It’s the movies, stupid. The stupid movies.
Well, that and the $7.50 for popcorn and a soda. And the bleeping cell phones.
The summer of 2005 is shaping up as the worst in recent Hollywood history. Box office is down; actual admissions–human seats sitting on theater seats–are way down.
Although “Fantastic Four” interrupted the record 19-week streak of failing to top last year’s box-office, this will likely go down as the third losing year in a row–it might be the worst year in a decade.
Moviegoers are finding cheaper, more convenient–and less aggravating–ways to be entertained.
It’s the story of the summer. Everyone’s talking about cultural shifts, with more people getting their movie fix from DVDs and Internet downloads. Across the country, people are talking about excessive ticket and concession prices, the commercials they have to endure before the film starts, and the obnoxious, cell phone-wielding audience members who take the fun out of going to the movies.
They’re blaming gas prices and competition from other forms of entertainment. And they’re blaming the films themselves, movies that people can sense will be underwhelming when they see the trailers.
Not everyone sees a reason to panic, though. “The slump is not as big of a deal as everyone’s making it out to be,” said Exhibitor Relations president Paul Dergarabedian. “If not for the ‘The Passion of the Christ’ last year and all that money that brought into the marketplace, which was an anomaly, we wouldn’t even be talking about a slump.”
Even if that’s true, this year’s blockbusters don’t seem to be gaining traction with moviegoers.
Bad remakes, half-concocted sequels to flash-in-the-pan hits and widescreen versions of small-screen TV shows are not must-see entertainment for today’s moviegoers.
“I’m just not impressed with the big movies that are out there,” says Jessica Thornton, 26, a graduate student at UNC-Charlotte. “I have no desire to see ‘War of the Worlds.’ I was excited about ‘Batman Begins,’ and I think I saw ‘Crash,’ like, on a whim. But I’m not, like, the movie’s just out, and I’m saying, ‘Omigod! I have to go see this movie!'”
But movie execs have little motivation to change their ways and come up with films that are rewarding, entertaining and not insulting to our intelligence.
That’s because the box office has less to do with their profits than you might think.
The international investment bank ABN Amro figures that global box office accounts for only 26 percent of movie revenues. Profits are turned with TV deals, video games, merchandise and DVDs. That’s where 46 percent of the studios’ profits come from.
Plus, DVDs may not be siphoning off much of the box-office take, according to findings in a recent poll conducted for the Associated Press and AOL News.
It found that people who watched DVDs, downloaded movies from the Internet and played video games were more likely to go to movies than people at the same income level who didn’t.
Independent theater owner Bill Peebles has heard the techno fear mongering before.
“When TVs came on the scene, they said it was going to be the death of the industry,” says Peebles, president of Ambassador Entertainment. “When VCRs came on the scene, cable, DVDs, they said it was going to be the death of the industry.
“Every time this happens, you see more interest in movies. I think there’s always going be an interest in movies. You want to get away from reality. You want to get to a theater and enjoy yourself.”
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RAGE BY NUMBERS
7 in 10 potential moviegoers in a Gallup poll say they would go more often “if the tickets and concessions cost less money.” First-run movie tickets are $9 or more in the Chicago area.
73% of moviegoers in a Cingular Wireless poll called cell-phone abuse by others the best reason for skipping a movie.
73% of people polled told an AP/AOL poll that they now preferred to see a movie at home.
47% of those polled by the AP say movies are “getting worse.”
–Orlando Sentinel
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RedEye’s Top 10 Movie Bitch List
1. High prices of tickets and concessions
($4 for water?)
2. Cell phone users: “Hey dog, I’m in the
movie. Yeah, it’s not too good.” SHUT UP!
3. Sticky floors: “That
was a Milk Dud, right?”
4. Spare us the commercials and endlessly
repetitive and ancient trivia.
5. Loud talkers and laughers–this ain’t
your living room.
6. Bratty kids–
crying and running
around the 10 p.m. showing.
7. Big-footed apes whose feet are on
the back of your chair.
8. Trailers are OK–
as long as they don’t give away the
whole stinkin’ movie.
9. Sound: THX run amok.
10. Movies that suck.
