If they don't film it this year, we'll all be 1 year older when they do.

February 14, 2023 2:22 PM

Winter 2023-2024 will be the first in 74 years without a brand new Warren Miller ski movie. All future Warren Miller Entertainment films will be created from existing footage.

The news was announced on January 24, 2023, by Warren Miller Entertainment film director Chris Patterson. Patterson has been making Warren Miller movies for thirty years. He explained, "Recently Outside Inc. (the parent company of Warren Miller Entertainment) announced that they will not film a movie this winter. Due to financial challenges at Outside, the executives have chosen to assemble the future movies entirely with “existing footage” – no need for a camera crew, plane tickets, lift tickets and for that matter, no need for athletes or snow."

posted by RockyChrysler (11 comments total)

I had no idea these were still being made yearly. I went to see them live for a few years growing up. Some kind of large format, can't recall if it was IMAX or something else.
posted by snuffleupagus at 2:44 PM on February 14, 2023

no need for a camera crew, plane tickets, lift tickets and for that matter, no need for athletes or snow.

a metaphor for something
posted by chavenet at 2:48 PM on February 14, 2023

This blew up on ski social media the other day. Outside seem to be refuting it now. but Outside don't seem to be totally on the level and seem to be burning bridges (given lay-offs, downsizing, and bullshit NFT initiatives)

Lots of good ski/snowboard films to look forward to this year including:
- Full Circle
- To the Hills and Back (avalanche survival film)
- Magic Hour (ok from late last year I suppose but still lots of good Ski movies in 2022 to work through like Anywhere From Here)

Plus shorts like Fuel and Sharing the Stoke etc.
posted by inflatablekiwi at 2:50 PM on February 14, 2023 [4 favorites]

Also bonus, the 2023 Kings and Queens of Corbet's 4k replay from last week is available now for free on Youtube.
posted by inflatablekiwi at 2:56 PM on February 14, 2023 [3 favorites]

Looking at the list of Warren Miller films and their release formats, it looks like Outside was trying to leverage the name to make people pay for their own streaming service (Outside+), probably leading to reduced profits for something (making a brand new skiing video every single year) that can't really make all that much money in the first place.
posted by meowzilla at 4:32 PM on February 14, 2023

a metaphor for something

It will be kind of wild if (for most people) ski resorts become uneconomic, close, and people need to basically return to taking up ski touring to opportunistically earn their turns on highly variable snow falls. Like a clock going backwards. I’m planning on getting a split board this year to give *very light touring* a go, more so for fun, but also to encourage my kids to try it when older. Resorts are likely to still run while I’m able to ski….but for my kids? Maybe not.

Or you have the money, I guess you’ll be able to access this strong contender for the most insane winter sports related project ever, which is the host venue for the 2029 Asian Winter Games. I mean it snows *some years* in that mountain range, and the temperature *sometimes* hits freezing……so sure that makes total sense in this bizarreo world to spend $500 Billion dollars on a ski resort….in Saudi Arabia….
posted by inflatablekiwi at 7:06 PM on February 14, 2023

I don't think this is necessarily about climate change or economics of the ski industry or anything more complicated than the fact that Warren Miller films used to be one of the only games in town. If you wanted to see some folks skiing sweet lines and and doing sick tricks, you waited until the annual Warren Miller film came to town.

But now that every kid has a GoPro and we can all share our films online easily, the situation is a lot different. A lot of the kids who grew up making ski films with their friends have become very good filmmakers. There's a whole sponsorship ecosystem that allows people to make films that would otherwise be economically impossible. There are endless hours of ski film available to you online and at any number of touring film fests.

Warren Miller films have been kind of irrelevant for years. When I was a kid, they used to bring out a crowd in my hometown (very much a ski town), but no one has tried to show one for years and years.
posted by ssg at 7:41 PM on February 14, 2023 [2 favorites]

I used to author the Warren Miller DVDs and Blu-rays in the late 2000s, and even then everyone could tell it was a dying business.
posted by infinitewindow at 8:37 PM on February 14, 2023 [3 favorites]

The main target market was teenage skiers. It was fun to see your first film, usually in a November before the slopes opened. But then a year later you'd go see the new film, realize it was basically the same as the previous year, and get off that bus. Skiing isn't anything like golf, but both are much better actually doing them than watching other people do them.
posted by morspin at 9:27 AM on February 15, 2023 [1 favorite]

Well... I'm many decades past being a "teenage" skier but I do enjoy watching at least a clip or two from the new film every year. Especially when visiting Snowbird / Alta as it's not like there's a lot else to do at night in that part of Utah. Of course, his sense of humor and delivery certainly are an acquired taste.
posted by Dean358 at 6:55 PM on February 15, 2023

I've attended a few WM film showings but I prefer the ones by Teton Gravity Research. But frankly it's all too frenetic and hyperedited for me.
posted by neuron at 9:57 AM on February 17, 2023