No happy ending in '05 for Hollywood, as ticket sales drop again

Christian Science Monitor ^ | December 24, 2005 | Daniel B. Wood

[Daralundy]

The slump, now three years running, prompts the industry to ask: 'What's wrong with the movies?'

LOS ANGELES - Hollywood's year-ending good news is that moviegoers are opening hearts and pocketbooks for "King Kong" - more than $60 million on its debut weekend and counting.

The bad news is that audiences did not exactly go ape over the rest of 2005's cinema offerings, making this the third straight year of decline in Hollywood ticket sales - the first such stretch of bad news in 40 years. Because of the continued falloff - sales are down 12.6 percent from 2002 - a growing number of analysts wonder if America's movie habits are changing permanently.

"The industry has to consider whether or not American audiences are sending a message about the quality of the movies they are getting - or just the way and the place in which they get them," says Paul Dergarabedian, president of Exhibitor Relations, a firm that analyzes box-office trends. "You can bet that producers, writers, directors, and studio heads are all huddling intensely to consider what this means and change their behavior to keep it from continuing."

It could just be a continued shift away from multiplexes toward Blockbuster, Netflix, and other home-viewing options, Mr. Dergarabedian and others say.

In this scenario, consumers are changing their movie-viewing habits because of multiple complaints related to theater-going: soaring ticket costs, high parking and candy-concession prices, and, perhaps, decreased enjoyment of the movie-house experience because of unruly audiences and growing numbers of on-screen ads.

[Ninian Dryhope]

Not enough Sergeant Yorks and too dam many Syrianas.

[ncountylee]

Gee...that's too bad. Sorry that the rump riders can't save the Philistines.

[Ninian Dryhope]

Not enough John Waynes and too dam many Leonardo DiCaprios.

[catonsville]

Another sign that Hollywood is in trouble. They just closed down a multiplex near me.

[upchuck]

The slump, now three years running, prompts the industry to ask: 'What's wrong with the movies?'

IMHO,
no originality
too much violence
too much immorality
too high ticket prices
bend over concession stand prices
NETFLIX
movies on demand
too many computer enhanced effects

for starters.

FYI, haven't been in a movie theater since 2002. Why bother?

[Mere]

The reality is that I will not go to a movie, none at all, that are left wing indoctrination or has one of the "movie stars turn political activist" in them.

I will not spend my money on movie stars that hate america. I will not spend money on movie stars that speak with hypocritical abandon.

Sorry, hollywood.

[EQAndyBuzz]

"Because of the continued falloff - sales are down 12.6 percent from 2002 - a growing number of analysts wonder if America's movie habits are changing permanently."

Analysts? ROFLMAO. I am no analyst and I can tell you why movie sales are dropping.

1. 70% of this country isn't interested in movies that support homosexuality.

2. 70% of this country isn't interested in movies that support abortion.

3. 70% of this country isn't interested in a liberal agenda.

4. 70% of this country isn't interested in anti American propaganda.

Which means that the 30% that you are selling this crap to can't afford to make up for the rising prices. Sort of like the way our Democrat party operates.

Bankrupt Hollywood and finish it off once and for all. The MSM is also going bankrupt. That is because they are catering to only a small percentage of the population and charging them more to make up the loss.

[DoughtyOne]

Personally my favorite pick for the Oscars this year is "Broke-Back Ticket Office". If they can't clean up their act, I hope a number of the Hollyweird elite go belly up, the sooner the better!

[Socratic]

inane pontification

Let's examine "Syriana" ("What is the price of oil?"). Limited release: Nov. 23. Wide release: Dec. 9.

This little gem made $11,737,000 the first weekend and has made $26,730,00 to date (Dec. 23 est.) The production budget was $50,000,000 and the producers have not released how much they spent on advertising, although I know I've been thoroughly saturated with it for three weeks. Hey guys, "What is the price of stupidity?"

[Caipirabob]

"Word is, no one's coming to the theatre to see our movie."

"Sokay, gives us more privacy, and we got lotsa sheep."

[MadelineZapeezda]

Maybe Hollywood should ask itself, "Why do they hate us?"

