Summer movie season wasn't a breeze for Hollywood (Dinosaur Media DeathWatch™)

Los Angeles Times ^ | September 7, 2009 | Ben Fritz and John Horn

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If the year's first four months defied all expectations for what Hollywood could do in a recession, this summer delivered some sobering reality.

Through the end of April, domestic box-office receipts leaped 17% while admissions surged nearly 16% from the previous year, according to Hollywood.com. But as the weather turned hot, business cooled: From May 1 through Aug. 31, attendance was down 2.4% from 2008 and 6% from 2007. Summer box-office revenues rose 1.3%, not even enough to account for ticket price inflation, let alone the premiums charged in a growing number of 3-D theaters.

In the midst of the economic crisis, the best that studios could argue is that almost flat is the new up.

"To be marginally down on attendance and up on box-office at a time when so many other industries are struggling is a great comment on our business," said Adam Fogelson, president of marketing and distribution at Universal Pictures.

If there was one lesson the studios learned -- often the hard way -- it was that audiences were in the mood to be amazed and to laugh. Big-budget spectacles like "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" and gut-busting comedies like "The Hangover" ruled the season.

On the flip side, adult dramas ("The Taking of Pelham 123" and "Public Enemies") and neither-fish-nor-fowl comedies ("Funny People" and "Land of the Lost") labored to cover their production costs.

"Adult dramas are more vulnerable than ever before in this business," said Fogelson, whose studio was stung by several flops in the genre, including this spring's "State of Play" and "Duplicity."

The other victim of the summer was A-list stars, who studios used to think could "open" a movie on their names alone.

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Monday morning good news.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/07/business/media/07redbox.html?ref=business
Movie Studios See a Threat in Growth of Redbox

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/07/business/media/07cache.html?ref=business
European Broadcasters Argue About Public Aid

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ping

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Somebody needs to inform Hollywood “Nobody wants to watch a bad movie”.

[RightOnline]

Hollywood will just never ‘get it’. They pump out garbage and hand-wring over the collective public yawn over their products.

I’ve taken my 7 year old son, for example, to two movies in the past few weeks....and they were both abyssmal (”GI Joe: Rise of Cobra” and “Shorts”...which has to be one of the worst films ever made).

[Dem Guard]

When people are out of work and the economy is in the tank who wants to see a negative, depressing, movie?? If they
want that they can just stay home and turn on their TV.

[Bird Jenkins]

“Shorts”, you don’t say. Isn’t that the one where the boy has the phone growing out of his head? I’d never guess that one would turn out to be a stinker.

[ikka]

Was “UP” profitable? Of course... why? well-written, family friendly...

[Venturer]

Maybe if they stopped making adult dramas a lesson plan for liberals they wouldnt be so tough to sell.

[GadareneDemoniac]

If they are “marginally down” on attendance and up on box office receipts, I’d venture to say that they have jacked up the price to the theater owners. Not good for the theater owners, since there are fewer people buying popcorn, cokes, etc. Also, the patrons are (or should be) watching their pennies, so spending less on concessions.

[martin_fierro]

I stopped watching/attending movies when it became clear that the guy in the flick who came anywhere close to sharing my values would always, always be the Bad Guy.

[SkyPilot]

Hollywood script writers, producers, and studio heads are brain dead because they are blinded by their own delusions. They want a good script? I can think of one in about 2 seconds. Here, they can read this one. Not only would it make a fantastic screenplay, it would be a box office sensation if properly made into a movie.

Hope Rising

Crystal Peaks Youth Ranch

It is the story of a woman who, as a little girl, was told her father had murdered her mother, and then killed himself. She went to liver with her grandmother. The little girl, Kim, was devastated and emotionally destroyed. But, her grandmother gave her a horse that had been saved from an abusive owner. Through God's power of healing, she bonded with that creature and he with her - and she learned to love again. In adulthood, she and her husband Troy bought an abandoned rock quarry and reclaimed the land. It was at the foot of the Cascade mountains in Oregon, and nobody wanted the property because it looked like the surface of the moon. But slowly, God turned that land into beauty again - a metaphor of His healing and love. They named it Crystal Peaks Youth Ranch, and created the perfect match---a rundown property filled with broken horses where abused children can come to be healed.

