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Just wanted to weigh in on this thread and let people know that without theatrical releases helping support big tentpole movies that we all love... those sorts

by 23B1 3y ago

Just wanted to weigh in on this thread and let people know that without theatrical releases helping support big tentpole movies that we all love... those sorts of films won't get made. That's the CURRENT paradigm and I'm not saying it's efficient, but there was a reason people have recently been saying 'Tom Cruise saved Hollywood' with the success of Maverick. Roughly 50% of all theatrical releases LOSE money. A large chunk breaks even, and about 27% have margins that could be considered a decent ROI. If you're a tech person, I am begging you to make an investment in theatrical filmmaking. Lower the cost of this equipment, or find ways to encourage filmgoing, or for the love of god build a film-producing engine that can make this bonkers-slow and bonkers-unprofitable business move out of the red.

JackFr 3y ago
Hard to believe the studios keep making them. Oh wait, I forgot that movie studios routinely lie about revenues and margins. They are the OG's at hiding profits and engage in accounting shenanigans that make real estate tax lawyers blush.
decremental 3y ago
Hollywood is just about the last industry on earth people should be trying to save. I have no sympathy for the low turnout to high budget propaganda films.
marcellus23 3y ago
> big tentpole movies that we all love Like what? Hollywood has been going downhill for years now — there are a few good movies a year, but it's nothing compared to what it used to be like. Just endless bland corporate written-by-committee superhero movies, prequels, sequels, reboots... maybe it's just time for the format to die.
- isametry 3y ago
  BREAKING: Aging Person Complains About Current Media, Is Convinced Older Media Was Better
  - marcellus23 3y ago
    The fact that Hollywood was releasing more original films several decades ago is not an opinion, it's fact. As to whether there's a corresponding decrease in quality, that's definitely an opinion, but it's not exactly a controversial one. Just google it and you'll find no shortage of articles talking about Hollywood's creative decline. Or just look at the comments in this thread. It's also not a complaint limited to older people — actually, older people (older millenials, gen Xers, and boomers) seem to be more content with the state of movies these days than the younger crowd, who IME seem more likely to recognize them for the bland corporate moneygrabs they are. To respond more directly to your obnoxiously-stated point: I was not alive when Hollywood was at what's generally considered it's "peak" (say, 70s through 90s). But to anyone, of any age, comparing the top movies from 1984[0] to the top movies from 2022[1], the difference in quality and originality should be obvious. One striking point: not a single top 10 movie in 2022 is an original IP, compared to 8/10 being original in 1984. 0: https://www.boxofficemojo.com/year/1984/ https://www.boxofficemojo.com/year/1984/ 1: https://www.boxofficemojo.com/year/2022/ https://www.boxofficemojo.com/year/2022/
    - arp242 3y ago
      To be fair, Hollywood has always been a bit of a hit-driven industry, and people have been complaining about this for as long as I can remember. I wouldn't put too much stock in those box office figures; I never heard of Footloose, ranked #6, and the imdb (6.6) and rotten tomatoes (52%/71%) rating are not especially great. The same applies to a number of other films in the top list. Scarface is ranked #32 and is much better known, and has 8.3 on imdb and 81%/94% on rotten tomatoes. This is Spinal Tap is ranked #129 and is iconic enough that the imdb people programmed a special exception so you can rate it from 1 to 11. I kind of chuck it up to fashion; all these Marvel things are in fashion today; back in the 90s romcoms were pretty fashionable, in the 80s you had the "action hero" era, etc. Hollywood produces hundreds of films every year and there are hundreds of films every year outside of Hollywood. There's still plenty of stuff to watch.
Levitz 3y ago
>without theatrical releases helping support big tentpole movies that we all love... those sorts of films won't get made. I can only hope. The amount of absolute rubbish that has come out of Hollywood as of late is precisely the reason as to why I won't go to the cinema.
thomastjeffery 3y ago
Theaters are dying because they starved themselves. Film studios are too consolidated, which motivates them to prefer "safe bets" like the eternal continuation of Marvel IP. We should really have an order of magnitude more variety of film shown in theaters, but only a handful of corporations are equipped to create that content in the first place. The walls of this prison are made of copyright. It's well past time to tear them down.

by 23B1 3y ago

JackFr 3y ago

Hard to believe the studios keep making them. Oh wait, I forgot that movie studios routinely lie about revenues and margins. They are the OG's at hiding profits and engage in accounting shenanigans that make real estate tax lawyers blush.

decremental 3y ago

Hollywood is just about the last industry on earth people should be trying to save. I have no sympathy for the low turnout to high budget propaganda films.

marcellus23 3y ago

> big tentpole movies that we all love Like what? Hollywood has been going downhill for years now — there are a few good movies a year, but it's nothing compared to what it used to be like. Just endless bland corporate written-by-committee superhero movies, prequels, sequels, reboots... maybe it's just time for the format to die.

isametry 3y ago
BREAKING: Aging Person Complains About Current Media, Is Convinced Older Media Was Better
- marcellus23 3y ago
  The fact that Hollywood was releasing more original films several decades ago is not an opinion, it's fact. As to whether there's a corresponding decrease in quality, that's definitely an opinion, but it's not exactly a controversial one. Just google it and you'll find no shortage of articles talking about Hollywood's creative decline. Or just look at the comments in this thread. It's also not a complaint limited to older people — actually, older people (older millenials, gen Xers, and boomers) seem to be more content with the state of movies these days than the younger crowd, who IME seem more likely to recognize them for the bland corporate moneygrabs they are. To respond more directly to your obnoxiously-stated point: I was not alive when Hollywood was at what's generally considered it's "peak" (say, 70s through 90s). But to anyone, of any age, comparing the top movies from 1984[0] to the top movies from 2022[1], the difference in quality and originality should be obvious. One striking point: not a single top 10 movie in 2022 is an original IP, compared to 8/10 being original in 1984. 0: https://www.boxofficemojo.com/year/1984/ https://www.boxofficemojo.com/year/1984/ 1: https://www.boxofficemojo.com/year/2022/ https://www.boxofficemojo.com/year/2022/
  - arp242 3y ago
    To be fair, Hollywood has always been a bit of a hit-driven industry, and people have been complaining about this for as long as I can remember. I wouldn't put too much stock in those box office figures; I never heard of Footloose, ranked #6, and the imdb (6.6) and rotten tomatoes (52%/71%) rating are not especially great. The same applies to a number of other films in the top list. Scarface is ranked #32 and is much better known, and has 8.3 on imdb and 81%/94% on rotten tomatoes. This is Spinal Tap is ranked #129 and is iconic enough that the imdb people programmed a special exception so you can rate it from 1 to 11. I kind of chuck it up to fashion; all these Marvel things are in fashion today; back in the 90s romcoms were pretty fashionable, in the 80s you had the "action hero" era, etc. Hollywood produces hundreds of films every year and there are hundreds of films every year outside of Hollywood. There's still plenty of stuff to watch.

Levitz 3y ago

>without theatrical releases helping support big tentpole movies that we all love... those sorts of films won't get made. I can only hope. The amount of absolute rubbish that has come out of Hollywood as of late is precisely the reason as to why I won't go to the cinema.

thomastjeffery 3y ago

Theaters are dying because they starved themselves. Film studios are too consolidated, which motivates them to prefer "safe bets" like the eternal continuation of Marvel IP. We should really have an order of magnitude more variety of film shown in theaters, but only a handful of corporations are equipped to create that content in the first place. The walls of this prison are made of copyright. It's well past time to tear them down.