Kickstopper: paying Hollywood studios to cease dumb franchise production

The Dork Tower webcomic has a modest proposal: a crowdfunding site called "Kickstopper" that raises funds to persuade Hollywood studios to halt production on tired sequels, franchises, and adaptations.

Dork Tower Thursday (via The Mary Sue)

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

MORE: branding • Comics • crowdfunding • Funny • happy mutants • webcomics

More at Boing Boing

Eurovision 2013: An American in London

The technology that links taxonomy and Star Trek

http://www.disoriented.net/ angusm

“We pay farmers not to farm, but we cannot pay artists not to produce art. Yet something must be done.” — Jacques Barzun
Jellodyne

I’ve got $25 to help kill the Total Recall reboot!
- http://www.disoriented.net/ angusm
  
  I feel a business model coming on. Call it a protection racket, call it what you like, but unless I see some dollars now, my proposal for a remake of “Casablanca” starring Justin Bieber and Snooki is going to be landing on agents’ desks on Monday morning. Still not convinced? Did I mention that it’s in 3D? Directed by Michael Bay? With a chorus of singing CGI chipmunks?
  
  That’s more like it. I knew you’d all see reason eventually.
  - Chuck
    
    “Leave $20 million in unmarked bills by the swing set, or the Uno movie gets green-lighted.”
  - PathogenAntifreeze
    
    They already did the remake of Casablanca… it starred Pamela Anderson and was titled Barb Wire. I am not kidding… the plot is a 100% direct rip.
    
    And the Munsters reboot happened already… it was titled Munsters today. Thoroughly terrible.
Ramone

And yet I’d totally pay to see a movie of “Settlers of Catan”.
- GeekMan
  
  We’re halfway there…
  
  http://www.amazon.com/Settlers-Catan-Rebecca-Gable/dp/1611090814
http://artdonovan.typepad.com Art

Very funny piece! :)
turdfergsn

Remotely along the same lines but wouldn’t it be nice if we could vote AGAINST a political candidate instead of voting for the least objectionable? It would definitely send a message without changing the outcome of the election.
- Mitchell Glaser
  
  Even better: since the Citizens United decision has very nearly turned the political process into a fundraising contest, why don’t we take advantage of it? Whichever candidate can raise the most money wins the election, but all the money goes to public programs and charities.
  - http://twitter.com/sergio Sérgio Rebelo
    
    that is brilliant!
EH

Some years ago Chunklet magazine had a contest to determine which band they should pay to break up.

http://chunklet.com/index.cfm?section=magazine&IssueID=6
http://www.youtube.com/user/PipLagenta Pip_R_Lagenta

I propose that “Kickstopper” involve actual kicking.
primgoo

I think this could actually work! The money raised wouldn’t go to the producers, of course. It would go to a charity or to charities. The producers would only get a healthy portion of shame.
- Their feldspars
  
  You say that as if shame would mean something to a Hollywood producer.
flowergardenslayer

I feel obligated to point out that Clue the Movie is probably one of the best movies ever made. Seriously. Very funny, lots of intrigue, and it’s clearly based on the board game.
- abstract_reg
  
  There is an exception to every rule.
  - Their feldspars
    
    If what you say is true, then your statement is false.
    - flosofl
      
      Ouch, my brain!
- SomeGuyNamedMark
  
  The 1000 monkeys typing away in Hollywood occasionally succeed despite themselves.
SomeGuyNamedMark

Just wait until they come out with “Kickstoppers, The Movie”
GawainLavers

But what’s the stoppage mechanism? Are we hiring assassins?

Because I’d totally pay for that.
SomeGuyNamedMark

Can they do Retroactive Kickstoppers? They could undo Lucas’ changes to Star Wars
PathogenAntifreeze

They already did the remake of Casablanca… it starred Pamela Anderson and was titled Barb Wire. I am not kidding… the plot is a 100% direct rip.

And the Munsters reboot happened already… it was titled Munsters today. Thoroughly terrible.
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  And the Munsters reboot happened already… it was titled Munsters today.
  
  I was thinking about why the Munsters sounds like a terrible idea, but Dark Shadows sounds like a pretty good one. Probably because DS hasn’t been seen by everyone on the planet because it hasn’t been in non-stop syndication for 45 years. Plus it has story arcs rather than a series of single episodes that all have essentially the same plot based on essentially the same joke premise.
Doug Nelson

Nice mythology, Captain. It would be a shame if someone (knocks ashtray off desk)…rebooted it.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Linley-Lee/665497022 Linley Lee

Meh. Let them make the movies they want, no one is forcing me to watch them. And this could come back to bite you in the arse when the next film stopped is one you would have liked to see.
Joe Buck

Too Much Coffee Man has run the same joke (the “hero” asks people to pay money to get him to stop writing a book). I saw the strip in print, couldn’t find it online with a quick search though it may be around somewhere. It was called KickStopper there too.
oasisob1

Crowdfund to buy the rights to whatever it is you don’t want to see.
benher

Maybe they can stop a white washed Akira taking place in “Neo New York” featuring anglo-aktors with Japanese names.
umbriel

Kovalic has a good idea, but game-wise, I’d pay to see “Munchkin: The Movie”.
GeorgeMokray

At the recent Contact Summit in NYC one of the ideas was also called Kickstopper, only this time it related to a way to organize debt and mortgage strikes the way people sometimes organize rent strikes (with money in escrow).
License Farm

@boingboing-0a300c0afd32cc7b1e6b6ba6f673e465:disqus I was at Contact, too, so my ears pricked upwhen I saw this. I think both concepts are sound. But personally, I think the idea should be called “KickSTAND,” as in taking a stand on an issue.