Is Hollywood dying? (2009, theaters, days, dancing)

[goldengrain]

I know I am exceptional, but I can witness a one man show with only a chair on an empty stage. I really love good acting. I like how a talented person can create an entire world in my mind.

I really dislike the heavy use of special effects these days. I don't even like how they use music to fill in 'dull' parts of a movie. It's often just distracting. I don't like canned laughter in sitcoms, either. It's often a cover for a poor production.

[Molly12]

Originally Posted by shstrang98

Hollywood isn't dying but it probably should.

The biggest problem is that we stupidly throw our money at hollywood by buying their product.
And I'm just as guilty as others. One in a while I buy a BRD now and then.

I have the same feeling.

[Dane_in_LA]

Originally Posted by goldengrain

I know I am exceptional, but I can witness a one man show with only a chair on an empty stage. I really love good acting. I like how a talented person can create an entire world in my mind.

There's a place for that, surely. That doesn't rule out enjoying a no-stops-barred, full-ensemble, full-orchestra production of one of the great operas once in a while either. Same with movies.

[goldengrain]

Originally Posted by Dane_in_LA

There's a place for that, surely. That doesn't rule out enjoying a no-stops-barred, full-ensemble, full-orchestra production of one of the great operas once in a while either. Same with movies.

I agree.
I also think that there is a need (of 'they' believe there is) for constant action, noise, distraction. But maybe that is just because movies used to cater to a younger audience and now that the population is aging, there will be a demand for real talent and artfulness.

[Trimac20]

Unless it changes I don't care if it dies.

It's full of disaster movies, comic book adaptations, college humor/frat boy comedies, and lame romantic comedies...

[banjomike]

Originally Posted by Giesela

Why on earth does making a movie cost 100 million?

How much does EVERYTHING cost now?

I once worked on one of the location sets of The Continental Divide, a modestly produced movie that starred John Belushi and Blair Brown that was also a modest hit. This was in late 1981, and at that time, the 2nd unit director told me the production's overhead was $80,000 a day. At that time, I was paying 75¢ a gallon for gas, and my room at a local motel cost $10.00 a night.

Hollywood is working under the same syndrome the recording industry did in the 1980's, when Michael Jackson's Thriller album showed the true amount a blockbuster could generate. After Thriller, all the recording artists who made consistently profitable but more modest selling records began to be dropped by all the major recording companies, in ever more desperate hopes of grabbing the Big Brass Mega-hit Ring.

There is only so much potential left in copies of other copies of former mega-hit movies. Making a good movie that's driven by a good script and good actors, with no special effects, requires a lot of maturity these days.

There is an entire generation of writers, producers, and directors who have never done anything but expensive 'high concept' pictures that feature special effects over the basics of plot and character development. At a time when a cheap movie costs $10 million, a failed blockbuster is a whopping loss that can cripple those who made it.

[Columbia Blue]

Sure, but blockbuster films that fail here can at least break even if not make a small fortune in the ever expanding foreign markets. Overseas accounts for a large chunk of a film's profits today. It has made many movies virtually fail-proof....as long as you take no risks, and just supply movie audiences with the same old, same old. Add DVD sales into it and movie studios were making a fortune. DVD sales have now of course plummeted, which is why studios are trying to put the screws to the Netflix type companies that offer streaming. They are hoping to make up a portion of that lost revenue.

[Novadhd5150]

But doesnt Netflix have to get permission or the rights from the studios to even offer the movie to customers?
Foreign markets dont recognize bad crap movies since they are probably so glad to get the latest American films.

[Deezus]

Originally Posted by banjomike

There is an entire generation of writers, producers, and directors who have never done anything but expensive 'high concept' pictures that feature special effects over the basics of plot and character development. At a time when a cheap movie costs $10 million, a failed blockbuster is a whopping loss that can cripple those who made it.

A lot of younger big budget filmmakers these days started out directing music videos. A high concept music video might be a lot of fast paced imagery and editing in five minutes and that's why they might be able to make visually impressive films though with weak characterization and not a good sense of pace.

You read about directors back in the 60s and 70s and a lot of directors would start out either working on low budget B-films sometimes as an assistant under the tutelage of old pros like Roger Corman--Scorsese and Coppola started this way--and then progress into their own projects. And then get the backing to make the films they wanted to make. But even with the old B-movies, they learned how to set a scene or work with experienced character actors.

I think these days the biggest failure of Hollywood's big budget films is that they won't really support any significant budgets for original concepts. Everything has to be a remake of an older film or a comic book or a TV show or video game or even a board game. And as Columbia Blue pointed out--big flashy action movies or cartoons are easy to send out to the foreign markets to make a profit. It's either that or raunchy comedies or the occasional Oscar fare.

But even a film like Raiders of the Lost Ark(featuring an original screenplay) might be risky today, let alone something as weird as Apocalypse Now. The MBAs who run the studios don't want to risk $60 million on an unknown quantity. So they make Battleship: The Movie!--which bombs anyhow, but might make a profit once they send it to Brazil or Asia or something...

[Dane_in_LA]

Originally Posted by Novadhd5150

But doesnt Netflix have to get permission or the rights from the studios to even offer the movie to customers?

Netflix and other actors in that market pay royalties, rest assured. Which is one reason they hava a hard time competing with people who sell the same content without paying royalties, but that's another story.

Foreign markets dont recognize bad crap movies since they are probably so glad to get the latest American films.

That's far from a sure thing. Some genres do well internationally - particularly the big effect-laden spectacles, because there's no local competition for that. But some movies that did fairly well in the US flop pretty badly overseas.