Movie attendances down
p2pnet.net News:- “Movie revenues skidded for the 17th straight weekend this weekend, tying the record for longest ever box-office decline set back in 1985,” says CTV, going on:
“According to studio estimates released Sunday, North America’s Top 12 movies took in approximately $128.5 million US. That was down 1.6 per cent from the same weekend a year earlier” and, “Compared with 2004, movie revenues are down 6.4 per cent so far this year.”
So what’s going on?
Seventy-three percent of people interviewed in a recent study said they’d rather stay at home and watch movies on DVD, videotape or pay-per-view, than go to the cinema.
And almost half thought Hollywood movies, “are getting worse”.
“Some critics feel that Hollywood is running out of ideas,” says CTV, pointing out that three films slated for release soon, “based on material that is decades old.
- “Herbie: Fully Loaded continues the adventures of a talking Volkswagen Bug. Herbie first appeared on screen in the 70s.
- “Also, Johnny Depp will take on the role of Willy Wonka in a re-make of Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. However, most adults will likely be reminded of the 70s movie version starring Gene Wilder.
- “And in Bewitched, audiences will also be offered a film based on the 60s television series of the same name.”
Cruddy ‘new’ movies, overpriced tickets, idiots talking to each other while you’re trying to watch the movie, Big Hair and Big Hats, mummies and daddies with noisy babies allowed in for adult shows, ushers with near police powers, and so on and etc, may also have something to do with it.
In the meanwhile, the studio cartel isn’t doing too badly.
Revenues from world-wide ticket, video and DVD sales, as well as TV rights, were $44.8 billion last year, an increase of 9% over 2003.
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See:-
CTV – Hollywood movie receipts slump to 20-year low, June 27, 2005
$44.8 billion – Hollywood box-office slump, June 18, 2005
June 27th, 2005 at 6:02 pm
Hollywood isn’t running out of ideas, it’s getting lazy. There is a huge amount of untapped potential in the written word, and with computer animation becoming easier to integrate, stories that would have been impossible to do 10 years ago could be easily done now.
Then again, that would require that Holywood pay some royalties and purchase rights. Why do that when you can milk the dead cow you already have?
Herbie the Love Bug appeared on the big screen in the 60s.
June 27th, 2005 at 6:16 pm
http://p2pnet.net/story/4593
June 27th, 2005 at 9:00 pm
Wonder if it ever crossed the MPAA’s mind that the reason they’re loosing number of movie attendances is because their movies SUCK…
Maybe if they’d make better movies, and helped theaters to upgrade their equiptment, and STOPPED SUEING PEOPLE… Then more people like me would go! >=P
June 27th, 2005 at 9:12 pm
It is the same thing year after year, sequel after sequel.
June 27th, 2005 at 10:03 pm
…remake after remake. rehash after rehash. bad comic book-to-terrible movie after bad comic book-to-terrible movie.
June 27th, 2005 at 11:02 pm
When discussing movies we often decide based on the type of theater. When we go to arts theaters like the Bytown in Ottawa the only thing you see before the movie are trailers for other movies they will soon be showing in that theater. At the “mainstream” theaters you have commercials — just larger and louder versions of the same car and other commercials you see on television. While commercials are annoying on television, you sort of tolerate it because you know that these advertisers are paying for the content. In the theater you have already paid for the content, and the commercials are just an insult of the audience.
There are only so many times a company can insult their customers, accuse them of theft, and other such nonsense before people just don’t bother. I’m tired of the way the mainstream movie industry treats me and am just spending my entertainment money elsewhere.
June 27th, 2005 at 11:33 pm
nor can I afford popcorn. You almost need a loan to buy popcorn and a drink at the theater, whereas I can throw pop secret in the microwave, and pull a cold one out of the fridge, hit pause whenever I feel like it and
if my woman gets frisky we don’t have to worry about some pimply faced 16 year old with a flashlight and ushers coat giving us shit. Or someone watching us thru nightvision googles. With a wide screen tv, a dvd player and a home theatre sound system Its much more pleasurable to watch at home anyway. Movies are hitting DVD quick enough now, so what if I have to wait a couple of months.
REPEAT AFTER ME. ‘NETFLIX IS MY FRIEND”
June 28th, 2005 at 12:11 am
my library (free rentals) and dvd decrypter are MY friends.
June 28th, 2005 at 12:23 pm
Ho Ho!
You are soooooooo right!
And my boyfriend would agree as well.
Last weekend my boyfriend and I went to see Star Wars..
I finally talked him into going.
The movie was said to start at 7:05, and
we sat through 30 min. of commercials……and not just movie trailers…….f-ing TV commercials!!!!!
After spending almost 9 dollars/ticket,
needless to say my boyfriend will not go to
the movies with me anymore.
He says he won’t pay to see the f-ing
TV commercials while going to the theater.
He said he could have stayed home for that.
What gives?
Don’t we see enough of the advertisements?
Whatever happened to the cartoons and movie trailers?
Well, that’s it, he won’t go anymore.
I’ll have to take my girlfriends instead.
June 28th, 2005 at 1:37 pm
Car comercials!? You have it good… try watching washing detergent comercial on a big screen
… this is a reason I’m buying tickets online and get to the showing 20 minutes late, and still have to watch 2 or 3 of them…
June 28th, 2005 at 5:24 pm
I am in total agreement with you here Russell. The commercials in the theatres are way out of line, but I also think that the content of the movies are severly lacking lately.
I don’t understand the mentality of Hollywood in remaking movies that didn’t need it! Some remakes are definately a home-run because the improvement greatly enhances the the quality of the film. The Lord of the Rings is a perfect example. The original LOTR was an animated mess, but that was the state of the technology.
There are many movies that cry out for remakes, I wouldn’t mind if someone wrested Battlefield Earth from John Travolta and remade it into the movie it should have been. But, remaking The Bad News Bears or Charlie and the Chocolate Factory? I won’t go to see either! I just don’t want to imagine anyone else in the roles that were filled by Walter Matthau and Gene Wilder, respectively.
Back to the commercials on the big screen. I’ve begun to lodge complaints about this practice with the theatre owners where I live, and may also start walking out when a commercial begins and demanding a refund, citing the commercial as the reason. If more people would do these 2 things I feel very certain the theatre owners would realize their folly.
January 19th, 2007 at 6:03 pm
I also will follow your outline for boycotting theaters. Enough is enough with commercials already.
Is there any place to lodge formal complaints about TV commercials?
I am so fed up with oldies being played on commercials!!! And that
damn Vonage commercial with that hillbilly caterwalling is like a spike
right between the eyes. Thank God for the mute button.