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."
My reasons for not going to the theater are:
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.
My reason for not going:
1) i've boycotted pretty much every hollywood actor
"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."
I wonder what % of the 48% going to movies less are like my wife and I. We are Christians, conservatives and Republicans. We refuse to pay our money to have our values spit on and made fun of by the perverts of Follywood.
"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."
The only movie my wife and I went to last year and up to now was The Passion of Christ. We hosted a Dinner for 3 other couples this past Saturday. None of us have been to see a movie since the Passion. One couple saw it 3 times.
Personally, I hope the perverts of Follywood continue to insult Christians and Republicans. The poorer they become due to their flops, the weaker they become.
Not counting The Passion, which was not a Hollywood film, Box Office grosses are actually up this year from last.
My reasons for not going:
1. Someone IS always talking. For years, I went probably once a week to a movie with my friend who loves movies. We would go early, get our seats, and by the time we were 5 minutes into the movie, we had already moved once to get away from talkers.
2. The volume is just too damn loud.
3. Call me Howard Hughesian, but I just don't like to sit for two hours so close to strangers listening to them chomp on their food.
God damn good article! No mincing words here. MM hits the nail on th head.
The pigeons are coming home to roost...and I for one couldn't be happier.
After that rip-roaring blockbuster last year about the life and times of John Kerry, Hollow-wood should be set for life. After all, each showing had nearly a dozen people.
It certainly is a great article, and right on the money too!!! Fact is: if you are an entertainer and want to attract the largest audience, plain common sense dictates that you do not air your political, etc. laundry in public. You keep it private, at best. Of course, most of the "Hollywood" clan are short of smarts to begin with, and live in a bubble of life unreal. I do not blame the actors and actresses for their rants. They are just plain stupid and fools to their core. However, the management that watches the bottom line should know better. You Hollywood folks have succeeded in ticking off a large number of movie attendees and that will not soon change. Only you can correct the problem, and I suggest you get to working on it real soon. You can begin by facing reality. The majority of Americans do not think or believe the way you and MoveOn.org feel. Libealism is dying a slow death, and you are dying along with a failed and passe' political philosophy!!! End of story!!!
"There's nothing I care to see." and
"i've boycotted pretty much every hollywood actor."
These two comments pretty much sum it up for me.
for later
I dont think there needs to be balance...the movies just suck. Star Wars and War of the Worlds both.
I go to the movies for entertainment only - not to be preached at, not for a lesson on some value the director holds, and not even to be educated. If I'm going to spend $8 a ticket, I want o thoroughly enjoy myself - I don't want to be depressed when I come out. I don't consciously boycott liberal actors, but if I hear some movie is not entertaining or is going to try to shove some value down my throat - I have better ways to spend 2 hours.
Understand from a story I read over the weekend that the horror pics are sinking like the Titanic. Personally, I'm very disillusioned with H'weirdos. Why should I give good money to watch these overrated and overpaid actors/actresses so they can live in their mansions, wear designer clothing, travel the world winning questionable accolades and spout their anti-American views. No thanks!
What movie are you talking about?
I was planning on seeing the remake of "War of the Worlds" until I read the screen writer comment that the story was a parable of the US invasion of Iraq. At that point, I decided I would no longer see it.
Perhaps Hollywood will "get it" though I'm not hopeful. Generally, the Hollywood types are composed of that most annoying class of individual, dumb and lucky.
If you don't count the Passion then Hollywood would have done wretchedly in 2004. It's not as if its audience were regular moviegoers who would just have seen something else. So you have set kind of a low benchmark here.
You want another sign of big trouble ? The miserable ratings for Academy Awards this year and last. Half the country did not want to listen to leftist movie stars vent.
Or why not this as an explanation ? There is no Mel Gibson movie this year.
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