Summer Shlock-Busters
Well it's been a little while since I posted so I thought that I would send you all some blogger love :)
Been a busy week or so since I posted last... unfortunately, I haven't really done anything exciting, which has been really exciting for me! This past weekend I did absolutely nothing and loved it! I haven't just sat around and chilled for months and this weekend was perfect for that. I accomplished nothing! Was going to go into work (boo!), but instead I went and saw Fantastic Four. Good movie, nothing special. In terms of comic book movies though, it was lower rung. Its biggest problem is that there is no "issue". With Spider-Man it was guilt for misusing his powers and coming to grips with that responsibility, with Batman it is vigilantism, and with X-Men (the best of the bunch) it is racism. With FF, it's just a movie about people who have cool powers, oh and they don't like each other. Cool effects, junk food for the brain popcorn movie... perfect summer fare and that was exactly what I was looking for.
Now this weekend, thanks to FF, also marked the end of the "great Hollywood slump of 2005"... whatever that is. You see, ticket sales have been down this year every week compared to last year. I have a number of problems with this, the first lies in the traditional American view of economics in which there must always be growth. Why must there always be growth? How about plateaus and maintaining the current level? In the spirit of the All Star weekend here in Detroit I use this metaphor... After Berry Bonds set the record for most cranium growth...er... home runs in 2001, did people immediately say that next year he should be expected to hit even more? The same for the movie industry, last summer had some HUGE movies (Spider-Man 2, Fahrenheit 9/11, Shrek 2, etc..) that did big box office.
This leads me to my second point... There just hasn't been much to see. Aside from Star Wars III, there isn't a "buzz" movie, or at least there isn't one that can sustain the excitement past the opening weekend. Batman was great, but a little too dark for the mainstream, Cinderella Man just didn't cut it, Mr. and Mrs. Smith was more fun in the tabloids than in the theater, and War of the Worlds, well... Tom kinda scares me now :) You can't honestly tell me that they thought Rebound was going to hold up the box office this summer did they? If they release good movies, people will come. When they release crap... well, there's always NetFlix.
Been a busy week or so since I posted last... unfortunately, I haven't really done anything exciting, which has been really exciting for me! This past weekend I did absolutely nothing and loved it! I haven't just sat around and chilled for months and this weekend was perfect for that. I accomplished nothing! Was going to go into work (boo!), but instead I went and saw Fantastic Four. Good movie, nothing special. In terms of comic book movies though, it was lower rung. Its biggest problem is that there is no "issue". With Spider-Man it was guilt for misusing his powers and coming to grips with that responsibility, with Batman it is vigilantism, and with X-Men (the best of the bunch) it is racism. With FF, it's just a movie about people who have cool powers, oh and they don't like each other. Cool effects, junk food for the brain popcorn movie... perfect summer fare and that was exactly what I was looking for.
Now this weekend, thanks to FF, also marked the end of the "great Hollywood slump of 2005"... whatever that is. You see, ticket sales have been down this year every week compared to last year. I have a number of problems with this, the first lies in the traditional American view of economics in which there must always be growth. Why must there always be growth? How about plateaus and maintaining the current level? In the spirit of the All Star weekend here in Detroit I use this metaphor... After Berry Bonds set the record for most cranium growth...er... home runs in 2001, did people immediately say that next year he should be expected to hit even more? The same for the movie industry, last summer had some HUGE movies (Spider-Man 2, Fahrenheit 9/11, Shrek 2, etc..) that did big box office.
This leads me to my second point... There just hasn't been much to see. Aside from Star Wars III, there isn't a "buzz" movie, or at least there isn't one that can sustain the excitement past the opening weekend. Batman was great, but a little too dark for the mainstream, Cinderella Man just didn't cut it, Mr. and Mrs. Smith was more fun in the tabloids than in the theater, and War of the Worlds, well... Tom kinda scares me now :) You can't honestly tell me that they thought Rebound was going to hold up the box office this summer did they? If they release good movies, people will come. When they release crap... well, there's always NetFlix.
posted by Jay at 7:59 AM
2 Comments:
The only way that the box offices can grow is with the price of admission rising - I typically attend matinees, and in 2 years the price has gone from $5.00 to $7.00. This is the only way that they can increase box office – there are only “X” number of theaters and “Y” number of fans in the movie audience. Like you said there cannot always be such growth without a price – and we are paying the price. Having movies go directly to DVD may ease the burden on the fans, but that would cut out the theaters that are not to blame, it is the “man” – the movie companies and “damn the man” as you would say. That is why you need to buy the overpriced popcorn and soda – it is the only money the theater makes. Now I sound like you on a soapbox.
You are totally right. Things really changed once DVD's went to a "sell through" price. It used to be that nobody really bought movies because your typical VHS release was over a $100 (this excludes special sell through tapes that the studios released for REALLY big movies, ie Batman). Now with the prevalence of DVD you can buy the movie for about what it costs for ONE person to see it. Furthermore, with movies coming to DVD in under 100 days of theatrical release, there is less and less incentive to actually go to the theater. Now I am a theater junkie. There is just something magical about being in the theater, watching the story unfold larger than life, all the while munching on my over priced refreshments. That's another thing... for some reason I don't mind spending a billion dollars on popcorn and soda as I know that goes directly to the theater who are providing the service. It's when the ticket prices go up, that's where I get irked. For a first run movie the theater MAYBE sees 10% of the ticket revenue for those first blockbuster weekends. It's the "man" that is ruining movies... damn the man!!!
Oh, and BTW... I like my soapbox thank you very much. And where do you think I got it from daddy-o :)
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