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UPDATE: Michael Bay’s personal blog is filled with photos of himself from the worldwide premieres like the one above… Egads. He writes this to fans today:
Thank You Note From Michael Bay
06/26/2011I just want to take the opportunity to thank all the fans around the world for letting me have fun with the Transformers franchise. It has been a wonderful opportunity to have worked with about 4000 crew members around the world. These artists are some of the very best in the entire film business. I’m honored to have had you work along side me. We had an amazing time.
‘Dark of the Moon’ has some of the most technically challenging sequences ever shot. And shot in 3D. I must urge you to find the very best theatre and see this movie in that format. 3D was a forethought, not an afterthought in this movie. I’m glad Jim Cameron and Steven Spielberg really convinced me to shoot in this new technology. We used and invented many new techniques to make the 3D sharper, brighter and more color contrast. I think theatre owners heard their audience that they need to respect the specs of the projectors and not dim the bulbs to save money.
Many theaters are presenting it in the brand new 7.1 sound, which is awesome. This is the most complex, intricate sound track that me and my Academy Awarding winning sound team have done. They really out did themselves to make this a big picture experience. Hopefully you will have as much fun watching this movie as we all had making it.
Thanks,
Michael Bay
—
Michael Bay now writes to projectionists after he’d already called the chief executives of major theater chains to implore them to show Transformers: Dark Of The Moon in a way that burns out projector bulbs more quickly but makes 3D look brighter and sharper. Talk about being pushy: you’d think there was a lot riding on Transformers 3. Paramount Making Too Many 3D Demands?
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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“This is the most complex, intricate sound track that me and my Academy Awarding winning sound team have done.”
Notice that it will the only occurrence in a writing by Michael Bay in which “me” and “Academy Award” are in the same sentence.
He forgot to add “We have worked tirelessly with exhibitors to make sure our sound design will absolutely give you and your family permanent hearing loss.”
But the other real problem is projectionists showing 2D films without changing out the 3D lenses! That makes 2D movies look dark and dingy, and it has become a national epidemic.
Dear Michael,
Thank you for the sweet note. Good luck with your future endeavors. I’m sorry but the volume of incoming e-mail here prohibits a more personal reply.
Mark
P.S. Do you still have Megan Fox’s cell # and could you send it to me?
Hey Michael Bay… NO ONE CARES!
Sincerely,
JMC
No one cares? Really? Do you actually go to the movies? Do you pay for your own tickets?
He forgot to add: “With your help, movies can reach the ultimate level of craptastic!”
Any jackass who sees a Michael bay ride is a jackass. These are not movies. They are unwatchable written by Rich kids who are not writers but simply rich kids. You make them richer by seeing this crap.
Thank you.
I’m just looking forward to see Rosie-Whittington, explosives, and some kick ass camera shots.
Not that much interested in the story.
…and the cars of course.
“Rich kids?”
There’s a whole level of psychology in this comment that I won’t touch…
Do some research before you bash the writers of Transformers. Robert Orci and Alex Kurtzman wrote the first two Transformer movies and they also wrote the Star Trek remake. Which was a great movie. And Ehren Kruger also wrote part 2 and now this movie has also written a few good movies.
So you blaming the writers and claiming “they write unwatchable movies” and “are rich kids” makes you look like a fool.
And so you make yourself out a bigger one in the process.
I would not label Orci and Kurtzman great writers on the basis of either Transformers film or Star Trek. Yes, they were commercial successes. But artistic? Hardly. Star Trek was a mess throughout.
I’m still trying to make sense out of “and now this movie has written a few good movies”. And if you really mean Ehren Kruger has written a few good movies, you should cite them to make your point, thus enabling everyone to know if you really have any taste in films or not.
From the perspective of serious adults and film-goers, you certainly haven’t cited any watchable film title.
Sorry about the typo. Honest mistake. And I can name good movies that Ehren Kruger wrote such as Arlington Road and The Ring.
Also just because you did like Star Trek does not mean most people didn’t like it. I understand it is all opinion but most agree Star Trek was great.
And you still did not back track on your insane statement that “they write unwatchable movies”. Which we both can agree is clearly not true.
kettle meet pot, pot meet kettle
What’s wrong? Your spec script get rejected again?
Dear Mr. Bay,
Please ask your studios and theaters to not charge us over 2x a regular movie price to see your movie.
Wow! The picture at the top is so cute! What a fun, innocent little gathering it probably was! Michael Bay sure does look like he’s in his element with the rest of those prepubescent 13-year-old boys. It kind of makes you wonder…
Include barf bags. As long as people keep making 3D movies we’ll need barf bags and aspirin for headaches. Let this gimmick die away, already. And lose the herky jerky ‘amateur’ video filming like in Cloverfield 8.
Just make a good movie and people will come.
I must urge you to pay the HIGHEST PRICE POSSIBLE for your ticket to my latest crapfest.
Yours in $$$$$,
Micheal Bay
Although Mr. Bay’s letter could be understood to be more self serving than sincerely concerned with the art of cinema, his point of creating a more conducive environment for the audience’s positive experience should be better considered by all theater owners. Most professional movie makers care about their product as well as exert much effort to entertain, so it is incumbent upon the theater owners not to take away from the audiences enjoyment with faulty equipment, substandard presentation, unclean screens, filthy restrooms, bad popcorn, unpolite servers, and other controllable perceived uncaring practices. Maybe more wake up calls like Mr. Bay’s will usher in higher standards from which both the theater owners and audiences can profit.
