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Roger Ebert on why movie revenues are dropping...

He's hit the nail firmly on the head several times as regards why I don't go to the theatre anywhere near as much as I used to. Ten years ago I was going like twice a week sometimes, now, I haven't been in over a year...
 
6. Lack of choice. Box-office tracking shows that the bright spot in 2011 was the performance of indie, foreign or documentary films. On many weekends, one or more of those titles captures first-place in per-screen average receipts. Yet most moviegoers outside large urban centers can't find those titles in their local gigantiplex. Instead, all the shopping center compounds seem to be showing the same few overhyped disappointments. Those films open with big ad campaigns, play a couple of weeks, and disappear.

The myth that small-town moviegoers don't like "art movies" is undercut by Netflix's viewing results; the third most popular movie on Dec. 28 on Netflix was "Certified Copy," by the Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami. You've heard of him? In fourth place--French director Alain Corneau's "Love Crime." In fifth, "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"--but the subtitled Swedish version.
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This is an excellent point, even though I expect most people in the business will only read point 1:
1. Obviously, the absence of a must-see mass-market movie. When moviegoers hear about "Avatar" or "The Dark Knight," they blast off from home base and land in a theater seat as quickly as they can.
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Big-budget movies have learned one lesson in the last 10 years following Lord Of The Rings: You need to go big, you need to go serial, and you need to be able to merchandise the hell out of your movie if you want to make back what you spent. The more money you spend trying to get that one hit, the more expensive it becomes if it flops (The Golden Compass, anyone?) and so you need to go for things you already know people love. Except people have already seen those, so how do you get them to see it again? 3D. Do people actually want 3D? They better, or the industry is fucked. Or worse, it'll have to start thinking. Possibly even reading point 6.
 
I think movies have pretty much gone the way of the TV in my home, namely dark.

When I look at the coming attractions in movies these days, on the rare occasions when I go, I most frequently think to myself: "They could have saved a lot of money by not making that one. And that one, and the next one too. And the next one and the next one. If only they had asked me beforehand, I could have told them." I grew up from childhood on a movie-a-week with my parents, every weekend without fail. Now, no more.

It would be far cheaper making just the trailers. :cool:
 
Interesting figures: World-wide box office 2011:

1. Harry Potter VIII
2. Transformers III
3. Pirates Of The Caribbean IV
4. Kung Fu Panda II
5. Twilight IV
6. The Fast And The Furious V
7. The Hangover II
8. The Smurfs
9. Cars II
10. Rio

So out of the top 10, a grand total of 8 are sequels, one is a remake of an already popular franchise, and the last one is essentially an Ice Age retread.

That's not to say there aren't good film makers out there. That's not to say there weren't a hell of a lot of really good movies in 2011. That's not to say there are no new ideas. Just that the business has come to depend on recycling ideas to pay the bills. And the question is, how long people will be willing to pay for that before the whole thing comes tumbling down.

Not to worry, though; 2012 will see Men In Black III, Die Hard V, American Pie IV, James Bond XXIII, Ice Age IV, and Bilbo.
 
And it does reinforce my point rather nicely, too. Not a single one am I interested in seing.
 
The fact that they keep churning out these sequels is actually quite disturbing to me. Also the fact that the industry tries to keep things safe in order to make money - I think they have an adverse effect on the movie-going population.

I'm reminded of Idiocracy.

In the years to come, the quality of the movies in the box-office will continue to depress some of us here, and continue to go downhill.

Whatever will I do without the Internet to source for alternatives?

(although I have to say I wasn't completely disappointed with HP8)
 
Peder said:
I have found the two volumes I read -- last and first, in that order -- better than I would have expected from all the derision. Readable and interesting.
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Hard to defend genre without sounding like a geek, or immature (but I'm usually guilty of both anyway), but I've always felt HP wasn't too bad as a whole. Writing-wise not terribly strong, but I've always put a little more emphasis on story than craft. And as I'm getting older, I like stories with a definite conclusion, good or bad - not some neverending ride.
 
A noisy audience is what I fear nowadays. I was looking forward to Machine Gun Preacher and had to drive around two hours to reach a theater that was playing it, but twenty minutes into it some people came into the theater and spent most of the film chatting away in the back. I actually asked for silence but to no avail. How rude! And all the screaming women when I went to see Beastly? *shudders*

My boyfriend and I haven't went to as many movies this year as we did last year.

I absolutely must go see The Hobbit in 2012 though!!!

3-D hurts my eyes so I'm not much of a fan. And I am getting to the point where I'm going to start bringing my own food in again.
 
I don't mind noisy audiences if the people are doing or saying stupid things, but that's because others' foolishness amuses me. The chatter becomes a problem when filmgoers start describing what's happening on screen or revealing plot spoilers.

Regarding 3-D, I never saw a movie in that format. Between the pricier tickets and comments from others who claimed they've gotten a headache from the 3-D (I can get headaches easily), I think I'll pass.
 
Now I've not been to a cinema in many many months now, but I have to say that the problems you're describing seems horrible! We still have relatively well-behaved crowd in that there aren't too many people who talk incessantly, or reveal plotlines, etc. I mean if I were to have this experience 90% of the time I'm in a cinema, I would stop going.

I too haven't yet seen a 3D movie, but that's not because I don't wanna! :)
 
We were talking about this in work yesterday and came up with our list of why we don't go to the cinema anymore.

1. Money - Family of 4? £50 without blinking.
2. 90% of the films end up being disappointing.
3. (Some) TV shows are much better these days at selling the story, holding your attention, and packing an emotional punch.
 
I think the problem may have been worsened over the last three years because of the credit crunch, at least in terms of increasing the amount of films made. So it'll probably have an an echo at the theaters for a few years more.
 
OReillysRose said:
1. Money - Family of 4? £50 without blinking.
2. 90% of the films end up being disappointing.
3. (Some) TV shows are much better these days at selling the story, holding your attention, and packing an emotional punch.
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1. Wow. That's like 240 bucks my money. But it'll cost 2.5 pounds if you watch it over here.
2. Inorite? This is very very true. Ugh, do they even bother to make an effort nowadays. Generalizing, I know, but the better ones are not exactly child-friendly, and the child-friendly ones aren't the ones you'd feel like blowing 50 quid on.
3. I don't know about that, because I can't even chase episodes of anything I'm remotely interested. That's why I don't watch as much tv, and when i do I get them on demand. Friend of a friend.

joderu95 said:
I think the problem may have been worsened over the last three years because of the credit crunch, at least in terms of increasing the amount of films made. So it'll probably have an an echo at the theaters for a few years more.
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Actually I'd think it'll increase the number of poorer quality, less risky films. As bg made the point earlier in the thread about the number of sequels topping the charts...
 
direstraits said:
Actually I'd think it'll increase the number of poorer quality, less risky films. As bg made the point earlier in the thread about the number of sequels topping the charts...
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Increase them compared to how many good ones are available but probably not increase them in total.

I think the problem may have been worsened over the last three years because of the credit crunch, at least in terms of increasing the amount of films made. So it'll probably have an an echo at the theaters for a few years more.
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The statement makes no distinction for "poorer" films or for better ones but total movies being made. There was, and still is, less money being lent to make movies so less overall are being made.
 
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