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Big movie production is getting more and more expensive. We have been making movies for more than a century, and yet, the majority of the most expensive movies

by GuB-42 3y ago

Big movie production is getting more and more expensive. We have been making movies for more than a century, and yet, the majority of the most expensive movies (inflation adjusted) have been made in the last decade, and that includes the pandemic. It is even worse with TV series. At some point, there won't be enough money in the world's entertainment budget to pay for it. And big studios don't really have the option of lower budgets. They need to go bigger and bigger to meet the ever increasing demands of spectators, cheap production won't cut it anymore. It is not that you can't make good low budget productions, in fact, movie production is more accessible than it ever was, which is the other side of the problem. Big studios have a hard time competing against the creativity of thousands of small producers who have little to lose and a lot to win in pursuing bold ideas. It is the same thing for AAA video games. Players want the latest ultra-HD, ultra-expensive stuff. And those who don't will typically turn to the indies.

somenameforme 3y ago
Fun factoid: domestic movie ticket sales have been declining for more than 2 decades at this point. [1] We reached 'peak movie' in 2002, both in terms of tickets sold and real gross revenue. That's in spite of the population increasing by just under 50 million since then. 'Highest grossing' and other such accolades since have been driven entirely by inflation and ticket price increases beyond inflation. The point is that there's often this online discussion with one guy saying 'modern movies suck' and the other saying 'nah, it's just what the people want.' But what's happening is quantifiably not what the people want. Hollywood (and AAA games) have become almost entirely creatively bankrupt, mostly due to going to the extremes of risk intolerance. They want creative endeavors to be more like factory line productions where a product is reliably created, ready to go on a tight schedule, and matches well to profit projections. The reason there's an obsession over things like visuals is because that's one of the few things studios believe they can "improve" in a formulaic and safe way. It's not what people want let alone demand, it's simply an area movie (and AAA) companies see as being a low risk target for "improvement." Movie studios likely see ChatGPT as their savior. In reality, it will probably be their executioner. [1] - https://www.the-numbers.com/market/ https://www.the-numbers.com/market/
autoexec 3y ago
> And big studios don't really have the option of lower budgets. They need to go bigger and bigger to meet the ever increasing demands of spectators, cheap production won't cut it anymore. I disagree. Very few people are demanding studios spend huge amounts of money on their films. Spectators (that is, those who watch movies for entertainment) want good stories and "good enough" production values and if they have that they will be happy with inexpensive, even low budget, films. It does feel like our standards for TV have gotten a lot higher though. Creating quality content is difficult and risky so studios would rather push low effort material (remakes/sequels/weak stories) and try to make up for it with spectacle and popular actors/franchises which is usually enough to make people feel like they didn't totally waste their time/money but not always. As you said, "good enough" is becoming increasingly accessible, but big studios aren't at much risk. They have tons of money for marketing, they control the MPA which means they control the ratings system, they also have massive influence over distribution meaning that smaller/independent films will have a harder time getting shown in most theaters or getting on many streaming platforms. Right now bad movies with bloated effects budgets still do better at the box office than quality films made by independent filmmakers which is exactly how the big studios like it. There's a lot of things competing for our attention these days and even looking only at movies having instant access to so many options on our phones or in our home theaters makes the trip to a movie theater less appealing. When it comes to games I agree with you though. People really do want games that have great graphics and more content, although with the prices of video cards and most people struggling to afford their current lifestyle I expect that games which look great on consoles and lower end hardware will only get more popular.

by GuB-42 3y ago

somenameforme 3y ago

Fun factoid: domestic movie ticket sales have been declining for more than 2 decades at this point. [1] We reached 'peak movie' in 2002, both in terms of tickets sold and real gross revenue. That's in spite of the population increasing by just under 50 million since then. 'Highest grossing' and other such accolades since have been driven entirely by inflation and ticket price increases beyond inflation. The point is that there's often this online discussion with one guy saying 'modern movies suck' and the other saying 'nah, it's just what the people want.' But what's happening is quantifiably not what the people want. Hollywood (and AAA games) have become almost entirely creatively bankrupt, mostly due to going to the extremes of risk intolerance. They want creative endeavors to be more like factory line productions where a product is reliably created, ready to go on a tight schedule, and matches well to profit projections. The reason there's an obsession over things like visuals is because that's one of the few things studios believe they can "improve" in a formulaic and safe way. It's not what people want let alone demand, it's simply an area movie (and AAA) companies see as being a low risk target for "improvement." Movie studios likely see ChatGPT as their savior. In reality, it will probably be their executioner. [1] - https://www.the-numbers.com/market/ https://www.the-numbers.com/market/

autoexec 3y ago

> And big studios don't really have the option of lower budgets. They need to go bigger and bigger to meet the ever increasing demands of spectators, cheap production won't cut it anymore. I disagree. Very few people are demanding studios spend huge amounts of money on their films. Spectators (that is, those who watch movies for entertainment) want good stories and "good enough" production values and if they have that they will be happy with inexpensive, even low budget, films. It does feel like our standards for TV have gotten a lot higher though. Creating quality content is difficult and risky so studios would rather push low effort material (remakes/sequels/weak stories) and try to make up for it with spectacle and popular actors/franchises which is usually enough to make people feel like they didn't totally waste their time/money but not always. As you said, "good enough" is becoming increasingly accessible, but big studios aren't at much risk. They have tons of money for marketing, they control the MPA which means they control the ratings system, they also have massive influence over distribution meaning that smaller/independent films will have a harder time getting shown in most theaters or getting on many streaming platforms. Right now bad movies with bloated effects budgets still do better at the box office than quality films made by independent filmmakers which is exactly how the big studios like it. There's a lot of things competing for our attention these days and even looking only at movies having instant access to so many options on our phones or in our home theaters makes the trip to a movie theater less appealing. When it comes to games I agree with you though. People really do want games that have great graphics and more content, although with the prices of video cards and most people struggling to afford their current lifestyle I expect that games which look great on consoles and lower end hardware will only get more popular.