How much would an Addams Family pinball kickstarter be?

[neglectoid]

How very passive-aggressive of you.

he's not being pass-agro.. he just knows whats up.. father time. I have never played TAF either.. I have seen it man times on location.. but I have never stuck a quarter into TAF (long story) and I am in my forties and have been playing since I could stand up. so I do understand your statements in the OP.

we need to preserve every table possible.... that's the whole point... as far as my guess for the price of the kickstarter, there are a lot of people who can answer (guess) that answer way better than I could.

 

[Espy]

Zen has the rights for ORIGINAL creations using the Star Wars license. There is no conflict with FS if they were to do recreations of existing real tables.

No, my point was FS has the rights to recreate existing physical tables, so it's something Zen couldn't do if they wanted to.

And again, Disney did NOT make the deal with Zen, Lucasfilm did.

I didn't say that. I was talking about if FS were to try to get the rights now.

 

[vpalmer]

so many license experts..and i could bet 10$ what everyone of them had see contracts and license agreements of Zen and FS with their own eyes..

 

[Rafie]

Cool. Thanks for clarifying that. I have not checked in on that thread in a while. Nice to hear the final tally. 10 Star Wars themed tables is more than enough. I really like the 3 we have on PC Steam right now.

Looks like I was right. Zen just released a trailer for the new Star Wars tables. 3 more are dropping this fall.

Episode VI: Return of The Jedi, a table dedicated strictly to Darth Vader, and Star Wars: Starfighters Assault

Anyway, now my hopes up for TAF again. I only played the table twice in my life and I loved it. I can't find a TAF machine anywhere. So I really hope FS can get the license through backing of a kickstarter.

 

[Jim O'Brien]

Here is something interesting from the Pro Pinball kick starter page, sounds like they want to do recreations as well.

"My ultimate aim is to completely rebuild all four classic games from scratch (The Web, Timeshock!, Big Race USA and Fantastic Journey) to create amazing new ULTRA Editions, whilst developing a whole new series of brand new games using both original and licensed themes, hopefully designed in conjunction with well known ex-Williams designers. Eventually, I would like to see all the games going out on just about every platform out there; PC, Mac, iOS, Android, OUYA, Linux, XBLA, PS3, PS Vita, 3DS and Wii U.
Timeshock! - ULTRA Edition dynamic lighting, work in progress."

 

[Espy]

Don't think they're talking about recreating anything other than the original Pro Pinball series. The talk about ex-Williams designers is referring to the new digital table they wanted to make with Pat Lawlor.

 

[shutyertrap]

No, my point was FS has the rights to recreate existing physical tables, so it's something Zen couldn't do if they wanted to.

Making the same point. Pronoun use simply wasn't made clear enough!

so many license experts..and i could bet 10$ what everyone of them had see contracts and license agreements of Zen and FS with their own eyes..

No, I haven't seen the license agreement. I have talked directly to FarSight though, and they gave me some insight into licensing and dealing with Disney. I have also signed many a contract with Disney as I work in the motion picture industry and have worked on a few of their projects. I have no doubt there might be a lawyer to two who plays TPA and posts in these forums, probably knowing something about licensing agreements.

Point is, you never know who's actually posting around here! Sure, there's a lot of talking out our butts, but now and then some real truth nuggets might just drop.

 

[brakel]

Sure, there's a lot of talking out our butts, but now and then some real truth nuggets might just drop.

That there is pure poetry!

 

[Zaphod77]

I honestly think that Raoul's estate would have no problem with the table being remade. Bottom line is the table was done with their blessing and is a work of art, and they really should be happy about it being preserved. That said there's still a ton of licenses to worry about. i know this will be a very expensive table to make. It woudl take a really cynical person to consider a TPA release exploitation of a dead man. In this case, i believe they would take the "what if he were still alive" train of thought, because all the assets already exist and were used for the original project.

 

[heddhunter]

One was free for IOS the other day too. I picked it up, tried it, probably will never go back to it. Just can't get into it. I hate Zen tables. If they closed up shop tomorrow I would not care t all.

They are not great on iOS. I do find them quite enjoyable on the Playstation though.

 

[Mark W**a]

Late to the discussion...

First, I'm gunna say I have to disagree with Shut Yer Trap. I think you were way hard on the OP, he didn't deserve that.

The Addams Family films were mild box office successes. A quick google search shows each one made a couple hundred million bucks.

Sounds great until you see that Terminator 2 alone brought in about double both Addams Family films combined just in box office. By itself (Terminator 1 was also gigantic). And starring arguable the biggest action star in the history of film, Arnold Swarzenegger...

The TV series is classic... Two seasons worth of classic (1964-1966). So classic that it LOST in ratings to the Munsters back in its heyday....

Look I'm not here to rag on Addams Family. I personally find it an iconic series and I enjoyed the two 90s films when I was a child. But lets not kid ourselves here. In no way shape or form is this IP comparable to Star Trek or Terminator, two IP that are still relevant to this day.

