Movie sales down because movies suck, "no shit" sherlock. (I told ya so)
 

This Just in: Flops Caused Box Office Slump
# Studio execs who pinned problems on factors beyond their control now take responsibility.

By Claudia Eller and John Horn, Times Staff Writers

One of Hollywood's basic tenets is that when things go wrong it's somebody else's fault.

Which is why it's so startling, suddenly, to hear studio executives and producers taking responsibility for the rows of empty seats in movie theaters this year.

"It's really easy for all of us to blame the condition of the theaters, gas prices, alternative media, the population changes and everything else I've heard myself say," said Sony Pictures Vice Chairman Amy Pascal, whose summer releases "Bewitched" and "Stealth" flopped. "I think it has to do with the movies themselves."

After months of hand-wringing and doomsday forecasts about the permanent erosion of moviegoing, the lunchtime chatter at Mr. Chow in Beverly Hills and other industry haunts has turned decidedly inward. Now, four straight weekends of crowded theaters have forced moguls and creative executives to admit in public what they have spent months avoiding: They were clueless about what audiences wanted.

"There's always a year when the pundits say the movie business is over," said producer Brian Grazer, whose May release "Cinderella Man" was a disappointment despite strong reviews. "If there's a movie people want to see, they go see it. I just think we all have to do our best to make better movies."

Credit a healthy September with showing that people haven't completely rejected the multiplex. "The Exorcism of Emily Rose" and "Transporter 2" both drew throngs of moviegoers. Last weekend "Flightplan" (also produced by Grazer) and "Tim Burton's Corpse Bride" pushed the box office 41% above the same weekend in 2004. From Labor Day through last weekend, grosses were 17% above a year earlier.

Nobody is predicting that 2005 will beat last year's record gross of $9.4 billion and attendance of 1.5 billion, which was driven by such hits as "Shrek 2," "Spider-Man 2," "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" and the surprise blockbuster "The Passion of the Christ." And this weekend may well fall short of a year ago, when the animated comedy "Shark Tale" surged to $47 million.

Still, to date, ticket sales lag behind 2004's numbers by only 6%, with attendance off 8.7%. Both those numbers are a vast improvement from a string of weekends this spring, when year-to-year comparisons frequently showed double-digit drops.

So much for the irreversible trends that prognosticators have spent months bemoaning. Amid 19 weekends of diminished box office ? a record stretch that started in late February and ended in early July ? many said they believed a cultural sea change was underway. Among the theories: People preferred to consume their entertainment in the comfort of their homes, whether watching DVDs on super-sharp plasma screens, surfing the Internet or playing video games.

....

It's not just the quality of the content (which does suck).

It's also:

1. Price of tickets (I can buy the DVD later for LESS than the price of myself and date seeing the movie once.

2. Home Theaters. Much cheaper than the old days, even solid projectors are just a couple grand now. Too easy to just NetFlix everything and watch it at home.

3. Single people getting pissed off at a bad theater experience due to shitheads bringing their kids to R-rated movies to avoid babysitter costs, dumbfucks on their goddamned cell-phones, punk teenagers kicking the back of your chair and being disruptive, etc, etc, etc.

4. More exclusive quality content being developed for adult audiences by cable networks (HBO, Showtime, others), examples are Rome, the Sopranos, Weeds, The L Word etc.

The list goes on. Lucas said recently that theater operators will have to deliver an experience that people like myself can't get at home if they ultimately want to stay in this business. In his mind, that's 3-D. It's a good idea, but man...humanity is a bitch, I'd rather stay home, lol...

Notice that there is another thread on GFY about how great "band of brothers" is????

HBO understands that the male audience wants to see heroic men sacrificing for their honor, good name, and friends. That's why shows about the mafia or prison life do so well... men fighting to defend their honor.

Hollywood now has unrealistic heroes (comic books) fighting villains that nobody thinks are scary (maybe they should fight muslims) Notice how they always make villains white guys with blonde hair... Nobody believes that shit... They show black people and women as the president HAHAHA

Because of hollywood political correctness... They won't glorify America or show that kind of old fashioned white male machismo present in John wayne and Clint Eastwood movies

They are doomed to fail. I don't think hollywood is going to recover... it's too late.. just look at the rich stars living in gated communities surrounded by mexican barrios in LA... doomed I tell ya

too much cgi and not enough story
blame the matrix

Good point

last few movies i went to were shit, 'Exorcism of Emily Rose' was a fucking joke and 'A History of Violence' was just fucking bizarre.

'A History of Violence was bad? I was gonna see that one, fuck.

you got a point

In Mexico, I have yet to watch a movie where there were not at least 2 people on thier cell phones during the movie, or 10 kids running up and down yelling, or someone translating something.

The only thing that keeps me going is that my wife and I can go to the movies, and have sushi, and desert at the theatre for less than 30$

I think most people like me wait until the movie comes to dvd and movies coming out now are really terrible

Excellent post that just about covers it. :2 cents:

Hollywood has the ability to do things TV can only dream of, but they simply aren't doing it.

Julia Roberts is making a movie where they replace her current skin with how she looked in Pretty Woman. So it'll be a new Roberts film, but it'll look like she's 21 again.

This could lead to some very interesting stuff. Worried about how old Arnold may look in T6? Just replace his skin. Want to bring Chris Farly or John Candy back to life on the screen? You will soon see stuff like this.

I think that article also touches on the fact that movie audiences are getting dumber and dumber. When movies like Emily Rose bring in 21 million and are just pure shit while Cinderella Man struggles. The movie studios have to dumb it down and its a fine line. Its getting to the point that any movie that has a smart plot and characters has to be released in limited markets to build an audience. The public is too busy raving about Transporter 2. Its a joke.

If I was a studio head I would be ripping my hair out over the public's response. They claim to want "quality" films yet open up movies like "Flightplan" to $24 million, while films like "Good Night and Good Luck" are hard pressed to open at $5 million on expanded release. Yet the same dipshit that just got out of the 7pm showing of Into the Blue comments on GFY that Hollywood cant make anything good.

right on the dot

The answer is simple, try to remember the plot line iof a movie you saw three months ago. Most movies today are produce on a conveyor belt and as memorable as a Ford focus.

Now think of the films produced be greats like David Lean, those you can remember.

What ever you sell it eventually comes down to the abality of the product to hold the customers desire for more, M&Ms or movies. All the same, nothing to do with hype or traffic, it's down to satisfaction.

40 year old virgin was probably the best movie I saw this year LOL!

DH

P.S. Wedding Crashers was pretty good though :)

Wedding Crashers was WAYYYYYYYYY better than 40 Year Old Virgin!
Come on DH, i thought you had better taste :winkwink:

True...I've actually like going to movies, so I frequent sites like movies.yahoo.com and hollywood doesn't have anything coming out that is even worth going to the movies...

But Vendetta which bows in spring!