“We make a lot of shitty movies. Every one of them breaks my heart.”
Such are the words spoken by Universal Studios President, Ron Meyer, in a November article on www. huffingtonpost.com, who admitted his studio makes a lot of awful movies.
I cannot help but be forced to agree.
I saw over 40 films at the box office in 2011 and though I liked a majority of them, I cannot justify seeing them again on Blu-ray or on cable movie stations months from now. I blame my increasingly negative attitude about the amount of crap being released on unnecessary remakes, 3D releases and re-releases (No you will not find me at the local IMAX theaters come February and April wearing the dark sunglasses to watch "Star Wars – Episode I: The Phantom Menace" (1999) and "Titanic" (1997) in 3D), and comic book franchise movies and comic book reboots.
That may not be the only reason why box office attendance in 2011 hit a 16-year low according to an Associated Press article.
“There’s so many different ways to get content to the audience,” said Paul Dergarabedian, president of the box office division of Hollywood.com in an ABC news article. “They’re (audiences) pulled in a million different directions. That makes it a very competitive environment. The films have to be that much better otherwise audiences are going to do something else.”
Over the two-week holiday break I had in December I only saw two films, "My Week with Marilyn" and "Mission: Impossible -Ghost Protocol." There were a lot of others I wanted to see but my reason for avoiding the theaters unless I was able to make the before noon showings was because I HATE crowds, especially during the holiday season.
The lack of originality and mass crowds are not the only reasons I have been hesitant to see movies. As Dergarabedian said, people can see movies now through several means thanks to the Internet that it might be cheaper to wait for them to hit video-on-demand three months after their theatrical run and watch them in the privacy of one’s own home where the only living bothersome thing to me is the dog.
At the same time, I have found some independent movies I really wanted to see were only released at one or two theaters for a week or so where I either didn’t have the time or feel like making the drive and just hoped they would expand to others within a few weeks. I found that did not happen in the cases of "Another Earth", "Margin Call", "Melancholia", "Monsters", "Taking Shelter" – which I am not even sure ever made it to the Dallas area and The Tree of Life. If there is any reason why The Artist will probably get a wider release in the coming weeks is because it is a likely contender for the 2012 Oscars.
Yet with all my griping, I still have some high hopes 2012 might be a better year at the box office than 2011 with films like "The Dictator", "Gravity", "Prometheus", "The Raven", "Rock of Ages", "Snow White and the Huntsman", "The Three Stooges" and "The Woman in Black" among them.
Notice I haven’t mentioned ANY remakes, sequels, 3D or comic book franchise movies and comic book reboots on this list that I know everyone else will be packing into theaters to see. I have no doubt “Hollyweird” studios will claim this is the reason why the 2012 box office attendance will either be worse or the same as last year’s, if that.
©1/4/12
Such are the words spoken by Universal Studios President, Ron Meyer, in a November article on www. huffingtonpost.com, who admitted his studio makes a lot of awful movies.
I cannot help but be forced to agree.
I saw over 40 films at the box office in 2011 and though I liked a majority of them, I cannot justify seeing them again on Blu-ray or on cable movie stations months from now. I blame my increasingly negative attitude about the amount of crap being released on unnecessary remakes, 3D releases and re-releases (No you will not find me at the local IMAX theaters come February and April wearing the dark sunglasses to watch "Star Wars – Episode I: The Phantom Menace" (1999) and "Titanic" (1997) in 3D), and comic book franchise movies and comic book reboots.
That may not be the only reason why box office attendance in 2011 hit a 16-year low according to an Associated Press article.
“There’s so many different ways to get content to the audience,” said Paul Dergarabedian, president of the box office division of Hollywood.com in an ABC news article. “They’re (audiences) pulled in a million different directions. That makes it a very competitive environment. The films have to be that much better otherwise audiences are going to do something else.”
Over the two-week holiday break I had in December I only saw two films, "My Week with Marilyn" and "Mission: Impossible -Ghost Protocol." There were a lot of others I wanted to see but my reason for avoiding the theaters unless I was able to make the before noon showings was because I HATE crowds, especially during the holiday season.
When I see movies, I like my space and cannot stand it when someone feels compelled to sit near or right next to me when they got the entire theater to decide where to sit. Honestly the best time I had at the movies in 2011 was when I attended a 1 p.m. IMAX showing of "Real Steel" in October. I loved it and I am not just talking about the film. I had the entire theater all to myself!Then there are the inconsiderate a--holes who bring their one-year-old baby to the theater because they are stressed out parents and want to get away so what better way to tick me or anyone else off than to make us miserable all at once and bring the crying kid along! Oh, how I just can’t get enough of the sounds of all those candy wrappers being torn open! I’d much rather hear the sounds of text messaging (honestly can you really hear that in silent mode?) and ringing cell phones. And no, I am not going to tell you what theaters I frequent along with the days I go and exact show times so you jerks (you know who you are) can attend the same ones I go to in hopes of irritating me more.
The lack of originality and mass crowds are not the only reasons I have been hesitant to see movies. As Dergarabedian said, people can see movies now through several means thanks to the Internet that it might be cheaper to wait for them to hit video-on-demand three months after their theatrical run and watch them in the privacy of one’s own home where the only living bothersome thing to me is the dog.
At the same time, I have found some independent movies I really wanted to see were only released at one or two theaters for a week or so where I either didn’t have the time or feel like making the drive and just hoped they would expand to others within a few weeks. I found that did not happen in the cases of "Another Earth", "Margin Call", "Melancholia", "Monsters", "Taking Shelter" – which I am not even sure ever made it to the Dallas area and The Tree of Life. If there is any reason why The Artist will probably get a wider release in the coming weeks is because it is a likely contender for the 2012 Oscars.
Yet with all my griping, I still have some high hopes 2012 might be a better year at the box office than 2011 with films like "The Dictator", "Gravity", "Prometheus", "The Raven", "Rock of Ages", "Snow White and the Huntsman", "The Three Stooges" and "The Woman in Black" among them.
Notice I haven’t mentioned ANY remakes, sequels, 3D or comic book franchise movies and comic book reboots on this list that I know everyone else will be packing into theaters to see. I have no doubt “Hollyweird” studios will claim this is the reason why the 2012 box office attendance will either be worse or the same as last year’s, if that.
©1/4/12
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