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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Somebody needs to inform Hollywood “Nobody wants to watch a bad movie”.
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).
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.
Was “UP” profitable? Of course... why? well-written, family friendly...
Maybe if they stopped making adult dramas a lesson plan for liberals they wouldnt be so tough to sell.
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.
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.
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.
saw IngloriousBasturds last night... it Really, REALLY SUCKED!!!
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.
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.
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!
I saw Public Enemies and it was no where near as good as Dillinger with Warren Oates from the '70s.
I didn't see Pelham but I suspect it was no where near as good as the one with Walter Matthau from the '70s.
Spending a lot of money doing remakes of moderate hits from the 70s that are not as good as the original is not a plan for success.
Hey, I have a super idea for a movie that breaks all of the previous molds.
It’s an action movie.
We start with a suave, good looking, street smart, casanova, clever minority who shows all of the dim witted, stupid, square crackers how to do everything but breathe.
Then we throw in lots of gratuitous swearing (about every 4th word, extra points for the “F” word.)
Oh wait, that’s the plot line for 99% of hollywierd’s action movies.
Never mind.