Posted on 12/24/2005 4:09:09 PM PST by 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.
(Excerpt) Read more at csmonitor.com ...
I put up a list of my favorite movies around here somewhere. Most of the movies I like are very modern.
Same here, all I ask is a comedy that will crack me up. I can stand a little slapstick but not for 2 hours. A comedy that contains three serious murders is not funny. Saying the F word is not funny except in A Christmas Story and he doesn't actually say it. I'd love to see a comedy which aims for an IQ higher than 40.
And each one made a profit! After 1975, the Disney Studio made bombs.
Why is that? Walt knew people, and what make good stories!
Today's Hollywood crowd made movies on what they think according to their ideology.
I caught Alexander the Great, with Richard Burton the other night. It was made in 55 or 56, I can't remember which. Comparing it to say "Troy" all I can say is, "Thank God for computer generated effects." because it was pretty pitiful without them.
Have you looked at Kevin Smith's comedies? They're profane as hell, but no one could ever say that they aimed for a low-IQ audience.
Hollywood cant go broke too soon to suit me.
Hollywood suffers from anemic creativity and lack of originality, as well as gravitating to a pornographic edge. How many remakes does it take of a film about a highly improbable 20+ feet high gorilla? Boring!
Vials of complimentary cocaine have taken its toll of Gollywood.
..."if hollywood wants to be a communist tool to push the agenda of antonio gramsci, that is their perogative, just as it is mine to boycott them and try to convince my friends to do the same..."
On with the BOYCOTT!
If you only knew what Hollywood was REALLY like...
No, I'll have to check them out.
....it's seems most movies have to have a homo acting character in it, even the cartoons for kids.
Troy was incredible. Loved it. Eric Bana... yum yum
"After 1975, the Disney Studio made bombs."
Huh?
Yeah, I didn't get the criticism about Troy either. I thought the movie just rocked on every level.
Alexander with Angelina Jolie and Colin Farrell was pretty bad though... in comparison with Brad Pitt in Troy.
Could it be there movies stink.
Still haven't seen it. Mostly becuase I just don't like Colin Farrell.
The difference is, you're not limited to THIS YEARS movies. I am constantly amazed when talking to my friends and co-workers, who are all younger than I am, about how many great movies they've never seen.
Your comment on Cary Grant is interesting because only two of the ones I regularly talk to about movies have ever seen him in any movie. None of them have seen North By Northwest or To Catch A Thief, let alone Arsenic and Old Lace, Gunga Din or Topper. They know he's a famous actor, but they have no idea why.
There are literally thousands of spectacular movies that most of us, even old film buffs like me, have never seen. And a $3 evening at home with Bogart and Bacall, even though I've seen it before, will beat almost anything that's come out this year. And for those who haven't seen them...
I will say that I went to only a few movies this year and of those thought King Kong was the best. As a movie on its own terms I think it rivals Jackson's Lord Of The Rings because it achieves what it sets out to do, be a tribute to the Merian Cooper original. I went to Lucas' final Star Wars film in a theater only becuase I had been in the first audience ever to pay to see the first one, way back in 1977 (a fund raiser sneak for the SF Film Archive). I marveled at the technical accomplishments but was stunned by how badly the whole thing holds up given what has come since. Lucas revolutionized flim making, but he's not a great film maker, I'm sorry to say.
But Maltese Falcon and The Searchers still hold up. Dr. Strangelove and High Noon will still be shown 1,000 years from now to audiences who will be just as impressed on first viewing. And there are thousands of others. How many have seen Inherit The Wind or To Kill a Mockingbird?
The movies don't suck. Just most of the new ones. Well, so did most of the ones they used to make, too. Remember Logan's Run or the musical version of Lost Horizon?
I like Colin Farrell. He was good in Daredevil which I absolutely loved.
Brokeback Mountain - Nuff Said
"I am constantly amazed when talking to my friends and co-workers, who are all younger than I am, about how many great movies they've never seen."
Agree. I worked with a 30 something a few years back who just couldn't stop talking about the TV miniseries of Cleopatra. I asked her if she'd seen the one with Elizabeth Taylor and she stated she hadn't heard of it. Go figure!
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