With the lackluster performance of Land of the Lost this past year, what does the future hold for Sid and Marty Krofft? Krofft Productions defined Saturday morning & variety television in the 1970s. No matter how awful these shows appear to us today, they live in the memories of an entire generation of kids…and maybe their nightmares too.
It seemed like a sure thing…Will Ferrell and dinosaurs, what better way could you bring Krofft productions to the 21st century? Whatever happend, it didn’t work and some momentum was lost. That leaves the question of how to get the next Krofft movie on the big screen. H.R. Pufnstuf and Sigmund the Sea Monster were already in the pipe prior to Land of the Lost, so let’s explore them.
With the recent release of “Where the Wild Things Are”, Spike Jonze illustrated both what to do, and what not to do when mixing low-tech costumes and high-tech effect. The character of H.R. Pufnstuf can learn a lot from Wild Things. Sid and Marty are still costume masters, so expect them to up the anti. They can also learn from the story, as Marty said “Don’t mess with what worked“. Removing the 70s camp, and inserting some 21st century realism without loosing the childhood innocense will make Pufnstuf a wonderful film. A cameo from Billie Hayes is also a must.
Sigmund on the other hand could be tricky. Where Pufnstuf takes place in the magical “Living Island”, the Sigmund story takes place in the ‘real world’. The entire premise is camp. The story and costumes would require an update. Does Sigmund still talk? Does the story take on a Waterhorse style? It would be amazing to see the story of Johnny and his pal Sigmund come to the big screen (music and all), but I just can’t imagine how it would work. Maybe Pufnstuf would pave the way.
One of the problems I see is that Sid and Marty aren’t doing enough self promotion. They are not following the advice of Walt Disney that Sid quotes often, “keep your name above the title”. It wasn’t “Sid & Marty Krofft’s Land of the Lost”, it was “Will Ferrell in Land of the Lost”. Yes, they are releasing more and more of their shows online (Hulu, iTunes, etc), but not promoting it well. They partnered with the already dieing MySpace, which has done nothing for their online presence except associate them with trashy chicks and dudes hoping to hook up (I’m not saying everyone on MySpace is that way, but it is the overwhelming majority).
Sid and Marty, get your name back “above the title”.
It’s true that MySpace is dying, but I’m glad Sid and Marty went with them, instead of Facebook (though one can clearly tell MySpace has been trying to Facebook-ify themselves as of late).
I agree a little bit of promotion couldn’t hurt, but sadly self promotion never really works… often times, people see self promotion as shameless cries for attention (been there, done that), but promotion in general would be rather beneficial; while I haven’t see Land of the Lost, I didn’t have high hopes for it anyway, mainly because of Will Ferrell, but id does seem as if Sid and Marty have learned their lesson, and I’m sure their next movie will do much better.
As far as what might be next, future film projects need to be supported by core products, and a lack of current product is working against the Kroffts’ productions. The key concept for them to employ would be to view their properties as a library of characters & character sets—- not simply stories or shows. This would follow Avi Arad’s example with Marvel, prior to their acquisition by Disney.
For the short run, they should product a series of 1-hour DVD documentaries exploring the development and rise of their character sets, separating each of the Supershow sets (similar to the WWE’s DVD strategy). This would best exploit “the Long Tail” (Chris Anderson, 2006) of demand. At the same time, they should aggressively have illegal online video postings removed from the web, allowing mash-ups to remain while original viewings are only available exclusively via a YouTube channel. Authorize the Krofft “story” for audio and print book publishing. Finally, follow the release of the book, DVDs and retooled video strategy with a more comprehensive advertiser-supported website that incorporates bi-weekly blogs or RSS-capable audio responses to fan questions, akin to Lindelof and Cuse’s approach to the fans of “Lost.”
The revenue generated from these low-financial exposure ventures would, at first, be rather small— though a smart strategy could push it into the mid six-figure range. At the very least, this strategy could enhance the Krofft profile while raising capital that could be put up against the overall cost of the next film project.
I AGREE WITH T.VAN DYKE’S MESSAGE I WOULD LOVE SOME DOCUMENTARY STYLE PRODUCTION FROM THE KROFFT BRO’S. I WOULD ALSO LIKE TO REMIND SID AND MARTY IF THEY READ THIS, THAT THE ELEMENTS OF YOUR SHOWS CAN BE LOST IN BIG BUDGET STYLE FILMS. WHAT I LOVED ABOUT EVERYTHING YOU DID, UP TILL BRADY HOUR ,WAS THAT THE HAND MADE SETS AND COSTUMES, THERE WAS A SORT OF TRUTH THAT RESONATED FROM THE LOVE AND SERIOUSNESS THAT WAS PUT INTO ALL OF IT. FOR ME IT WAS THE SIMPLICITY, I KNEW KNEW THEY WERE COSTUMES AND SETS AND STILL I WAS TRANSPORTED TO LANDS BEYOND REACH, WITH OUT C.G.I.
I haven’t seen land of the lost movie, but was impressed how the sleestacks look the same as the tv show.
The problem with Sid & Marty Krofft isn’t that they don’t do enough promoting, the problem with the brothers Krofft, as in the case of “Land of the Lost”, is that they spent all their money on visual effects and Will Ferrell’s salary that they forgot to develop a decent script!!!!!!!
Sure their audience’s have grown up, but we that doesn’t mean that we want to see our childhood memories turned into trashy, foul-mouthed, disgusting “updated” movies! We love the Krofft shows BECAUSE they’re campy and fun, but as my Mom and I watched the new “Land of the Lost” movie my heart sunk as I watched bad actors speak trashy, disgusting dialog on a kick-ass set.
Visually that movie was beautiful, truly breathtaking, I loved seeing Lost City and jungle sets, and what can I say about Grumpy? He’s never looked better! They sets and dinosaurs were top notch but that’s the ONLY thing I liked about this movie.
Will Farrell is a terrible actor and the fact that the scrip was HORRIBLE didn’t help. And the other two were terrible as well. The whole story line was stupid and as I sat there and watched I was horrified to see that young children were sitting in the audience having to listen to that filth since it was never advertises as an adult movie!
If Sid and Marty want to have any kind of success in the future then I suggest they spend their time on good scripts, good actors and add the camp back to their shows otherwise parents who grew up on their shows will not be so willing to take their children to their next “updated” show!
It’s a great commercial, but Sid and Marty Krofft had nothing to do with it. In fact, McDonalds got the pants sued off of them by the Kroffts, because they thought that the McDonaldland looked an awful lot like a ripoff of their previous works like HR Puffinstuf, and the judge agreed. The McDonaldland ad campaign ended very soon afterward, and only a few characters ever survived from it, such as Grimace, Birdy, and the fry kids.
Sid and Marty sued McDonald’s because they lied to them.
McDonald’s came to the Kroffts and asked them to conceive the McDonaldland characters and sets for them, which they did, but afterwards, McDonald’s said they decided they didn’t want to go with the idea anymore, and laid it to rest… however, months later Sid saw the McDonaldland ad on TV, told Marty (who was in London) about it, so they sued them, and didn’t receive a settlement until thirteen years later.
Look up Sid and Marty Krofft Interview for the Archive of American Television on YouTube… I believe they mentioned the lawsuit in part three of the five part interview.