Just yesterday, we learned that Netflix resurrected the late Gene Wilder to play Willy Wonka. Today, we’re learning that Elton John sold his entire image for millions of dollars so he can live on forever playing in Las Vegas.
This is what I’ve predicted would happen, and I’m no sage, believe me.
For two decades, and with only the rare exception, we’ve been saddled with obnoxious, unappealing, and hateful celebrities. This means that there is no one to replace our aging legends, which leaves a gaping hole in the entertainment market. The good news is that technology in the form of AI and holograms can fill that void.
Elton John has “has reportedly signed a multi-million-pound deal to star in a groundbreaking Las Vegas residency as a hologram, meaning fans could continue watching him perform long after he has taken his final bow,” reports Metro. “According to reports, Elton will film performances later this year at Pinewood Studios before being digitally transformed into a lifelike hologram.”
Kiki Dee, who recorded the smash 70’s hit “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” (which sucks) will also appear with him as a hologram.
All-in-all, the 79-year-old, who has partly retired from touring, signed a seven-figure deal with Hard Rock. This comes not long after he scoffed at the whole idea.
“When Daddy dies,” John told his son seven years ago, “promise me there won’t be a hologram going around the world doing concerts.” Nothing like seven figures and seven years to change your mind.
Why not?
Why shouldn’t Elton John do it?
Why shouldn’t Las Vegas put the hologram of a superstar on stage instead of what we have today, which are one- and two-hit wonders most people have never heard of?
You know, up until about 20 years ago, America had been buried in musical superstars. Who do we have today under 40? Taylor Swift and a couple of others? “We Are The World” would be a quartet today. Watching Elton John perform 20 of his timeless hits 20 years after he’s dead sounds a helluva lot more attractive than watching some guy named Bad Bunny perform songs that never entered the public consciousness.
Next up: People will whine that Elton John’s hologram will take a living person’s job.
So what?
When a living person becomes a universal musical icon with a catalogue of songs everyone knows and loves, maybe then that person can replace Elton’s hologram. In the meantime, Normal People want Elton, and if we can’t get Elton, we’ll take his hologram over Bad Bunny and Lizzo any day of the week.
Imagine this…
A new Star Wars movie starring a young Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher.
A new Indiana Jones movie starring a young Harrison Ford.
A new sports comedy starring an in-his-prime Burt Reynolds.
A new buddy comedy that reunites John Candy and Steve Martin.
Another pairing of John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara.
A torrid romance starring a stunning Ingrid Bergman and Humphrey Bogart, or Cary Grant, or Clark Gable.
This is all possible now, and I’m all for it.
And what will make it happen is what always makes things happen… The money.
What is the downside of selling your image? There is none. You get a ton of money when you’re alive, and the rest happens after you’re dead.
Money.
Today’s icons make a fortune. The estate-holders of long-dead icons make a fortune.
Money.
The return of these icons will make a fortune for whoever holds the rights.
And here’s the real kicker…
AI will make it all so cheap for the John Wayne estate to make a John Wayne movie; the estate won’t have to sell the rights to some degenerate studio like the Disney Grooming Syndicate that will make him gay. The estate can make the movie for peanuts, distribute it for peanuts through streaming, and easily recoup its investment.
We’re not even at the beginning of the beginning of the AI revolution. What New Media has done to decimate the corporate media, what digital technology did to the music industry, is about to happen to all forms of the visual arts.
This is glorious.