Populist Internet Infuriates Hollywood Fatcats

NewsMax.com ^ | 7/24/03 | Carl Limbacher and NewsMax.com Staff

[kattracks]

Tinseltown bigwigs are in a tizzy that the American public is no longer lapping up whatever slop they dish out, and they're finally realizing that the Internet is one cause of their well-deserved woes.

People attending advance screenings are inundating the Internet with their reviews and exposing such duds as "The Hulk," "Hollywood Homicide," "The In-Laws," "Alex and Emma" and the sequels to "Legally Blonde," "Dumb and Dumber" and "Charlie's Angels."

Positive word of mouth has boosted "Finding Nemo" and good low-budget movies not touted by the Hollywood hype machine: "28 Days Later," "Bend It Like Beckham" and "Whale Rider," the Christian Science Monitor reported today.

"Hollywood is pulling its hair out trying to figure out how to market its movies amidst the new world of Internet buzz," said Anthony Kusich, analyst for Reel Source Inc., a box-office tracking company.

"First-time viewers are having much more say in which movies make it and which ones don't, creating potential audiences for stuff they like and killing off audiences for stuff they don't."

Coming up: "Gigli," starring the media-saturated Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez, is being greeted with catcalls, while "Seabiscuit," based on Laura Hillenbrand's outstanding best seller, is generating positive buzz.

The box office has fallen 3 to 4 percent from last year, the Monitor reported. Second-week attendance has plunged especially steeply as people who failed to heed advance word of mouth and unwittingly paid to see terrible movies quickly told their friends to stay home.

Another factor: Many Americans are fed up with and boycotting Hollywood's inane self-appointed political "experts."

[bmwcyle]

That is crap. You are looking at only half of my statement.

[MrNatural]

"The Hulk"

You missed a good one - and I'm an old comic guy, just spent 4 days at the San Diego
Comic-Con - all my kids saw it, thought it was excellent - just my 2 cents - I know
some of the aint-it-cool types were down on it - no accounting for taste - but I'd sure
recommend and giving it a look when it comes out on video -

[Sunshine Sister]

What refreshing news! I'm having an effect afterall!

[Nick5]

I work in Hollywood, so I can tell you: it's not driven by agenda here, it's driven by profit. There are actors with liberal stances and they are humored by the studios but it all comes down to profit and the mass market. The failed blockbusters listed in the article didn't fail because of their agenda -- they were just lousy and deserved what they got. And by the way, Legally Blonde II is a big hit.

[MrNatural]

Fancy meeting you here :)

[bmwcyle]

I would like to see better acting in Red Dawn II.

[CaptRon]

"Hollywood is pulling its hair out trying to figure out how to market its movies amidst the new world of Internet buzz," said Anthony Kusich, analyst for Reel Source Inc., a box-office tracking company.

How 'bout just making better movies?

[The Louiswu]

Saw a sneak preview of the new Lara Croft (Tomb Raider) flick last night. A BIG dud. Slow, and poorly written. Another summer stinker.

[Sloth]

If things keep going this way, I'm afraid Hollywood may be forced to start producing a quality product.

[BossLady]

I second what you said...:) I worked in the industry for 15 years and it is all about the $$$$. There are certain egos that will always want to push their own agenda and some idiot studio who will back them because the studio thinks that person is 'cool'. It was really amazing to me how many movies and projects were greenlighted because of the perceived 'coolness' factor.

Legally Blonde II made money for sure! It's a good Saturday matinee movie.

[cubreporter]

Tough! What does Hollywood do for the rest of the world? All their big salaries that they demand run up the price of the ticket so do they care about the little guy and his family? Hell no! This is just another way Hollywood shows how selfish and shallow they are and that they care about no one but themselves and their bank accounts. I couldn't be sad for them if I tried. Why would I or anyone else. They all showed their true colors and there's no way they'll get sympathy from me. Bring on the virtuals. Maybe the worm has turned finally!

[Gorjus]

Where do you find a liberal political stance in Charlie's Angels or Dumb and Dumberer?

Don't know about Dumb and Dumberer, and I admit that most of the liberal political issue with Charlie's Angels is outside the movie itself. But that's enough for me. I decline to support liberal political causes with my money - which includes supporting those who use the fame obtained through my money to advocate those causes.

But Charlie's Angels (the movie) has a liberal political cause embedded in it. Originally, the script for that movie showed a rational and appropriate use of firearms (as did the TV show). It wasn't a shoot-'em-up, but when a gun was the right tool for the job, it was used. Drew Barrymore made them take out all the guns for the 'good guys' (okay, 'girls') and just use faked martial arts.

Sub-text message: No responsible, honorable person needs a gun.

I'll take that as a liberal political message. Or at least as one aligned with those who call themselves 'liberal', no matter how repressive they really are.

[Gothmog]

As far as a liberal agenda influencing movie -- When Charlie's Angels first came out it was reported Barrymore insisted no guns be used by the chicks -- guns are bad.

I have not seen either movie, do the 3 chicks use guns?

[rockfish59]

One that I really liked was 'Runaway Train'

Of course the actors are the idiots we're talking about.
Eric Roberts is the brother of Julia (Brokovich) Roberts.

The last movie I actually paid to see was 'We Were Soldiers'

His new film and 'crown of thorns' will really be a thorn in the side of the H'wood freaks! Hardy har har!

[Steel Wolf]

I'm not saying that Red Dawn is Shakespear, here. It's a dumb, off the cuff moive about fighting commies. For crying out loud, the movie starts with Soviet paratroopers attacking a high school. A high school in the middle of Nowhere, Texas doesn't look anything like a major strategic target, but that's not the point. It's a cult classic because it went where other movies wouldn't go.

If we wanted a high quality movie about fighting the Soviets en mass, I'd say make Red Storm Rising into a major motion picture. Hollywood would never do it, and not because they couldn't. Its just subject matter that they aren't comfortable with, ie the Soviets as enemies, the U.S. as the good guys. I only mentioned the Chinese earlier as a possible twist on the original idea. I dunno, it's late here, and I'm tired.

WOLVERINES!!

[webstersII]

"Roll those into a film, and I'll probably watch it. (Rob Roy, Braveheart, Mohicans, etc.) "

Add "The Patriot" to that list and it covers most of my favorites.

[Buckwheats]

I just can't suspend 'disbelief'..... is what you can't do. Otherwise, I agree completely.

[TheBigB]

RED DAWN was the 21st highest grossing film of 1984, with a gross of just under $40 million. For a very low-budget film as it was, that's not bad at all. LEGALLY BLONDE 2 has made just under $76 million gross to date. With a budget of $25 milion, it could be argued that RD was much more profitable.

[Nick5]

Interestingly, both Red Dawn and Amerika, the TV miniseries with the same premise (Russians take over America) were cult classics in Russia in the 80's too: Russians, knowing how incompetent their own country was, howled with laughter at the possibility that their loser leaders could actually carry something like that off. The movies were seen and laughed at the way college kids laugh at screenings of Reefer Madness. The fact that citizens were laughing at that and many, many other things, while their leaders postured, is a big part of what brought the Soviets down.

[bmwcyle]

Get some sleep, Hollywood will be just a stupid tomorrow.