Will 'Lost' End On The Big Screen?
Filed under: RumorMonger, Fandom, Newsstand
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At the beginning of this past summer, I finally caved and decided to check out Lost on DVD. A friend of mine had gone on some crazy Lost binge, watching all four seasons in, like, a week, and afterward the dude was a little dizzy, dirty and distant. So, instead of going the crazy route, I spread the sucker out over five months and just finished up season four last week ... itching for more, of course. With season five debuting in January, and season four arriving on DVD this December 9, series writers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse sat down for a roundtable discussion and answered questions about the show.
Collider has a great transcript, and I could spend hours chatting it up with you, but this is a movie blog and we're more comfortable sticking with things that may or may not end up on the big screen. Case in point: What about Lost? Sure, they've cut a deal to end the series in 2010, but will they surprise us with a finale in theaters? When asked this, Lindelof said, "No. At least not by us. We've always felt that the show should definitively end the same place it started... on television. To bring our characters to some sort of cliffhanger where the audience gets none of the answers that they really care about and then say, "Now give us ten bucks, buy some popcorn and we'll give you the rest!" would pretty much be the worst thing ever."
What do you think? Should Lost stick to the small screen, or would a theatrical finale be more fitting?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
12-02-2008 @ 5:15PM
Gary said...
I think that it is bloody amazing that Lost has so far managed to avoid jumping the shark. There have been plenty of opportunities over the first four seasons for this show to well and truly stuff it up and yet by luck or judgement (probably a bit of both) they have actually done a great job of keeping it on track.
I think a movie would probably ruin whatever mystical power is keeping this thing going, the show's format and narrative structure does not really lend itself to a movie at all and it could not be anything more than a let down.
The only thing I could see happening though is maybe a movie a couple of years after the end of the TV show. A return to the Island for a 2 hour adventure, new cast (maybe one or two of the current cast could tag along). Who knows, maybe some will be left behind on the Island at the end of the show.
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12-02-2008 @ 6:18PM
Gozer said...
Gary has watched way too many of those old made-for-TV movies like Rescue from Gilligan's Island and Dallas: J.R. Returns. Not sure that works on the small screen or big screen for me. Sex and the City is different because HBO content is close to cinema than ad-supported TV with their hokey one-liners and cliff-hanging moments just before a commercial break.
12-03-2008 @ 1:18AM
Gary said...
Gozer, which part of "the show's format and narrative structure does not really lend itself to a movie" did you base your theory on?
You have effectively just repeated what I had said but were somehow disagreeing with me?!?!?
12-02-2008 @ 5:15PM
Clark Parker said...
I have not all of season 4 yet (missed a couple episodes due to work and just decided to scrap the idea of keeping up until the DVD release) so rather then diving head first into a potential spoiler zone, I'll ask you instead, Erik.
Does Lindelof mention the Dark Tower at all in this transcript? There is no single project on this planet that interests me more then the possiblity of a LOTR sized epic following Roland and his Ka-tet, so any mention of Abrams or this fella' gets my ears perked up... I'm dying to hear some news on this.
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12-02-2008 @ 5:20PM
Erik Davis said...
Nope, no mention of Dark Tower. And yeah, you'd be diving into a spoiler zone, so stay away until you finish the season dude.
12-02-2008 @ 5:39PM
Clark Parker said...
Thanks. I don't imagine there will be any real news regarding the Tower until after Bad Robot is done with Star Trek anyhow... Just be sure to let me know the second you hear something, ok?
Who am I kidding? Even if they started yesterday it would still be the early twenty-teens before even the first film came out...
As for Lost... I'll be sure to pick up the DVD next week. Also, I am firmly of the belief that it should end on TV. I'd re-work a page from Allen Moore and point out that there are just some things that TV can do better then movies... Wrapping up that many plots lines with the care and detail they deserve is one of them. I remember a while back when there was this absurd rumor that whatever Cloverfield was, it was a Lost movie... It was nonsense to think about it then and it's nonsense now.
12-02-2008 @ 5:55PM
Clark Parker said...
Damn. Well, I never really expected to hear any Tower news until after Bad Robot was done with Star Trek anyhow.
I'm sure the second you cats hear anything, youll let us know.
And who and I really kidding? Even if they started yesterday, it would be the early Twenty-Teens before the first of what (in a perfect world) would be 6 or 7 films is released.
As for Lost, it needs to end on TV. The idea of a lost film is nonsense. There are just some things TV can do better then movies... Wrapping up that many intricate plot lines for that many characters is one of those things... At best, a film could contain the content of three episodes and even that would be pushing it. There is no scenario where it would be more favorable to end the show in theaters. It's nice to see that Lindelof knows that.
12-02-2008 @ 5:45PM
Erin said...
Television shouldn't require this much homework.
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12-02-2008 @ 5:52PM
MCW said...
Sorry, you just don't get it. There are crappy shows that stay on television for years and years, with fans that somehow remain loyal enough to keep them running, while better shows fall to the wayside. Lost has only been on for four seasons, and people STILL complain about not being able to keep up.
The only reason you call it homework is because you were the dumb kid in class, the same one who cheated off of the guy in front of you. Lost is not homework. It's one of the best shows on television.
It's your fault if you're too lazy to watch it.
12-03-2008 @ 9:22AM
Mr. R said...
I agree. You would have to give away a 50 page update on what the hell happened on TV to all movie goers who didn't have the patience to watch every episode and remember WTF happened on each one.
12-02-2008 @ 7:28PM
chuck said...
As far as PURE imagination goes LOST is the best TV show since The Twilight Zone! Its truly GREAT! I don't see it on the big screen though!
Chuck
http://blog.entertainmenttodayandbeyond.com/
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12-02-2008 @ 7:33PM
paul said...
"We gotta go back, Kate! We gotta go back!"
Lindelof is exactly right, it wouldn't be fair to the fans of the show to extend the series onto the big screen. It would be "the worst thing ever."
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12-03-2008 @ 12:53AM
Chupacabra said...
I went on a crazy Lost binge this summer too. I watched all 4 seasons in like 2 weeks. (My friends went to Europe, and I had time off before my internship started.) I started thinking I was on the Island some days when I would wake up, it was a bit nuts.
But the show shouldn't end as a movie on the big screen, that would just be a big opportunity for spoilers and it's not fair for us to have to pay to see the end of the TV SHOW. Ideally it should end in a big 2+ hour tv event, with as few commercials as possible.
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12-03-2008 @ 10:29AM
SM1L3Z said...
it would really depend on how the show ended if there was some sort of big battle between people on the island it might be good for theaters but something small should stay on tv
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12-03-2008 @ 3:47PM
Alex said...
Lindelof is right. Lost belongs on TV. The pilot alone was more entertaining than most theatrical films, to say nothing about individual episodes that were even better. I don't think it's necessary to have a Lost movie. It has delivered for 4 seasons and counting a cinematic experience that has, along with a couple of good sitcoms over the years, restored a little of my faith in TV. To bring it to a bigger screen would require an increase in scale in order to keep audiences from saying, "I paid $12 to see something that they could have put on TV?" But that increase in scale could only hurt the story. Keep it on TV.
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12-13-2008 @ 10:38AM
James said...
I am a 45 year old married male, and I must say I have never been in to a tv show as much as I have LOST. I am hooked no matter what, the show gets better each season. I would follow them to the big screen if I had to. However, I hope they stick to their guns and answer all of our questions in season six at the end of the show, on the small screen. One more note--why aren't more of the actors getting any Emmy nods? The majority of the cast are top notch actors, with layered characters.
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