[The Saucepan Man]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR> but why the hell is anything "TOO dark"?!?! <HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>My point was based on the <I>Blade Runner</I> experience. The original version (later released as the Director's Cut) had a very dark ending. Sample screenings suggested that audiences disliked the sad ending, and so they re-filmed it with a happy ending to ensure "bums on seats" (although, in my view, the "Director's Cut" is much better).<P>Kalimac's post sums it all up for me. It would be nigh on impossible to get investors to shell out enough money to allow a film based on most of the tales in the Silm to be made properly. Low budget works for some films (Kalimac's mention of <I>The Crying Game</I> is an excellent example), but it would not allow for the tales of the Silm to be brought to the screen in a manner that would do them justice. I shudder to think what a low budget Glaurung would look like. <P>When it comes down to it, the big studios just ain't gonna take the risk, more's the pity.