Randy Turrow, PGA/DGA
The irony, of course, is that no chain megaplex projectionist (the ones who will read this as they load the hard drive) has any control of the lamphouse. That’s above their pay-grade, believe it or not.
How does one know what theater to go to, to see it with proper bulbs – 3D always looks dark, would love brighter bulbs
I notice he’s not thanking his screenwriters for anything…
Dear Mr. Bay:
Can you make sure that ticket cost is about 10% over normal rather then nearly double cost for a 3D schlock fest? And if possible, re-invent the goofball glasses so people like myself, who already wear real glasses for our vision don’t feel like we’re holding onto something for the whole affair?
Sorry, if your film is “Only” meant to be seen in 3D, I’ll pass. It’s not as though any of the Transformers movies before this were cinematic masterpieces.
My favorite local (indi) theater showed “Blade Runner” over the weekend. I was involved, enjoyed the experience and I didn’t think a single time “wow, I need this in 3D, if they’d stop using cardboard cutouts so I’d know that they were real and in 3D..”
Good luck on sales into the home market, as well…
Rather than making 3D movies… how about making BETTER movies!!!
Hollywood has been pushing 3D since the 1950s for crying outloud and movies aren’t getting better. Sure there has been excellent movies but, noticed something, none are in 3D…
Terrence Malick sent a similar letter for The Tree Of Life (albeit for 2D and with more instruction). I’m no Bay fan, but anyone who has a problem with this hasn’t been to your local multiplex lately.
“Let’s make the audience believe again?”
Hello I’m a middle class member of the viewing public –
Dear Michael Bay,
Do you suppose the reason your movies endure venomous derision by viewers with fully-developed brains is because movie theater chains do not take care to properly project them?
Could you perhaps invest more energy into adequate story development, or cast lingerie models with a tad more acting ability? Maybe you could worry more about her dialogue than whether her tits are pushed up high enough?
It is critical that you learn to tell a story, even of the popcorn variety. We in the viewing public invest too much of our modest discretionary income into overpriced 3D movie tickets – and as hard as you work – without a decent script, you are not working hard enough to deliver a great experience.
I believe in stories – and kick-ass action. But even though we are asked to pony up more money at the box office outside the theater, brighter 3D and killer sound are indeed afterthoughts.
Then again, you’re still rich,
rafasreds
The way Bay continually name-checks Cameron and Spielberg is really cheesy and desperate. Can you imagine other directors clinging to the skirts of their betters so publicly and pathetically?
Lotta Michael Bay hate, but what else is new. The bigger the man, the bigger the knocks, I always say.
I hated Transformers 2, but still respect Bay. Fuck, I even liked Pearl Harbor ten years ago when everybody was trashing it. The man’s getting out in front of his product and trying to combat the 3-D malaise/backlash, gotta love that.
I will probably see it in 3D but it will be the last time I pay 3D price for a flick, period. It’s Transformers, might as well go the whole way! Unlike a lot of flicks, you know what you’re getting.
While I dont generally like Michael Bay’s movies, I can genuinely respect what he is asking. Besides the ridiculous prices, the picture quality is the other reason I stopped buying 3D. A dingy dark picture, especially when a film is already shot darkly, just makes for an awful theater experience not worth my time and money. If picture quality were better and the brightness made to look the equivalent of 2D, then maybe Id be willing to buy a few more 3D tickets even with the price. That being said, it doesnt look like its going to happen anytime soon.
Had the worst 3D experience I’ve ever had recently when I saw “Kung Fu Panda 2.” Chose a theater that I had a previous good experience with their Real D presentation of “How to Train Your Dragon,” but then was disappointed by a dim projection of a very darkly shot “Kung Fu Panda 2.” Half the time I was squinting to make out the details of the frame.
Michael is totally right. As a filmmaker we always go to theaters for previews or to check reels in the ‘real world’ and it is extremely disconcerting to find the theaters aren’t set up to spec. They run the bulbs below spec to extend their life, or sell seats off to the sides (outside of the area where the 3D works well) and the audience gets cheated out of the experience the filmmakers worked very hard to create.
“Let’s make the audience believe again”?
Hello I’m a middle class memeber of the viewing public –
Dear Michael Bay,
Do you suppose the reason your movies endure venomous derision by viewers with fully-developed brains is because movie theater chains do not take care to properly project them?
Could you perhaps invest more energy into adequate story development, or cast lingerie models with a tad more acting ability? Maybe you could worry more about her dialogue than whether her tits are pushed up high enough?
It is critical that you learn to tell a story, even of the popcorn variety. We in the viewing public invest too much of our modest discretionary income into overpriced 3D movie tickets – and as hard as you work – without a decent script, you are not working hard enough to deliver a great experience.
I believe in stories – and kick-ass action. But even though we are asked to pony up more money at the box office outside the theater, brighter 3D and killer sound are indeed afterthoughts.
Then again, you’re still rich,
rafasreds
Maybe he should have included new bulbs for all the theatres in his budget, those things are kinda expensive!!!
All I want is to be able to watch a DVD without going blind — 3D films on 2D DVD players are impossible to watch. Too much tech, not enough mensch, Mr. Bay.