p2pnet - rss feed: Hollywood ‘deep existential crisis’
p2p news / p2pnet: "Some studios are doing some moderate lay offs," says economist Jack Kyser. "LA’s future is at stake."
And that demonstrates, "the depth of despair in the nine-billion-dollar a year industry," he states, quoted by Agence France Presse.
What? You mean p2p file sharers aren’t behind it all? Obviously the MPAA PR hacks hadn’t been alerted in time to put the traditional spin on this story.
Because, "Plunging movie ticket sales, after a string of uninspiring remakes and movie sequels coupled with an explosion of the DVD and video game markets, are keeping audiences at home and have sent Hollywood into a deep existential crisis," says AFP.
Ticket sale revenues were down 5% in the first 11 months of 2005 while the number of Americans going to the cinema fell by 6.2% compared with the same period in 2004, says box office trackers Exhibitor Relations in the story, resulting in, "Tinseltown’s most disappointing box office performance in 15 years as audiences, dazzled by their entertainment choices and disappointed by the mediocre films on offer, turned away from the cinema in droves".
But it’s not just a slump in box office. DVD sales are down as wello," Kyser told AFP. "This is mainly because of unattractive movies that don’t appeal to young male audiences, the cost of movie tickets, parking (and) the shrinking window (between) a movie’s theatrical and DVD releases."
Also See:
Agence France Presse - Plummeting 2005 box office sparks Hollywood crisis, December 26, 2005
December 27th, 2005 at 7:31 pm
Well, I RAN all the way to the theatre and shoved my way through the non-exsistant line to get MY ticket for that fresh new feature KING KONG this holiday season…
Hey HOLLYWOOD! You may want to consider giving up breathing. I hear it’s pretty risky.
The idea well in hollywood has not run dry. It’s just that the financiers are deathly afraid of the water.
Those “new” ideas have not been “market tested” yet. Guess it’s better to make a flop based on some weary old idea rather than have a new idea flop. At least that way marketing can look back and say, “the numbers said it should have worked”…
December 27th, 2005 at 9:11 pm
Part of the problem is that Hollydud is bankrupt when it comes to fresh new themes and ideas. I mean, how many times do you do a remake? I’m not interested in King Kong, I mean you can only blend and bend the story so far before it becomes something else and we all know already the if it’s King Kong it’s got to have some sort of giant ape and comely damsel in it. So theres the start and the end of the remake.
Hollydud has typically been releasing these duds as dvds shortly after they aren’t making the boxoffice numbers that raise the eyebrows and lately they have been few and far between. Most of the buyers of dvds have already seen what is happening. If it comes out on dvd within 4-5 months it wasn’t really a good movie. If it wasn’t a good movie, why should they pay the same price as for a premium one? Then theres the anticopy that seems to be the holy grail of the content cartels. Only the cartels want it; the customers don’t.
When the cartels get their wish of locking up the content through hardware, they think the end of the copying is in sight. For me the end of buying is in sight. I’m not paying ownership level costs for renting something that isn’t mine after I pay the money. I’m not going to spend on what I consider trash and pay the same that I would for a movie that is a really good one. Those really good ones are few and far between lately. Been stung enough that more times than not, I will look at the blurb with the idea they spent more time on the blurb than they did in the plot of the movie. Special effects are ok, but by themselves they don’t make the movie. So the formula of throwing a few extra FX in there doesn’t make it a blockbuster.
Laying off and firing their most creative workers because they are a bit of a problem for corporate mentality is a problem. Mostly those that see things different are also those with some new idea. When you homogenize the mix, you come out with bland instead of new. That’s right where Hollydud is now when it comes to movies…bland.
December 27th, 2005 at 9:28 pm
My point is that there ARE still people in the hollywood mainstream who have GOOD new ideas for films. The people who finance the making of new movies are just too chicken shit to risk going out on a limb to make movies who’s “idea” has not already been proven successful. Therefore we get bland, recycled, hum-drum movies, just as you say. So, IMHO hollywood is not “bankrupt” of new ideas, they just choose to “play it safe” and ignore them.
