Steve Goldstein for The New York Times
Barry Meyer, left, the C.E.O. of
Warner Brothers, and Alan Horn,
president, are cutting costs as the
industry confronts changes in
movie-viewing habits.
Posted on 11/06/2005 3:06:36 AM PST by Pharmboy
Steve Goldstein for The New York Times
Barry Meyer, left, the C.E.O. of
Warner Brothers, and Alan Horn,
president, are cutting costs as the
industry confronts changes in
movie-viewing habits.
BY all outward appearances, Warner Brothers Entertainment should be having one of its best years ever. For the 21st year in a row, it is expected to show a profit, propelled by a string of television hits like "ER," "The O.C." and "Friends," which is a hot seller on DVD. Warner has also revitalized its DC Comics movie franchise with the summer hit "Batman Begins." And later this month, it will release "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," the fourth installment of a juggernaut that has already brought in $3.7 billion.
But instead of the popping of Champagne corks, the sound you are likely to hear on the Warner lot is that of a cleaver falling. Executives have been poring over thick binders filled with next year's budget, hoping to cut hundreds of millions in studio expenses. Warner Brothers, the television and film production unit of Time Warner, is anticipating a slowdown in growth in its lucrative home video division. And that, combined with rising costs and uncertainty about new forms of digital distribution, has the studio fretting about its growth prospects.
On Tuesday, Warner laid off 260 employees, or about 6 percent of its staff of 4,500 in Burbank, Calif., with more job cuts expected overseas. And the studio is starting to re-evaluate everything from when and where it markets movies to how and what it pays its stars. Indeed, Warner executives met recently with agents at Creative Artists Agency and warned that top-tier actors, directors and producers would have to be flexible on upfront fees or else movies would be harder to make.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I lost interest in movies permanently some years ago, when I realized my own fantasies are more entertaining than anything hollywood can heave up. And they're free.
Care to share?
Want to see some great movies try NetFlix and a series called Decalogue. It is a Polish TV program - 10 one hour shows on the Ten Commandments. Subtittles Yes - but they are powerful one hour stories on the morals of this time. The series came out in 1988 and watching the way people lived in Poland will also be a great lesson to kids on why the Soviets and Communists are gone. There is no preaching in this, but it will cause you to think about - have no Gods or Thou Shalt Not ___. The small pictures of 1988 Poland show how much the church was part of their questions about their society.
Thanks for the tip- I'm a great admirer of the Polish people. Those who lived under the boot of Communism are usually the greatest advocates for freedom.
Hollywood's devotion to socialism is an anchor around its neck. It will drag the American film industry to its death unless the studios realize that THEIR vision is badly out of synch with their CONSUMERS' vision. You can't sell a product nobody wants to buy, no matter how good YOU think it is.
Its devotion to obligatory sexual content is what keeps us away. I wanted to take my kids to see "Troy", the Alexander the Great movie, and the King Arthur flick until I found out there was nudity, sex scenes, bisexuality, etc. etc. Blecch - no thanks.
Hollywood writers seem incapable of exploring anything but their own tiny, twisted world. Whoever they're writing for, it is not the consuming public.
Just as an example, I will bet that Jarhead, Jamie Foxx's latest anti-war yawner, fails dismally at the box office, while The Chronicles of Narnia, based on CS Lewis' morality allegories, makes a tidy profit. I will go so far as to say that Narnia will out-gross Jarhead.
I had to check your profile page to see where you live. The experience you describe would send me directly to the theater managers office. Our local theaters don't play commercials (yet). Preachy, political PSAs would be over the top.
You should tell the theater owner exactly what you just posted, verbally and in writing.
The last true Movie "Stars" died off in the last generation, and the so-called celebrities of today are mere shells compared to once was. There really is no one these days that you could compare to men like an Eastwood, or a John Wayne or Humphrey Bogart or women like Crawford, Bacall or Stanwyck. There's no one around these days who for shear talent could be compared to any of these film legends, True stars through their own personal efforts. I could go on but it would be pointless.
I do feel that today's "Stars" are hampered both by combined factor of Hollywoods' writers political agenda and in many cases an unbelievable lack of talent by many of the young "performers" marketed to us these days. They are all simply there, so to speak, cause they look pretty(I don't know what his politics are, but Brad Pitt does come close to actual stardom).
I'm a Movie Buff, always have been, and always will be. But these days I am loathed to watch anything produced by "Follywood" simply because they have lost the magic touch of old, when they produced films that lifted your spirits and celebrated life, championed Liberty and True Justice, and sometimes sent you home not only feeling better about yourself, but gave you some things to think about.
Hollywood is in denial. They think they're well in the mainstream, their movies are extremely popular and they'd make billions upon billions if it weren't for pirates.
The only 2 good American movies I've seen in recent years that left me with a "wow, that was GOOD" feeling were Return of the King and March of the Penguin.
Are you serious? Maybe today's actors don't have the monolithic studio system to create the PR glitz and glamour of the old Hedda Hopper and searchlight premiere days but there are plenty of amazing talents in the business.
I think the problem today is lack of cojones. Political correctness, the staggering costs of doing business in an all-union town, the studio groupthink's stagnant dedication to the adolescent demographic and socialist politics: all contribute to kill off real creativity, freedom of thought and risk-taking. Mel Gibson's recent defiance of Hollywood's conventional wisdom with "The Passion of the Christ" is an example of what could be done.
All the young male stars of today look like adolescents - DiCaprio, Orlando Bloom, Matt Damon... None look like grown-up MEN! It's like they're caught in some Peter Pan time-warp.
For "real" country music try the steam at KHYI.com. It's Texas oriented but then it's locally owned and operated.
Hmm. I guess that means Amazon.com runs off a flavor of Unix...
We did -- and in fact Free Dominion organized a boycott of Famous Players theatres until they removed the gay propaganda from that mix. They now will tell you what time the actual movie begins -- if you ask -- so you can skip all the propaganda.
I feel HOllywood thinks if they throw in a few sex scenes and a few cuss words, it is a good movie ha ha ha
I will concede that Mel Gibson is a truly brilliant and creative talent, and I'll amend what I said by adding his name to those great Film legends of all time. I guess the point I'm trying to make here is that it's the inherent shallowness of this particular branch of the artistic community which is a major part of the problem. Simply put, in the old days there was something called "Screen Presence", i.e. the man or woman's ability to grab your attention when they were on screen and then hold it by convincing you they were that person whom they were portraying on the screen. Their attractiveness was important but not as important as their ability to act.
When Clint Eastwood played "Dirty Harry" to me that wasn't "Clint Eastwood playing Dirty Harry" That was Dirty Harry's Life and experiences being played out on the screen. It's the same for all the other Movies that were my favorites as a youth; The writing was good, the acting convincing and superb, the quality was there. I could go on and on, but I don't think I have to. The only recent example of this, and barely at that, was "Troy", whereas Pitt had me convinced that he was Achilles. It was ruined though in part due to Hollywood's narcissistic reliance on cheap sex and other thrills to "keep people interested".
Yes I agree with you it is a lack of cojones and all the other points you brought out. When I worked in the industry in the 1970's this "conversion" was just beginning to take root and we are now witnessing it's debilitating affects. It's rather depressing in many ways.
Very good comment...I thought I was the only one who thought that way...
That's very true but I think it's more related to this "Metrosexual" phenonoma (or is it "Ubersexual" now?) that's being pushed these days. Actually, come to think of it, DiCaprio would be a great Peter -Pan now wouldn't he?
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