Rating High on Hollywood's List: Immature Audiences

Washington Post ^ | August 23, 2009 | Ann Hornaday

[CaptainK]

The best adult fare is on cable TV right now. Why put up with audiences who talk throughout the film and answer their cell phones?

[brownsfan]

“The best adult fare is on cable TV right now. Why put up with audiences who talk throughout the film and answer their cell phones?”

AMC isn’t bad, but I’ve seen all 6 of their movies.

[svcw]

Well, if Hollywood made GOOD adult movies it wouldn't be an issue but who wants to to see crap. And the "immature" movies are just plain fun.

[VisualizeSmallerGovernment]

Huh? Was State Of Play supposed to be a box office blockbuster? Seriously? Round up the whole family and watch Russel Crowe type for 2 hours?

As hard as it might be for someone who works for the media to believe, most Americans aren't going to line up around the block to watch a reporter movie.

Taking Of Pelham 123 was a standard action flick, with no characters anyone had ever heard of unless they watched the 1970's original.

GI Joe and Transformers were standard action flicks with characters that were beloved by millions of kids in the 1980's. Those kids are now in their 30's and have families of their own.

[TomGuy]

Here is a solution:

Make more remakes of the classics, and more anti-war/anti-American movies. Those have been such rousing successes.

[/s]

[Malone LaVeigh]

It costs me $45 to take my wife to a matinee and get 2 medium popcorns and soft drinks.
When I finally see all these new movies on satellite, I rarely see one that would have justified that expenditure.

[TomGuy]

AMC isn’t bad, but I’ve seen all 6 of their movies.

FX will be showing Independence Day. If not them, then TNT. If not them, then A&E.

If you miss it, just wait until Men in Black finishes its cycle. Then Independence Day will cycle through the cable channels, again.

[BenLurkin]

“The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3” underperformed...

No kidding. Take a classic movie with a sterling cast and remake it with John Travolta?

Not even Denzel Washington could save that one.

[eclecticEel]

Who wants to watch a bunch of arrogant celebrities spout off their socialist tripe at the audience for two hours? I have no faith that Hollywood can produce an adult movie with serious themes that doesn’t insult my intelligence. Mindless entertainment is all they’re capable of delivering, why should I look to them for anything else?

[brownsfan]

“FX will be showing Independence Day. If not them, then TNT. If not them, then A&E.”

The only channel that shows any variety of movies is TCM. Unfortunately, they don’t always show “talkies”. And when they do show “talkies”, they aren’t far removed from the silent film era.

I’m not a big movie watcher, but there are LOTS of movies I never saw, or would watch again if they were show. Is there some kind of problem that a channel can’t show a real variety?

[Drew68]

The reason why "grown-up" movies fare poorly at the box office is simple. Older adults who enjoy movies, like me, wait for the DVD and watch it from the comfort of my La-Z-Boy on my high-def flat screen home theater surround-sound system.

That's why I bought all that crap in the first place!

Theater experience can't compare to the comfort of my own home. That's why the only people going to the cinema are teenagers and 20-somethings on dates. And that's why movies geared towards them are the only ones that make any money at the box office! It's that simple.

[Stevenc131]

The trend has been pretty clear for the last 10 to 15 years. You’re getting junk summer hits like ‘Transformers’ and good ‘smaller’ films like ‘Juno’, but there’s not a lot in between that’s aimed at adults. What we’re seeing less and less of is films like ‘The Godfather’ or ‘Chinatown’, i.e. ‘big’ films aimed at adults.

I like smaller films like ‘Juno’ or ‘Little Miss Sunshine’, but the days when the studios were willing to invest in well written ‘big’ adult dramas are fading (and have been for a while).

[dead]

With 900 cable channels, NetFlix, and the internet, people can see any movie anytime they want. They need a special event to justify going to see a movie on the giant screen with the booming sound system.

When you charge $10 per ticket, $6 for a soda, and $8 for popcorn, you better be putting up something eye-popping on the screen.

Nobody's going to shell out those big bucks to see something like "The Soloist" - about a homeless violin player - unless you let him shoot lava out of his eyes and and launch him into an intergalactic space battle.

Quiet, understated, reflective movies are perfect for sitting at home and watching on the television. The big screen is for blowing big things up.

[Boiling Pots]

Where do you live, NYC?

[TomGuy]

there are LOTS of movies I never saw, or would watch again if they were show. Is there some kind of problem that a channel can’t show a real variety?

I grew up in a world of 3 networks with up to 5 broadcast TV stations in several geographic area from the 1950s to through 1970s.

Weekends and after 10 p.m., several of them showed old movies. Now, most of the late night/early a.m. is infomercials.

Now, even with about 80 cable channels, it is difficult to find anything 'different'. The venue of movies from month to month varies only slightly, as they cycle through the same dozen or so movies.

As websites like Hulu increase their holdings, I find myself viewing more and more old TV series and movies via Hulu/Fancast/Veoh. They have a better selection than even Cox Cable On Demand.

[US Navy Vet]

The ONLY Hollywood movie that I have seen w/in the past 5 years was “Valkare(sp?)”

[TomGuy]

The big screen is for blowing big things up.

Agree.

After watching 15 minutes or so of one of those psychological allot-of-talk-little-action 'thrillers', I am sitting there thinking, blow something up! I want some action! Blood and booms!

[Hodar]

Hollywood has forgotten how to tell a story. A story has a sympathic character, someone everyone can relate to. A story that invokes thought, maybe involves some personal ethics and personal responsibilty. This is not a license to preach Hollywood values; the movies that have attempted this have failed, miserabley (hello, Sean Penn).

The Count of Monte’ Cristo, Mister Roberts, Swiss Family Robinson, Toy Story and just about any Pixar movie before WALL-E.

The movie that is doing very well today is District 9. Why? Because it does NOT have hollywood stars, but does have character development and origional thought. It is not a rip-off of every alien movie ever made; and it is making money.

In short, Pro-America, pro-freedom, pro-democracy, be origional, create characters who people can relate to and create a story that is compelling. Don’t be afraid of offending the bad guys (Hint: there aren’t too many Nazi’s running around; but we do have a plethoa of terrorists andj people who think nothing of cutting the heads off innocent people in the name of their God).

The old formula’s in Hollywood aren’t working, are they?

[AustinBill]

Add to that the fact that it’s cheaper to buy the DVD than to pay for 2 movie tickets and the fact that the “theater experience” has steadily gone downhill for years (let’s pay $20 to watch irritating commercials for 15+ minutes before the show!) and yeah, it’s no surprise the grown-ups prefer to watch at home on their own schedule even if that means waiting a few months.