To the surprise of no one who even casually followed the live-action "Jem[1]" film last year, it bombed. Hard. In an unprecedented moved[2], the movie did so poorly it was pulled from theaters after only two weeks. The $5 million budget wasn't even recouped, as the tone-deaf take on the 80s cartoon brought in a paltry $1.37 million.
Jem and the Holograms[3] deserve better. And now the all-female production company Creature wants to make it happen.
Some really quick backstory. The "Jem and the Holograms" live-action movie blindsided the Internet back in 2014 when the three men (first red flag) in charge of production announced they were crowdsourcing casting, music, and costumes[4] for the film. At this point the movie hadn't even been cast. Two weeks later it was announced "Jem" would go into production within weeks[5] (second red flag). On top of that, Jem's creato r Christy Marx revealed on Facebook that she had no idea the movie[6] was happening (third red flag).
So expectations were pretty low by the time the trailer came out. Somehow though, "Jem" didn't even meet that low bar. Creature Productions even did a great "Jem Reacts" video that summed up how many fans felt about this revamp.
Now the girls are back with a Kickstarter campaign[7] to give Jem and the Holograms the live-action short film they deserve.
Taking place in the 1980s, Creature promises to give fans everything they wanted from a Jem movie. Glamour and glitter, fashion and fame. Along with brand-new music. From the official page:
Things You Can Expect:
- Because our story picks up in an alternate world (a world where the show was not canceled) right before the final episode "A Father Should Be", it all takes place in the Spring of 1988! Expect lots of 80s colors, outfits, songs and much more!
- All new music in the style of the music from the show!
- Diverse casting choices.
- Surprise cameos!
- Synergy!
- Everyone knows Kimber and Stormer are cannon ;)
To find out more — or donate to this noble cause — head over to Kickstarter now[8] for an in-depth look at the fan film these women hope to make a reality.
References
- ^ Jem (www.hitfix.com)
- ^ unprecedented moved (www.hitfix.com)
- ^ Jem and the Holograms (www.hitfix.com)
- ^ were crowdsourcing casting, music, and costumes (www.youtube.com)
- ^ within weeks (www.hollywoodreporter.com)
- ^ no idea the movie (www.facebook.com)
- ^ Kickstarter campaign (www.kickstarter.com)
- ^ Kickstarter now (www.kickstarter.com)
