Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Today the Volturi, Tomorrow Jar Jar Binks




Last week, Rifftrax decided to shoot for the stars, and set up a Kickstarter campaign to get enough money to bribe or use embarrassing photos convince Lionsgate to let them riff on Twilight, the teen vampire movie that launched an tween-based movie empire. They were looking for 55 thousand dollars, and according to Satellite News, that was raised in an hour.

As of 10 AM Pacific Time today (March 5), more than 4300 people have donated about 201 thousand dollars. It's safe to say that if Lionsgate has a sense of humor, and no concerns that three guys mocking this movie will affect anything, this could happen this coming August. However, if Lionsgate considers this blasphemy or could ruin the inevitable reboot someday, Rifftrax could consider another movie like Troll II, The Room, Transformers: Dark of the Moon (or, God, Where's Megan Fox When You Need Her?), Eragon, or maybe Battlefield Earth, Not-Anne Hathaway Catwoman or Batman and Robin.

Meanwhile, response by the media has been fairly slow. It's more concerned about having a president who can't tell the difference between Star Wars and Star Trek. However, Geek System has written an article about this, and even Bill Corbett found out Perez Hilton added a blurb to his site. There's also been articles in Wired and Daily Dot.

However, where is the massive uprising by Twi-hards who consider a public mocking of the Sacred Sparkling Vampire Sacrament, the movie that changed their lives, the Ultimate Sin?

Well, it hasn't happened yet. Maybe they are watching all of their Twilight DVDs now that Breaking Dawn 2 is now available. The Rifftrax response is coming on March 14, and that should break the server that delivers the mp3's.
Or maybe they just realized they spent their hard-earned cash on a movie franchise that hasn't been the Supreme Teen Experience they had expected....and now want revenge!

Hey, more than 4300 people can't be wrong, and neither will the thousands more that will contribute through the end of this month. If Twilight does get the Rifftrax treatment, that means any recent movie, as in five to ten years old, is fair game. While Star Wars or Lord of the Rings movies may be a bit out of reach, movies that couldn't start franchises (hello, John Carter, The Lightning Thief, The A-Team) may be in reach. Heck, maybe my dream of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie being riffed could come true, especially if Sarah Michelle Gellar helps out.

If you'd like to donate some bucks to the Rifftrax Kickstarter site, just click here. You can also get some nice thank-you gifts, including a digital download of the August event itself. Whatever happens, it will be worth every penny, and could lead to a new era in movie mockery. Some have even hoped other MST3K alumni may help out, like Trace or Mary Jo. We can only hope.

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