Her interview was broadcast on Focus on the Family last week in installments. I defy anyone to not shed tears listening to it, or when reading the stories in the book. Yet it is incredibly uplifting and full of joy.

But, you know why Hollywood won't make wonderful stories like this into movies? Because their central story is about God, and Christian love.

Instead, we get garbage movies with plots that are both ridiculous and laughable. Then, Hollywood laments why people don't go pay $12.00 and up to sit in a theater for 2 hours and subject themselves to their agony.

[agere_contra]

I saw ‘Let the Right One in’ yesterday. Superb, unbelievably good. A terrific vampire film: heart-warming and yet bloodily violent.

It’s a budget Swedish film, English subtitles. Hollywood could never have made it.

[Chode]

saw the HurtLocker last week, it sucked.

saw IngloriousBasturds last night... it Really, REALLY SUCKED!!!

[MizSterious]

My parents used to recall the depression days. Back then, theaters did pretty well, because people often went to the movies for a little comedy, a little adventure, a little inspiration. It took them away from their day-to-day woes. They’d come up with money somehow, no matter what.

Times are hard now, too, but according to this article, people are not lining up for a movie these days. I have to wonder if it’s because today’s movies are so depressingly anti-American, anti-family, and literally anti-inspiration in that they do everything they can to avoid religious themes for most of these movies.

I’ll tell you the truth. I haven’t been to a movie theater for over a year. The last time I went, the movie was disappointing, it was overly loud, my feet stuck to the floor, there was gum on the arm of my seat, cell phone ringtones sounded in all the wrong places, and someone’s kids were running amuck up and down the aisles. Boy, was I glad to get out of there. I don’t think I’ll be back.

[SamAdams76]

Every now and then I am dragged by family into a movie theater and I usually end up regretting it. With all the billions of dollars that the movie industry has to spend, why are today's movies so uniformly horrible? Even the much-ballyhooed "Harry Potter" movies are duds in my opinion. My sons dragged me to the most recent one this summer and once again, it disappointed (and yes, I did read the books, which I found to be much better).

On the other hand, I do like watching older movies on the television. Even the run-of-the-mill "B" movies from earlier decades outshine what Hollywood is turning out today. For instance, I was flipping channels one night recently and saw a movie about Annie Oakley from back in the 1930s and it was pretty darn good for a movie that was made almost 75 years ago.

I think the problem with movies today is that they feel they have to follow a formula with the obligatory car crashes, swearing, comedy moments, etc. For example, the Harry Potter movies all feature comedy scenes that aren't in the books. I guess they feel they have to "lighten the mood" for the moviegoers. But it just doesn't work in the context of the dark material found in the actual books.

The best movies being made today are the independent ones where directors are not under the thumb of big-wig movie execs and thus are able to throw out all the formulas and just concentrate on making a good movie. Usually you won't find these movies in mainstream theaters but on Netflix, there are plenty of decent "indie" movies to be found.

[kickonly88]

The last movie my wife and I went to see was “Worlds Fastest Indian” three years ago. Great flick.I know it had the typical hollywood story embellishment but a great movie just the same. The shots on the salt were very cool!

[kickonly88]

‘On the other hand, I do like watching older movies on the television. Even the run-of-the-mill “B” movies from earlier decades outshine what Hollywood is turning out today’

Speaking of “B” movies, I’m glad I have a fine selection of top quality biker exploitation flicks I can pop into the dvd player.

[RightOnline]

It was positively horrid.

[1010RD]

Great post. I know what you mean by “Christian” love, but real love (agape) has been perverted by the world to mean any number of disgusting things. That is all we get from Hollywood, television and most of the media: creeping creepism.