Posted on 08/11/2005 6:50:44 PM PDT by wagglebee
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A bumpy ride at the summer box office and signs that booming DVD sales may be slowing have Hollywood studios looking for new ways to win fans as the movie industry faces increased competition.
But studio executives say the key to recapturing audiences is to make better films -- an age-old answer in Hollywood -- and industry watchers are divided over whether film and DVD markets truly are weakening.
"If you believe all the press reports, we are in the middle of Armageddon with box office erosion," said Peter Chernin, president of News Corp., parent of the Twentieth Century Fox film studio. "I believe that is a definite overreaction."
Movie studios and theater owners have had a rough summer, which is a problem since the season makes up nearly 40 percent of annual movie ticket sales.
By September's Labor Day holiday in the United States, the box office is expected to be down 7 to 12 percent after films such like "The Island" and "Stealth" failed to connect with audiences.
Tracking service Exhibitor Relations sees ticket sales at around $3.7 billion for the season, about 7 percent below 2004's $3.96 billion, marking the worst summer since 2001.
Admissions, or the number of people attending movies, are seen down 9 percent at 578 million for the worst year since 1999.
But Exhibitor Relations President Paul Dergarabedian admitted his figures were optimistic. By contrast, Boxofficemojo President Brandon Gray figures summer box office will be off 12 percent.
Others are quick to point out that a strong line-up of fall movies could still rescue the year. "I think fall is going to be exceptional this year, financially," said David Poland at the Web site, Movie City News, citing upcoming films like November's "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire."
MAKE BETTER MOVIES
Industry watchers cite many reasons for weaker ticket sales -- competition from video games, the narrowing of time between a film playing in theaters and on DVD, and Internet piracy -- but the one factor that seems to outweigh all the others is that some of this summer's films lack a fresh appeal.
"We can all try to blame the closing window of DVD and all that, but you see the movies that are really distinctive still going out and doing really well," said Mark Gill, president of Warner Independent Pictures, which released surprise summer hit nature documentary "March of the Penguins."
Films like "Batman Begins" and "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" were often mentioned as two films that won fans with fresh takes on tried-and-true Hollywood formulas.
Roger Birnbaum, co-founder of Spyglass Entertainment which had modest spring success, "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" said some summer releases were "a little tired."
Birnbaum said Spyglass, which is behind fall films "Memoirs of a Geisha" and "The Legend of Zorro," will not change the way it develops or makes movies just because of one bumpy summer.
In recent years, difficult times at box offices would be offset by the booming DVD market where studios would recoup their investment and profit from films. But there are signs that DVD growth may be slowing, too.
Earlier this week, Bob Iger, the incoming chief executive of The Walt Disney Co, said industrywide DVD sales were about the same this summer as last. But because the number of homes owning DVD players had risen, the average number of sales per home had fallen, he said.
"One thing is clear, consumer choice is increasing, making quality ... content more important than ever," he said.
This is what happens when you make bumpy movies.
This reply was posted sometime ago, but needs repeating!! My sentiments haven't changed a bit and HELLywood will never again see one red cent from me again! I've had it with their political Republicans are evil subliminal agenda sh**! Well, Mr. director, this evil republican ain't gonna see your crummy stupid flicks ever again!! I heard they are planning to make movies of the Iraq war because according to them, TERRORISM IS CHIC...WTF?!!
Please help us create the more conservative Hollywood http://www.boondockexpansionist.org/
We don't watch crap on either DVD or at the movies.
Hollyweird is not producing any good movies. They can't get past their own agenda..and great stories are twisted to suit their version of history.
It is amazing how far the left will go and don't seem to care about their stock holders or employees. Disney's demise is directly related to their change of family oriented to whatever oriented.
Someone..can cash in, but no one steps up.
Here's the article Rush mentioned;
Hollywood's New War Effort: Terrorism Chic
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/GuestColumns/Apuzzo20050810.shtml
Here's our thread on it;
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1460433/posts
I think I have a sure-fire, three-step formula for them:
1) Quit making crappy movies, aimed at degrading and insulting decent mainstream Americans.
Oh, yeah, I forgot, it's just one step.
"Hollywhat"
I like that one. Another good one would be "Hollywho?"
Have you seen the penguin movie yet? We may try to see that this weekend.
Haven't seen it yet... "Sky High" was pretty good, too, though!
"Someone..can cash in, but no one steps up."
A buddy and I thought of a cash-cow idea tonight.
Make a movie (or sit-com) about a family where the dad is the respected head of the family (not lazy or stupid), the wife is the supportive, loving and strong nurturer, the children are obedient.
Also portray America as a good place to live, where generally everyone has a lot to be grateful to God for.
The show would be so "controversial", "inflammatory" and "incindiary", it would be sure to be a hit.
This snippet from the Seattle Post Intelligencer makes me think that maybe some of the negative reviews are from lefties that can handle the truth:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/movies/236243_raid12q.html
The script is not a bit afraid of offending Hollywood's largest overseas film market by portraying Japan's WWII soldiers as homicidal brutes. This is refreshing at first, but after a dozen or so atrocities you begin to feel you've wandered into an old propaganda film.
Anyway, I'll have to wait and see what Medved says tomorrow. I respect his opinion.
> Something else that burns me is 15 minutes of
> commercials at the beginning!
I didn't mention that because that's a tough problem.
The theatre chain or local owner drives that. They don't
make much on the box office, and have to rely on concessions
and advertising to keep the lights on. Unless the studios
and distributors share more of the pot, it won't change
until HD-DVD puts theatrical exhibition out of business
altogether. This is kind of the degenerate end point of a
process that started with the Paramount Consent Decree
of 1954 (IIRC), which forced the studios to divest their
company-owned theatres.
I haven't been to a film in over a year, nor rented any.
Do humans really need fiction?
No.
Do they need to pay so much for it, and be abused in
the process.
Absolutely not.
Can movie theatres vanish like vaudeville?
You betcha.
Fantastic Four to me was a nice movie about adapting to unplanned events and unusual circumstances and accepting destiny. I regarded the bad guy more as a George Soros acquiring money and power through manipulation than as the an American oil company executive.
"not only that, remember when the Patriot was a hit?
Hollywood could not condemn it fast enough."
"The Patriot" is one of my favorite films, and I have it on DVD. The scene where the men in the church stand to join the militia is one of the best scenes of any film ever made. I get goosebumps every time I see it, and want to join the army again, even at my advanced age.
Bingo! Give that guy a cigar.
I've seriously curtailed going to the movies. I'm sick of having them sneak junk in that is twisted. Either it's leftist propaganda in the adult movies, or questionable adult material in the children's movies.
I'm not going to sponsor that...
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