Rifftrax Selection Process?

[BathTub]

I don't know.

[AmandaGal]

[/me pulls the green slime pulley]

[gammer]

Sure, 42 is the answer, but what's the question?

What comes after 41?

[BathTub]

what is six times nine?

[Natureboy]

I don't know if this has been addressed in a previous post, but does anyone know how they go about choosing movies?

I asked Mike that question a while ago and here is his answer:


Thanks for the email.

For movie choices, I just pick those that I think will be funny and are for the most part readily available. No other criteria.

Cheers,

Mike Nelson

[Conor]

He asks a penguin who gives him a series of clues, each more cunning than the last. Hours are spent going to different countries and employing archaeologists to decipher their meaning. Then, after everything has been translated into gibberish, he fasts for 4 days until he thinks it looks like a movie title. :^)

I'd heard that but i wanted it confirmed.

The only reason I ask is that I see movies like Star Wars, Star Trek, Halloween, X-Men, etc. which are all well known films.  Then there's stuff like Reign of Fire (which no one remembers.  The only reason I remembered it was because i was dumb enough to see it at the theater.) and Firewall (which no one will remember) that get the rifftrax treatment.  Not that I didn't enjoy them but why not go for more well known flicks.  Why not Battlefield Earth instead of Reign of Fire.  But I guess there's no end in sight for rifftrax, so maybe its just a matter of time.

Right now, the amount of movies that are RiffTrax'd is tiny compared the amount of movies that are not RiffTrax'd.  So it will always appear that movies are being "Snubbed" in favor of other movies.  This is not the case, we're not picking to do Reign of Fire instead of Battlefield Earth, we're just choosing to do Reign of Fire this week and putting off Battlefield Earth a while longer.  Doing the one doesn't mean we've chosen not to do the other, this is a faulty perception, especially since, as you point out, there is no end in sight.

As far as the choice of movies go, I think that if you examine the movie selection process, the breakdown is more diverse than you would imagine.  There are well known, highly regarded movies:  LOTR, X-Men, Matrix.  There are well known poorly regarded movies:  Star Wars, Star Trek.  There are universally regarded as cheesy or stupid movies, xXx, Top Gun, Road House.  There are more obscure stupid movies:  Firewall, Crossroads.   In the future, I would expect the mix to continue to develop in a similar fashion. 

[Conor]

I don't know if this has been addressed in a previous post, but does anyone know how they go about choosing movies?

I asked Mike that question a while ago and here is his answer:


Thanks for the email.

For movie choices, I just pick those that I think will be funny and are for the most part readily available. No other criteria.

Cheers,

Mike Nelson

Also touched on several times in the FAQ:  http://www.rifftrax.com/smf/index.php?topic=1048.0