This question isn’t exactly game dev, but it is tangent so I hope it’s cool to post.
So you know how video games well often release and allow the fan base to modify them? And when they get older, like oblivion or fallout three fans will make new art assets to keep the game modern?
why don’t TV and movies do this?
after movie is made provide all the raw files and allow the fan base to update special effects, do New edits, or whatever.
If Star Wars did this, could you imagine how many versions of Star Wars would be out there?
And Disney could absolutely monetize that.
Eventually someone’s gonna come along and make a definitive fan cut, and now you have discovered new talent for free.
George Lucas went the updates and edits route with the SW original trilogy and the fans generally hated it. If you approve of the song and dance number added to Jabba’s palace in Return of the Jedi, you’re dead to me. Also, Han shot first.
The source material of fanfic holds more value than a game, and production cost is higher. Basically, it is against creator interest to set the work free, as they will lose ridiculous amount of money.
Wha? This happens ALL the time. There are so many versions of Star Wars, it is hard to keep track. One early ones that rose to popularity was “The Phantom Edit”. Which at the time/internet speed, you had to copy from a friend or or have someone send you a burned copy. It was basically Ep1 with JarJars dialog replaced with an alien lang and subtitled (like Jabba in RoTJ), and most of Anikin’s dialog simply cut. (which works really well, he seems more pensive and serious). There are also many different attempts to restore the theatrical releases, and super hd versions, The Despecialized version is very god
List of various cuts (some for story, some for other concepts)
There are GoT edits (some for story, some just. combining the series into movies), and many many more, MCU recuts, etc. Certainly there are lots of little cuts done for humor on yt, but video editing is cheap and powerful and high quality footage is easily attainable. I would say, currently, it is more ubiquitous than game modding, modding takes a decent amount of skill. Video editing just takes time. (though there are certainly bad ones out there)
I mean you don’t have those hosted on star wars page, while in case of PC games modifications can be placed in steam workshop or its equivalent.in the first place for everybody. Also, what you normally get is cuts and translations, and not, say taking the movie and replacing Luke with Thomas the Tank Engine or something like that.
Of course they are, they are different mediums. But the goal is pretty much the same, to modify/tweak/alter an original production. Some are pretty extensively altered, like Bateman Begins or ANH:Revisited where new footage was created, whole vfx sequences were created using new practical fx (and cg). And there cases like a fan vfx remix of final scene in Season 2 of the Mandalorian landed him a job at ILM. But replacing a character or something that extensive just isn’t practical (except for short clips). Folks just don’t have that kinda time, skill and resources. And at that point you are really just making a new film. It’s not the same pay off, changing a film creates a couple of hours of content, a good game mod can create many hours of unique experiences for people.
And while re-cutting a film isn’t officially supported, fan created content is, at least in the case of Star Wars. Star Wars fan films are supported and encouraged by Lucasfilm for decades, and even hosted on their site : https://www.starwars.com/star-wars-fan-awards/long-video-winners Not all mods are hosted/supported by the orginal creator, some are. Conan Exiles is crazy extensive mods, and publishes everything you need to do it.
Until (if) we get the point where films are almost all digital and source is released, re-cutting and creative use of digital tools is about all that can be expected, comparatively speaking.
Edit: I just realized you already pretty much said all this.
A game is a more procedural experience, where as a movie is more like the finished result of a process- so it like the movie is a cake and the game is like a set of ingredients and a recipe.
It’s easy to go into a game and say let’s try the same cake with different eggs this time, but for a movie that’s impossible. For a movie you can pour hot sauce on it and try to make it taste better, but you can’t change what’s already baked.
It has been for over 40 years. The one that started it all was Hardware Wars. The modern (internet) fan film movement was reinvigorated over 20 years ago with Troops. LF not only supports it, but gives out awards (usually) annually.
Most movies and films don’t have any assets to release. Its not like I can download a copy of Mark Hamill to come over to my place and run some new scenes for me.
What you are describing might be possible on a couple of procedurally animated films. It might be possible to swap in a different model with the original movie files. But even then most studios are only animating and rendering the one scene they need for the movie, as opposed to games which allow for a wide range of procedural content generated on the fly.
So the best case you simply get new cuts of old movies.
Though… there are some that do: https://www.blender.org/about/studio/
Some are actually pretty good. Though probably not the type of stuff people would typically want fan-rewrite.
