Posted on 01/03/2006 6:52:33 AM PST by RayChuang88
LOS ANGELES -- Hollywood ticket sales took a little swan dive in 2005. Why? The consensus hypothesis appears to be that the movies were -- brace yourselves -- not good.
The industry and its observers are also variously blaming DVDs, video games, iPods, cellular phones, HBO, crying babies, $10 tickets, Chinese pirates, big screen plasma TVs, an aging demographic, liberal bias, video-on-demand, annoying pre-feature commercials and the Bush administration's energy policy.
The Great Box Office Slump has been covered by the entertainment press with a kind of giddy obsession ever since the summer proved blockbuster-deficient. Each week, the prognosticators sought deeper meaning in the weekend tallies for undercooked turkeys such as "Stealth" and "The Legend of Zorro." There was hope in the Hollywood press that "King Kong" might "save the day," but alas, the big ape has so far "disappointed," if it is possible for a $66 million opening five-day gross to disappoint (which it is, since Peter Jackson and Universal spent $220 million making the monkey movie).
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Mind you, 2004 was kind of an unusual year for box office revenues because we had these movies draw in a lot of viewers: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (carryover effect from late 2003 release), The Passion of the Christ, Shrek 2, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Spider-Man 2, and The Incredibles. Even Fahrenheit 9/11--despite the fact just about every Freeper hated the movie--contributed to the huge spike in box office ticket sales with US$119 million in box office revenues.
I decided NOT to pay the money to go to the movies because I'm tired of the clowns that act in the movies thinking they are smarter than our President....they might thing slime clinton is great, but I don't and WON'T pay to line their pockets, and I know alot of people that feel the same way....
When they decide to go back to 'acting' and leave politics alone, then I might think about it...
Bush?
If they would make a movie with watching .. I might actually go to the movies
It doesnt help when your stars chase away half your patrons because they want to run their stupid mouths.
Also most of us know how King Kong and Titanic finish.
The last movie I liked was Seabiscuit.
</sarcasm>
I had the pleasure of seeing/hearing Mr. Tony Bennett live in concert a week or so ago.
Proof positive that the "Creative Community" is capable of turning out quality product WITHOUT bashing us over the heads with its politics.
Of course, everything is the President's fault. I am sure that someone in Washington awoke and blamed him for the rain that we are having today.
Isaw the trailer for Bareback Mounting last night on TV. It was very deceptive.
It showed both men in loving scenes with their wives beautiful country horses, But not one thing about them being fags. Very deceptive. My wife who never heard of the movie was surprised when I told her it was about two queers that leave their wives home and punk each other on the range.
Blame it on crap movies and when a movie is worth seeing, a bunch of uneductaed morons who talk, scream, curse, or use cell phones without respect for anyone else in the theater.
Ushers are useless anymore.
And I am not all that old to remember what the movies were once like.
Oh come on. It is obviously Bush's fault. You see, Bush and his religious right have created a censorious environment in which Hollywood is afraid to produce the kind of daring movie that the public really wants -- you know things like gay cowboy movies, or movies glamorizing sexual slavery and the like. If Hollywood enjoyed more creative freedom, then the movies would push the envelope and the public would flock to the theaters in droves. What? Hollywood DID produce a gay cowboy movie? And Hollywood did produce a geisha movie to glamorize sexual slavery? And the public wasn't interested? Wow, the extent of Bush's religious right agenda to stymie the entertainment industry is even worse than we ever imagined!
I am tired of every movie having to meet a queer quota.They know it is such a problem they try to hide it untill you get to the theatre but I have learned to expect it.
2004 was a blockbuster year for movies.
The movie making bubble had to burst in 2005 since it lacked the mega-blockbusters they had in 04.
Same here
The last one I saw was Titanic. The one before that was the first Speed movie. My time is way to important to waste watching irrelevant high priced movies in theaters that serve WAY over priced concessions.
Our family saw Narnia the other day. It was an excellent movie. Very well done and enjoyable. That film is at or over $300 million in box office receipts and it hasn't even finished in the theaters. After worldwide, pay-per-view, and DVD sales, etc., this movie could close in on $500 million. Not a bad take. Good movies are rewarded.
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