Posted on 07/26/2005 8:52:10 AM PDT by holymoly
The standard entertainment industry reaction to Hollywood's box office slump reveals the same shallow, materialistic mindset that helped create the problem in the first place. The left-leaning thinking that dominates the movie business follows a common liberal instinct to deny the spiritual dimension to every problem, thereby profoundly compounding the difficulties.
Tinseltown's recent setbacks suggest a crisis of major proportions, with a May USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll showing 48% of adults going to movies less often than in 2000. For 19 consecutive weeks, motion picture releases earned less (despite higher ticket prices) than the year before. Projected ticket sales for all of 2005 indicate a disastrous drop of at least 8% - at a time of population growth and a generally robust economy.
USA TODAY ran a headline, "Where have all the moviegoers gone?" under which insiders discussed their desperate attempts to rebuild the shattered audience: "The lures include providing high-tech eye candy through 3-D digital projection and IMAX versions of movies. ... Stadium seating, which improves views, is just now becoming standard. Other theaters are opting for screenings that serve alcohol to patrons 21 and older."
More balance needed
Revealingly, none of the studio honchos talked about reconnecting with the public by adjusting the values conveyed by feature films, and replacing the industry's shrill liberal posturing with a more balanced ideological perspective.
Something clearly changed between 2004 and 2005 to cause an abrupt drop-off at the box office, and the most obvious alteration involved Hollywood's role in the bitterly fought presidential election. The entertainment establishment embraced John Kerry with near unanimity - and bashed George W. Bush with unprecedented ferocity.
Michael Moore became an industry hero and the most visible symbol of the Hollywood left. Innumerable callers to my radio show expressed resentment at the strident partisanship of top stars; no one ever complained about the lack of 3-D digital projection or alcoholic beverages at concession stands.
Despite efforts by entertainer activists, a majority of voters cast their ballots for Bush. If even a minority of those 62 million GOP voters - say, 20% - reacted to Hollywood's electioneering by shunning the multiplex, it could easily account for the sharp decline in ticket sales after Bush's re-election.
Another values-oriented phenomenon of last year similarly contributed to missing moviegoers: The Passion of the Christ earned $370 million by drawing religious-minded patrons who had long avoided movies altogether. Amazingly, no major release in the 17 months since the opening of The Passion attempted to appeal to that huge, wary churchgoing audience. Walt Disney Co. hopes that the faithful will flock to theaters during Christmas season to see the adaptation of the Christian allegory by C.S. Lewis, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, but that promised deliverance is still five months away - an eternity in show business time.
Meanwhile, conventional wisdom ignores all ideological considerations in explaining the sudden box office collapse, concentrating instead on purely material excuses (high ticket prices, availability of DVDs) that have, frankly, applied for years. This knee-jerk tendency to offer direct, physical solutions to deep-seated problems constitutes an unmistakable element in the liberal outlook that remains Hollywood's reigning faith.
Liberal tendencies
To combat threats to the family from out-of-wedlock births, for instance, the left offers birth control and abortion - though illegitimacy soared as "reproductive choice" became widely available. On crime, liberals stress gun control - despite statistics showing states with widespread gun ownership producing less criminal violence. To fight poverty, progressives want more funding for welfare and public housing - ignoring the destructive impact of a culture of dependency and the failure of government projects in every big city. On the core question of terrorism, liberals blame economic deprivation, suggesting foreign aid to dry up anti-Americanism - downplaying the depravity at the heart of Muslim militancy that draws its murderous leadership from the Middle East's most privileged classes.
This same habitual blindness to spiritual, substantive dimensions of every significant challenge continues to handicap Hollywood. Paramount Pictures recently announced that the first major thriller dramatizing 9/11, with Nicholas Cage as a rescuer attempting to escape the wreckage, will be directed by notorious conspiracist Oliver Stone. Aside from his recent drug busts and box office bombs (the gay-themed Alexander and his documentary paean to Fidel Castro, Commandante), Stone has compiled a vast collection of anti-American statements, including his 1987 declaration: "I think America has to bleed. I think the corpses have to pile up. ... Let the mothers weep and mourn."
Meanwhile, Tinseltown will continue to weep and mourn as long as its bosses depend on the likes of Stone to portray the worst terrorist attacks in our history. Americans aren't stupid, and we're not all apolitical; many (at least a third) are even self-consciously conservative in both politics and values.
In Bill Clinton's successful 1992 presidential campaign, his staff kept focused with the help of a sign: "It's the economy, stupid." In their campaign to bring back disillusioned moviegoers, Hollywood's honchos ought to consider similar signs, reminding themselves, "It's the values, stupid."
