Posted on 11/23/2004 11:24:10 PM PST by kattracks
Lights! Camera! Agita!Despite monster hits like "The Incredibles" and "Shark Tale," Hollywood is hurting this season, with overall box-office earnings down well below the take in the same period for the previous two years.
In the 10 weeks from Labor Day to just before Thanksgiving, the film industry grossed $1.39 billion, down 14 percent from last year's record of $1.63 billion and off 12 percent from $1.59 billion in 2002.
Fall ticket sales were a bust as well, dropping 18 percent from last year's figure, from 268.3 million ducats to 219.9 million. This year's sales also were below the 222.8 million reported in 1998.
Analysts lamented that the first part of the post-summer season was, to put it in movie terms, a colossal bomb.
[snip]
The Hollywood Reporter blames a shorter-than-usual season for some of the drop in income. This year's fall season was one of the more frequently occurring 10-week periods, while the previous two years were both 11-week seasons.
But the industry mag concluded the dramatic decline was caused by a combination of bad movies and bad buzz about them.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
What did Pierce Brosnan say or do? Hadn't heard his name mentioned before.
Counting down the minutes until the MPAA issues a press release that blames Internet downloaders for causing the slump in revenue 5 ... 4 ... 3 ... 2 ... 1 ...
Maybe they should have spent more time pushing tickets at the ticket box than they did pushing crap down the ballot box.
"What did Pierce Brosnan say or do? Hadn't heard his name mentioned before."
When he was promoting the last Bond flick, whenever that was, I saw him on one of those talk shows on TV, and he said he was working on getting his American citizenship so he could vote in the next election, because Bush was such a disaster, and all the DNC talking points followed.
If they made more good movies instead of the standard "Summer of the Sequel" we get every year, they'd do better.
Me, I've been taking solace with Netflix. I've discovered Akira Kurosawa's films. He may very well be my favorite live-action film director.
Gosh, I am hoping and praying (snicker) that Bing-a-ling did not engage in icky Enron-style accounting procedures to hedge his huge losses on Polar Express, and his Kerry investment debacle, and maybe try to fool the IRS, the SEC, and the FEC.........stuff like that.
That's standard operating procedure in Follywood.....cooking the books. And it's time someone did something about it.
There's been numerous instances of Hollyweirdos book-cooking.....in one notorious case actor Robert Wagner was forced to sue Aaron Spelling (he of mega-hit fame) b/c Spelling cheated Wagner out of profits from an investment in a Spelling production. Many do not sue, fearing bad PR, loss of corner tables at Le Dome, and no invitations to A-list parties.
Same goes for Michael Moore. F/911 was supposed to be a big hit. But I am skeptical. Every store I shop for DVD's, I see piles of F/911 stacked up. Nobody's buying the trash. I do hope and pray Moore did not engage in sloppy bookeeping to show profits for 9/11 where none existed (smirk).
Great news!!
Oh, too bad, I liked him in "Evelyn" Now I'll add him to my list...
I can't recall the last time I paid to see a movie, but I think it cost about $2.50 in my small city.
I am just tired of their garbage- I haven't watched TV much since impeachment, either, when it became blatant that the Media- all of it- was in the tank for Democrats.
Why pay to be insulted?
Those who wanted to see this trash had watched. The rest, well, they're too smart to spend money on it.
Right, and if Moore is showing profits where there are none, Sarbanes-Oxley could be coming to a theatre near him.
When I saw "Shark Tales" I thought oboy Hollywood is jumping the shark!
Sounds like you summed it up better than FOX. I just got a mental imagine of the movie where Alex plans out his battle in a steamy bath house full of lisping soldiers in tight armor. He slowly to his general, "Leths go get thoth nasty Perthians!" Sounds more and more like a Mel Brooks comedy gone bad.
I think I'll see "The Incredibles".
I believe the gent (Buckhalter maybe?) who produced National Treasure also produced Team America. He may be one of the good guys.
I can't abide Nicolas Cage. I don't think he has an ounce of charisma or stage presence. I could never understand why they keep making big budget movies with him. Then I found out his real name's Cuppola. Oh.
The Incredibles, however, deserves every dime of the zillions and zillions it's going to make.
Any loss at the "Box Office" will be made up in DVD sales. Blackbird.
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