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DAY OF DREDD: 1st October 2014

Started by COMMANDO FORCES, 23 September, 2014, 07:51:38 PM

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IndigoPrime

Yep. Hurrah for the Kingsleys really. While it's pretty obvious they didn't buy 2000 AD purely out of the goodness of their hearts (it was a potential goldmine of IP), it's clear that they have plenty of love for the comic they now own. Without them it's pretty obvious we wouldn't be here today (and we wouldn't have had one proper Dredd movie, let alone the slim possibility of a second).

JOE SOAP



Dredd's stock is considerably higher than it was pre-September 2012, and even before Yesterday's push of enthusiasm, I'm sure any external interest -studio or otherwise- had all ready made itself known in terms of the property's potential post-September 2012. I'd say it's almost inevitable we'll see something...



Frank

Quote from: radiator on 02 October, 2014, 06:11:08 PM
I believe it's mentioned in Thrill Power Overload!!! that after the Stallone movie flopped there was a lot of negativity at the company that published 2000ad at the time (Egmont?). There had been high hopes riding on it that all came to nothing - a slight bump in sales of 2000ad and the Megazine on the film's release, which then dipped back to normal levels after, then down further.

The Judge Dredd strip itself was almost seen as toxic internally, was relegated to the back pages of 2000ad and apparently the publishers even considered resting it from the comic entirely. I think I'm right in saying that between the Stallone movie's release and the end of the nineties was the closest prog and Meg came to cancellation.

That's a perfect retelling of the story presented in David Bishop's brilliant Thrillpower Overload, but - while I have absolutely no reason to question Darkdays BISH-OP's recollection of events and conversations he experienced directly - the attitude of management towards Dredd following the failure of the 1995 film has really never made any sense to me.

I can see why watching their dreams of another Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles-style multi-media phenomenon go South would have left them disheartened, but spiking what was still one of the most popular strips in the comic doesn't make any business sense. I know Egmont's Dutch management were looking at the plummeting sales and concluding that the title's days were numbered, but it's not as if Dredd was all that was holding it back from recovering readers.



Jim_Campbell

Quote from: radiator on 02 October, 2014, 06:11:08 PM
I believe it's mentioned in Thrill Power Overload!!! that after the Stallone movie flopped there was a lot of negativity at the company that published 2000ad at the time (Egmont?). There had been high hopes riding on it that all came to nothing - a slight bump in sales of 2000ad and the Megazine on the film's release, which then dipped back to normal levels after, then down further.

Egmont didn't like 2000AD, and they didn't know what to do with it — they wanted it to go away, and their strategy was to neglect and under-invest, with the intention (it was strongly suspected) that the moment the title fell below break-even it would either be cancelled or converted into a reprint title. The movie was seen as a lifeline by the 2000AD team — a $70M advertisement for their product that should have rallied the sales and given the editorial team a strong enough platform to defend their product.

Which, of course, was pretty emphatically not what happened...

Cheers

Jim
Stupidly Busy Letterer: Samples. | Blog
Less-Awesome-Artist: Scribbles.

Goaty

Wow, that must be so low point for 2000AD team.

JOE SOAP

Quote from: sauchie co-op on 02 October, 2014, 06:28:52 PM
I can see why watching their dreams of another Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles-style multi-media phenomenon go South would have left them disheartened, but spiking what was still one of the most popular strips in the comic doesn't make any business sense. I know Egmont's Dutch management were looking at the plummeting sales and concluding that the title's days were numbered, but it's not as if Dredd was all that was holding it back from recovering readers.


That was the dark times, before Rebellion... but I believe Egmont might retain a small % of 2000AD, possibly as low as 1%.





Bat King

Seriously without Chris & Jason stepping in I doubt there would be a 2000AD, Judge Dredd Megazine & definitely no Dredd 2012.
Blog
http://judgetutorsemple.wordpress.com/

Twitter
@chiropterarex

Frank

Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 02 October, 2014, 06:31:03 PM
Egmont didn't like 2000AD, and they didn't know what to do with it — they wanted it to go away, and their strategy was to neglect and under-invest, with the intention (it was strongly suspected) that the moment the title fell below break-even it would either be cancelled or converted into a reprint title.

I suppose what I'm struggling with is why - if Egmont management wanted rid of the comic - they didn't just stop publishing it, rather than trying to engineer its death through benign neglect. I mean, they owned it, and could (presumably) cancel it any time they felt like it without having to pussyfoot around justifying that decision to anybody else.



Jim_Campbell

Quote from: sauchie co-op on 02 October, 2014, 07:53:32 PM
I mean, they owned it, and could (presumably) cancel it any time they felt like it without having to pussyfoot around justifying that decision to anybody else.

You're assuming some kind of homogenous hive mind that was The Egmont Management rather than the series of fiefdoms that is usually the case in large organisations. Just because those with direct control over the 2000AD titles would have been happier to turn them into a reprint farm, generating revenue with almost zero editorial effort required, recycling the IP that was already bought and paid for, doesn't mean that they wouldn't have had to stand in front of someone more senior than them and explain why they'd cancelled a profitable title.

Much better to be able to cover your arse by pointing to red ink at the bottom of the P&L.

Cheers

Jim
Stupidly Busy Letterer: Samples. | Blog
Less-Awesome-Artist: Scribbles.

Frank


Yeah, that makes sense. I suspected corporate politics were at the root of it - cheers, Jim.



TordelBack

Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 02 October, 2014, 08:00:35 PM
Much better to be able to cover your arse by pointing to red ink at the bottom of the P&L.

Yup.  All decision making deferred until the accountants call it a day and it's nothing to do with you.  Been there, seen that.

shaolin_monkey

I've put together a mini-round up of the events of the day:

http://2000ad.wordpress.com/2014/10/05/did-you-support-the-day-of-dredd/

A couple of you guys get a mention.  ;)


judda fett

Good round up, cheers Shaolin. Love that Death/ Anderson photoshop piece too.

Proudhuff

Quote from: radiator on 02 October, 2014, 05:16:15 PM
Quoteit means shrew-like, i think he's having a pop at you!

Hope it wasn't interpreted as such.

Remember how often 2000ad or Dredd would get any kind of media coverage before Molch_R? Clue: pretty much never.

While I don't hold out any hope for a sequel, I agree with IP - it's great that now when people think of Judge Dredd, they think of something culty and cool, not campy and crap.

Just jesting, I'm sure it wasn't. Molch-r has done wonders since taking up the flag, more power to his elbow!!
DDT did a job on me

mimikeke

Anyone post up her recent tweets?  Here's one...