a lot to play with. Will Miley begin to sympathise with the out-of-control Totoro? Is Totoro an extension of Miley’s own loathing of Disney? Can you ever truly have the best of both worlds? I’ll let M Night decide on that one.