Posted on 04/03/2006 9:09:28 AM PDT by NRA1995
The last time "Basic Instinct" man-eater Catherine Tramell prowled the big screen, the studio erotic thriller was hitting box office heights. The first "Instinct" took the top spot when it debuted in 1992, with an opening weekend of $15.1 million, the equivalent of $20.45 million in today's dollars.
By comparison, "Basic Instinct 2" limped into 10th place upon its arrival this weekend, grossing just $3.2 million.
In the years between the two films, a string of high-profile flops, including MGM's "Body of Evidence," United Artists' "Showgirls" and Paramount Pictures' "Jade," have all contributed to the cooling off of the erotic thriller, a genre that had once sizzled at the box office.
Paul Verhoeven, director of the first "Basic Instinct" (which scored $353 million worldwide) as well as the widely ridiculed "Showgirls" (now regarded as something of a camp classic), attributes the genre's demise to the current American political climate.
"Anything that is erotic has been banned in the United States," said the Dutch native. "Look at the people at the top (of the government). We are living under a government that is constantly hammering out Christian values. And Christianity and sex have never been good friends."
Scribe Nicholas Meyer, who was an uncredited writer on 1987's seminal sex-fueled cautionary tale "Fatal Attraction," agrees, noting that the genre's downfall coincides with the ascent of the conservative political movement.
"We're in a big puritanical mode," he said. "Now, it's like the McCarthy era, except it's not 'Are you a communist?' but 'Have you ever put sex in a movie?"'
Taht's the ONLY thing she has positive about her.
It's Shaon Stone's bush's fault!.........
You insensitive red-stater..don't you remember enlightened hollywood giving us "Brokeback Mountain"?:>
"I've still got it! Almost 50, but I'm still hot! People love me! They think I'm sexy! Oh, the phone! Hello? What? NO ONE WENT TO SEE MY MOVIE?? I'm old. I'm a hag. People hate me. What else to I have? My career is over. I'll probably never make another movie."
That's gotta hurt.
:~P Good one!
OR
Has Hollywood just MILF'ed them for all they're worth.
That's why there's only hundreds and hundreds of t!tty bars and adult bookstores in just about every city in the US, racks full of porn magazines in most of the liquor stores and convenience stores, and why Googling "porn" only gives you back 134 million hits. It's just so hard to find erotic stuff in the United States. </s>
Too bad it's not so hard to find crappy movies starring aging skanks who want to pretend they're 20 years old again.
I guess Hollywood hasn't ever heard of the online porn-industry.
"Hey cats, there's this thing, it's called "the internet"! Anyone who wants to can see anything YOU guys can think of - for way less than it costs to see a movie! And it's ten times more nasty than anything you've ever imagined, you bunch of old people."
Geez. I hate porn, and I can still honestly say that Hollywood is not only out of touch with America, they are out of touch with the 21st century. I didn't know that there were any people left in the country who didn't know about the HUGE online porn boom. I mean, it's like a drug dealer saying: "nobody wants my organic heirloom weed, man. 'The Man' is stopping everybody from buying dope, man. Say... what's meth?"
If you're looking for erotica, don't look to Hollywood. They don't know how to look up pr0n on the internet, much less make an erotic movie...
It's that kind of nuanced market understanding that brought us New Coke, the Edsel and the Dot Com Bust.
LOL...... nice zinger......beautiful take.
Sorry---we cannot believe that individuals who micro-manage every detail of moviemaking have no concept of the residual effect.
Examine their motives----Hollywarped's craven proselytizing is so very obvious. They knew they are deliberately offending Middle American values.
For years, Hollywarped's busy entertainment industry has chipped away at Western civilzation under the guise of "artistic expression." Politically correct Hollywarped films, TV and music are loaded up with gratuitous sex and violence, then Follywood types get thoughtful and start talking about "artistic meaning."
"Artistic meaning," my Aunt Tilly.
Hollywarped's MO includes endless poselytizing, continuous brainwashing of audiences into Christian-hating and American-hating, and subtle and not-so-subtle left-leaning social commentaries.
Follywood firmly believes that 24/7 of their sexually salacious and violent TV, movies and music are not harming kids and the culture.
OTOH, Hollywarped also believes----with the religious fervor of Tammy Faye Baker---- that a single 15-sec commercial will compel tens of millions of Americans into thousands of stores to buy billions of dollars worth of soap, soup, breakfast cereal and cars.
They can't have it both ways.
By comparison, "Basic Instinct 2" limped into 10th place upon its arrival this weekend, grossing just $3.2 million.
By comparison, in 1992 Sharon Stone was 34, instead of 48 as she is today. Time wounds all heels.
maybe it's just the beaver that has lost its appeal.
People are watching wack off movies on their Ipods for crying out loud.
Sex still sells, but if the movie is an absolute piece of crap, even sex will not bail it out!
Paul Verhoeven needs to make more movies like "RoboCop" and "Total Recall" and quit with the "erotic" BS.
Meanwhile, there is a rise in popularity of saber-tooth squirels in the US...
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