December 27th, 2005 at 10:03 pm
What’s the over/under on how long it takes them to blame p2p as the entire reason they’re in such a crisis? They’d never admit they need to make good movies to get people back to the theaters.
December 27th, 2005 at 10:51 pm
It certainly makes sense to me that file sharing is the main reason people are not going to the movie theaters….
<sarcasm>
December 28th, 2005 at 4:19 am
There are thousands and thousands of great books that could be made into great movies. Hollywood has recently discovered that the fantasy genre, if done right will sell with giant successes like Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter and The Chronicles of Narnia. The comic book genre still has quite a bit of material left to offer. Many other topics that people would flock to see, movies about terrorism and religion are usually considered taboo and most of the time not made out of fear of controversy.
I think another problem might be that audiences are generally maturing. With fantastic shows like the Sopranos, Battlestar Galactica and others bringing new and fresh ideas to the screen every week it makes the same old introduction/conflict/happy ending movie hard to watch. With TV shows giving us season after season of complex character development, two hours just is not enough time anymore to become really involved in the story and the characters.
It also doesn’t help that going to the movies nowadays feels more like forced rape then a relaxing way to burn 2 hours. From getting strip searched for cameras and food, to paying 10 bucks for a soda and popcorn worth 2, to being forced to watch 20 minutes worth of ads and then suffer through scenes that are extended longer then they should be just to make sure you notice the blatantly placed products in the movie. Hollywood better quickly realize that all these cheap ways to make a few more bucks is doing is driving more people away or their profits will keep going down.
December 28th, 2005 at 8:01 am
In Oz, there are tv ads trying to persuade ppl that the best way to enjoy a move is by watching it in the cinema.
Says a lot about how much the industry is hurting (in Oz at least) doesn’t it?
December 28th, 2005 at 4:48 pm
I went to see King Kong. The film was 183 minute. As I arrived at the theatre I noted a sign indicating that the movie was 3.5 hours with trailers. After waiting in a god-awful line for popcorn, then trying to find a seat in an ill lit theatre (I actually took a seat that a guy put his coat on while he went for popcorn, I moved down when he arrived), I sat through 2 car company commercials and about 10 trailers.
I’m an avid movie-goer. I do love to see film on the big screen. I hate the uncomfortable seating most theatres provide, but that is small compared with enduring commercials for something that I *PAID* to see. I’m not seing this movie for free like a TV show. Commercials have no business in the theatres and I’ll be damned if I am going to buy a car from any advertisers who presents their wares on the big screen.
I’ve expressed my dissatisfaction with the theatre owners, but I don’t see anything substantial coming of it. So now I am voting with my feet. I have hundreds of DVDs and other entertainment choices and until the theatre owners wake up and begin to provide good customer service again, I’ll just opt to stay at home.
December 29th, 2005 at 6:54 am
You aren’t the only one that feels this way. Anytime a customer walks away unsatisfied with his purchase that business suffers. Now one or two customers aren’t going to break the bank. It’s when the majority of the customers start voting with their wallets that you see a business in trouble. Hollydud hasn’t reached this point yet, still there are enough that agree without your dissatisfaction with the present viewing experience that it is starting to total up.
A cash cow is one thing, killing it to get the last drop is something else. Once dead it don’t magically come back to life. Customer resentment takes a lot of time for it to build on a massive scale. However, the media cartels are generating more of this day by day. The theaters are making money on those commericals you are seeing. They won’t willingly give that up. Customers not showing up at the theater because they resent the practices now in place will eventually result in them crying pirates are stealing our business. Somehow it never occurs to them that the customer isn’t going to put up with what isn’t worth their time and money. The cash cow may not be dead but it is starting to starve.
Many are just like you, we’ve had enough. It is no longer worth the cost of the theater when you can get far better viewing experience at home.