That doesn't surprise me. Thanks!
gee, that's exactly why I go...
sorry have to disagree ID4 was a lame ripoff of HG wells materpiece. the original film was much better and more in the spirit of the novel if not the exact version.
i have been and continue to be an avid fan of HG Wells. This films completely bastardizes his vision. I am all for modernizing these old novels but you do not have to tamper all that much with the original story. The writer wanted something "different" so the machines are buried here - nevermind common frickin sense. What is wrong with a "meteor storm"? come on man
Hollywood just figures that people will see crap when special effects and a big name are involved.
Too many plot holes for me.
The only dread i felt was when Tim Robbins showed up. Man turns my stomach. Did you like how he stated "occupations never work?" - slight reference to the Iraq war.
did you like how the screen writer Koeppe or Krappe whatever his name is said that the aliens were supposed to be the US military?
Incidentally do not take this personal i had high hope for this movie and was thoroughly aggravated when i left the theater.
You are exactly right. Folks are smartening up. I will not give my money to people who hate me and make fun of my values. I have better and more important things to do with it. As long as the looney left continues to run Hollywood I will never give them another dime.
Re: your #4. There are very few movies I'll plunk down $7 a piece to see. I'll wait till the movie comes out on DVD and pay $4.
Me too...in fact, due to their far left liberalism...when I see their faces...I'm so turned off, there's NO WAY...I could enjoy their movies.
The studios of old...knew this could happen so all their stars had to keep their mouths shut and NEVER discuss their political leanings...that days over and hollyweirdo stars are now in deep dodo... ;o)
Toopid losers.
gee, that's exactly why I go...
Yeah ... me too, but I had to say that because my wife knows how to monitor my blogging activity.
One of the reasons that I admire the director, James Cameron, is his candor when it comes to Hollywood.
I once heard him say in an interview that after arriving in town he was surprised to find that most of the people in the film industry made their living from projects that they had absolutely nothing to do with.
You have only to see the nearly endless list of credits that run with movies to realize that this must be true.
I suspect that the town is chock a block full of relatives and friends of producers/directors/actors who are given "a piece of the action" as favors or handouts.
Such an honest and apolitical director like Cameron is a rarity and may be the reason that the Hollywood establishment avoids him but instead showers movie projects on a liberal line spouter, drug user and kiddie diddler like Oliver Stone.
Thanks for your review and recommendation. I shall heed it!
"Folks are smartening up. I will not give my money to people who hate me and make fun of my values. I have better and more important things to do with it. As long as the looney left continues to run Hollywood I will never give them another dime."
Amen! This reality has escaped the elitists who control Follywood, ABCNNBCBS, and the major print media. More and more conservatives agree with you and me each day. Also, a lot of moderates are coming over to our side.
Bump that, Grampa.
>>Not all tickets cost the same. However adjusted for
>>inflation the list of all time highest grossing films
>>becomes quite different.
Exactly my point. The number of ticket sales (quantity, not dollars)is what should define whether a movie is a hit or not.
Same here. Hollwood has nothing intellectual or original out.
1.) Someones' always talking.
2.) Someones' cell phone is always ringing.
3.) There's nothing I care to see.
4.) I'll wait until it comes out on DVD, and watch it in the comfort of my home.
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#1. # 2. I don't experience that problem. I just do not go at peak hours.
#3. There is generally something I care to see. Here we have subjective opinions. I have been going since a kid..and still enjoy a couple hours at the cinema.
#4. Am into all the surround sound and big screen even though I have a similar set up at home, but considerably smaller.
#5. Last film seen: Bad News Bears and was a fun flick. Some of the adult humor may go over the kid's heads depending on the ages. Was a kid near me around 10 and he was a good courteous theater goer. He, I am sure, might not have gotten some of the "lines" bantered back and forth by Billy Bob Thornton, Greg Kinnear, and Marcia Gay Harden. The kids, of course, take on an equally staring and "diversified" roles.
There is always this same "story" of attendance down or in a sharp decline. The family cost is the main reason. Many who claim they don't go anymore, never really went that often in the first place; therefore is not a true basis for "why"..ticket prices might be down. Of course the outspoken members of Hollyweird had a lot to do with attendance is not getting around that fact. Just not spoken outwardly in the industry..can't burn your bridges. In deed, Harry Potter's book buyers debute beat the cinema in numbers.
I have my "don't see" list like everyone else.
No Spiderman, I agree, they make the numbers; but Batman wasn't bad. I liked seeing the Beginning.
That's it. Watched the DVDs - the series is MUCH better when seen in order - so my friends say. Don't have TV reception or cable so I don't watch much except videos and DVDs.
Hollywood can make adult-themed movies without excessive violence and vulgarity. They made plenty of movies in the past with controversial themes. The movies may have been more genteel and discreet with the subject matter, but no one got grossed out. 'Cat on a Hot Tin Roof' is one that comes to mind.
Plus the same piece is copied over and over again. Where would Medved be without Hollywood..?
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