LOL

And here's hoping that Syriana tanks!

[Taffini]

The last movie I was to you couldn't hear the damned dialog with the high volume conversations and yelling going on in the audience. I thought I was in a football stadium. I marveled at how inconsiderate people could be.




where are you at? big city?

[GSlob]

"The movies suck. "
Well, one could have come to the same conclusion without going to Blockbuster [and save a few $ in the process]. Just utilize your ESP, or common sense - whichever is more convenient.
For a movie not to suck, it has to be good. Any good movie would be met by howls of indignation from the rest of the Hollywood bunch, for they would see it as a threat to themselves, if only by sheer contrast with their own output. Thus - as a preliminary filter - no movie which has not generated some major scandal is worth watching. But this is only a preliminary screen - one needs to look further into the nature of the scandal, to avoid being easily taken in by superficial ones.

[Thebaddog]

Could be. Too bad most of the money still comes out of wallets with testosterone. I think that the game is up for Gollywood for a lot of reasons. Will Smith thinks he's cool, but cool was way better with Bogart and Grant and the Duke. He can try, though.

[Brad from Tennessee]

The news media who cover the movie industry can't or won't connect the dots between the obscene, public anti-Americanism displayed by Hollywood and the slump in ticket sales. More than half the country voted for Bush twice. Insulting Bush is insulting a huge hunk of the U.S. market. These over-paid jackasses don't understand that acting talent--something a lot of fraud artists master--does not equate to a superior intellect.

[Daralundy]

One of the most telling developments, say analysts, will be the impact of a new idea by film Steven Soderbergh and producer Mark Cuban. The two have struck a deal to release films in three formats - theaters, DVD, and television - all on the same date. The first of them is scheduled in the next two weeks.

Does this idea seem weird to anyone else? I think my grandfather would have called it p***ing in the soup.

[CindyDawg]

They just haven't came out with much I wanted to see this year. Also, it's not a problem for my husband but I don't like to go to movies, no matter how good, that have actors/actresses that I don't like in them. In other words, if a star promotes an agenda that I'm morally against, I don't just forget about that when a movie comes out.

[Windcatcher]

Anyone have the quote from that Guardian reporter trashing the Narnia movie? It was something like "this illustrates everything that is wrong with religion." It's this sort of thing that you have to look for to find a decent film. Unless it's been trashed by Marxists, it's probably junk ;^)

[DoughtyOne]

Buy the Syriana Movie Poster

Syriana (2005)
Total US Gross: $24,763,000
(As of Dec. 24th, 2005)

November 23rd, 2005
Stephen Gaghan
George Clooney, Matt Damon, Jeffrey Wright, Chris Cooper, William Hurt, Tim Blake Nelson, Amanda Peet, Christopher Plummer, Alexander Siddig, Mazhar Munir
Warner Bros.
R

http://www.movieweb.com/movies/box_office/daily/film_daily.php?id=2490


Talk about "GROSS" sales... LOL

Looks like the lefties couldn't hoodwink the public with this offering. Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww...

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

Here is, in a nutshell, the best analysis of the movie industry I have ever read on FR, from FReeper NoControllingLegalAuthority -

"Blockbuster's die-off is no tear-jerker." (Netflix too?)

I believe the entire Hollywood system is a dinosaur.

Movies coming out of Hollywood are packages and attachments. The "package" is star #1 and star #2 combined with director "Mr. Overrated." The original screenplays are rewritten and changed by legions of movie corporate busybodies with no talent until the stories don't resemble anything approaching the orginal intent or "voice" that made them compelling at the outset.

The final result in theaters is a disaster upon which a hundred million dollars has been spent and appeals to and pleases nobody.

Hollywood has no creativity and can no longer make a mid-budget or low-budget picture.

The system is ultimately doomed to failure.

The model is based upon selling theater tickets to 15-25 year-olds on "dates" or accompanied by high-school "buddies." They are special-effects heavy, and story light.

There is a very good reason movies do not appeal to intelligent grown-ups. They are not made for grown-ups.

Hollywood has no idea what we in the heartland want to see because they despise everything we believe in and treasure in our values and our culture.