A tweet by Universal Studios comparing CGI standards against the practical effects of the 1982 horror The Thing didn’t go as planned.
Universal Pictures
Universal Studios appeared to think they were simply complimenting the incredible practical effects of John Carpenter’s iconic horror movie The Thing when making a post on Twitter. However, their comment that the legendary 1982 movie did things that CGI cannot do opened up a floodgate of trolling from fans who couldn’t wait to point out how many times Universal has chosen to push CGI in movies over the use of practical effects, including in the 2011 prequel to The Thing.
There is an unwritten law in Hollywood that if practical effects are done right and look amazing at the time of a movie or TV show’s release, they will stand the test of time. Puppets used in the likes of The Muppet Show and Labyrinth are as impressive today as they were in the 80s, while many movies that incorporated the use of then-new computer-generated images tend to look incredibly outdated rather than just incredible. That can be said of John Carpenter’s The Thing, a movie that created some of the most impressive body-horror scenes ever, and when putting the movie side by side with the prequel that came almost three decades later, there is only ever one winner.
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Universal’s Twitter post certainly stirred up a lot of feelings about the studio putting down CGI after replacing practical effects set up for 2011’s The Thing. You can see the reactions below from those who quickly pointed out the studio’s own failings on the subject.
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Universal’s Tweet Also Didn’t Go Down Well In Light of Recent Overworking Complaints in Hollywood
In the last few years, companies like Marvel Studios have been called out for their high demands on VFX artists working on the post-production of their movies. The working conditions of VFX artists seem to be coming to a head, with a number of groups and guilds now planning to create a Hollywood union to fight back against the pay rates and sustainability of a business that is being driven into the ground by demands it just cannot continue to meet.
Recent reports suggested that VFX artists working for Marvel Studios were paid 20% less than other studios, as well as being given almost impossible-to-reach deadlines and excessive working hours that led to many suffering from burnout. Furthermore, with Marvel Studios continuing to deliver up to four movies and several TV shows a year for the foreseeable future, it is hard to see how the stress and work demands are going to change anytime soon, which could well cause more unrest in the next few years.
On Universal’s post, there were certainly some who wanted to point out that, as well as being somewhat hypocritical about the use of CGI, they were also forgetting about the many VFX artists they currently have working day and night to meet their deadlines.
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