And that's the key word here. Relevancy. Now you can say well Twilight Zone is no longer relevant. But that series is 10x as iconic as Addams Family easily, was on TV forever (not two seasons) and didn't lose to a rival show in ratings.

Now lets talk Star Trek. 11 major motion pictures 3 of which were based on The Next Generation... A series that defines the word iconic, and is still huge today. The Next Generation spawned 3 spinoffs: Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise... Again, not even remotely comparable.

The pinball machines success has very little to do with the film. Some of it sure... Dark, monster macabre has proven to be a successful mix with pinball, always. So sure that played a small part. But the rest was timing (released at the absolute hieght of pinballs popularity), tech (DMD) with most of the credit (as in, the vast majority) belonging to Lawlor and crew. This team was just magic back then, this being thier first DMD game, everything from the sound to the gameplay to the clever toy gimmicks, everything was just perfect and struck every chord.

If you want proof it was Lawlors design and not the license... Look no further than T2. Much bigger film, also DMD, came out first, still had lower sales.

With all this said. This was never an expensive Kickstarter. It's just the most difficult due to the Julia estate.

 

[Kolchak357]

Don't let ratings fool you. The Brady bunch never cracked the top thirty and was definitely an iconic show.
The Addams Family had comics, TV Show, Movies, Toys. Definitely iconic.
I guarentee the studios consider the Addams Family movie a success or it wouldn't have had a sequel.
You compare TAF movie to T2. I can do the same thing by comparing T2 to Star Wars. Both sci fi films, but T2's box office is dwarfed by what Star Wars brought in. Does tha mean T2 is not an iconic film? Of course not.

TAF pin was a great design with cool toys and employed the fairly new DMD technology in a great fashion. But the theme was a large part of the success as well. Everyone knows the characters even if they never saw the movies. And the silly dark humor is a great fit for a pin. Lawlor and the team really captured the theme to perfection. Strip away the theme and you still have a good pin, but you don't have a pin that sells over 20,000 units.

I hope you're right about the price of the licenses, but I fear you are not.

 

[Espy]

You can't deny that TAF isn't really in the public eye these days. It's been a dead brand for a while now. You might hope that may help the cost. But it still has a LOT of famous faces on it, so that certainly won't help costs.

 

[shutyertrap]

Hey you know what, I can search the internet too! (which was a point I was making to the original OP)

In adjusted inflation dollars, Addams Family made $188 million domestic. There's not a studio around today that wouldn't call that anything but a huge success, a definitely not "mild".

The TV show had ratings that averaged a 23.1! Do you realize how many households that means? Any TV show today would kill for numbers like that.

For a show that is 50+ years old, a movie that is 20+ years, that theme song sure is still ever present. Watch any NBA game, you're bound to hear it. Now, go ahead and hum the theme to the Munsters off the top of your head. Go on, I'll wait

Look, even if you wanted to stick with saying the Addams characters were mildly popular at best in their heyday, Kolchak nailed it on what makes the table great. As a white wood, the table would be fun, but not amazing. The way the whole package is put together though, it is one of the best of all time.

 

[Sean DonCarlos]

From my blog post Ten (Real) Machines to Play Before You Die:

8. The Addams Family - Yes, yes, yes, I know it's overrated. I know it's either a Whirlwind with a license or a rehearsal for Twilight Zone, depending on how you look at it. I know it's the table everyone wants for TPA and simultaneously is tired of hearing others ask about. But it's too much fun and too well-executed to care very much. One of the best multiball starts ever; some special features and tricks - a well-tuned Thing Flips is a thing of beauty, and you'll never forget your first Dirty Pool - even the little things like getting the flashers to strobe in time with the music for Mamushka, and you'll forget your complaint that the jackpot shot is the standard horizontal one. There's a reason this machine set records and earned a second production run.

Incidentally, TAF is not the only machine that became more than it otherwise would have been because of its theme. Scared Stiff must have been dreadfully boring as a whitewood.

 

[DarkAkatosh]

So what happened to this table coming out in December? was that the usual baseless speculation?

 

[brakel]

So what happened to this table coming out in December? was that the usual baseless speculation?

Who said that?

 

[DarkAkatosh]

Don't know who said it but it was somewhere in the unreleased tables section.

 

[brakel]

Don't know who said it but it was somewhere in the unreleased tables section.

Ask a silly question... ;D

 

[Zaphod77]

Addams family is probably lawlor's best. The theme integration is just perfect with this game. The thing hand picking up the ball, things flipping for you. HOnestly, the layout is pretty solid, but it's the license and how awesomely it was integrated that really makes the table.

i WILL get this table... but only if it plays right. i'm a huge fan of the table in real life, and know how properly dialed in ones are supposed to play. WHat woudl i need ot do to help with it? pledge high enough on kickstarter when it comes up?