There is no doubt that 2013 has been a terrible year for cinema, not purely in terms of critical consensus but in regards to what the studios really care about, the lining of their pockets. Every year so far in the 2010's we've seen a massive growth in box office performance. Movies have been taking in money that in previous decades would have been totally unheard of. Every year there has been growth, with the top five box office movies collectively earning more than the top five of the previous year. Every year we've seen more movies break a billion dollars except, of course, for 2013. So far this year we have had one move break the billion dollar mark and that was Iron Man 3 which earned roughly $300 million less than Avengers Assemble which preceded it. We have also had Man of Steel which earned just over $600 million which is by no means anything to be scoffed at but far less than a superhero movie would be expected to do when compared to other films in the genre. To top off this under performing year we have had The Lone Ranger, a movie that didn't even come close to making up it's ridiculously inflated budget. With only The Hobbit left to come out this year it looks like 2013 may be the worst performing year of the decade so far when it comes to franchise blockbusters and this might be a good thing.
In the mid 1900's cinema was struggling, the advent of home entertainment led the movie industry to do bigger and bolder things, Technicolour, cinemascope, 3D and stereo were all used to improve the technical quality of films, leading to large scale productions to show off the technical prowess of your local picture house and get people to stop watching movies in their own homes. This may sound eerily familiar to cinemagoers of the 2010's. This did not end well for the studios and eventually resulted in what is dubbed "New Hollywood". New technologies rendering cinemas practically obsolete, a young audience eager to adopt and embrace these new technologies and dwindling box office numbers as a result led Hollywood to do the unthinkable; give young, creative film makers in touch with the interests of the coveted 13-30 demographic greater control and have less studio interference. On location shooting and realism became the norm as opposed to artificial sets and big showy spectacles. It was an age when people like Woody Allen, Martin Scorsese, Stanley Kubrick and Francis Ford Coppola making creator driven works became the new mainstream. The blockbusters of the 70's with huge potential for tie in merchandise, endless sequels and once again intense spectacle eventually led to the demise of this new age of film making and set the scene for almost 40 years, until now. Transformers 3 almost managed to end the franchise because merchandise sales were so poor, The Lone Ranger proved that it takes more than just star power in your casting to get asses in seats. Man of Steel showed us that just blindly following the trends of the era will not necessarily get you the fat cash you hoped it would and Iron Man 3 might just prove that what goes up, must come down when arguably the follow up movie following the franchises most popular character will still underperform compared to it's predecessor.
Back in the day Woody Allen said (and I'm paraphrasing here) the studios could give him $1 million and he'd make them $20 million or they could sink a lot more into a blockbuster and earn $100 million. Admittedly $1 million wouldn't get you much movie nowadays but the sentiment still stands and it has been the strategy of the studios for nearly twice as long as I've been alive but if 2013 has taught us anything it's that throwing money at a project won't necessarily make it throw more money back. The circumstances surrounding the demise of Old Hollywood bear a striking resemblance to the way the industry is going today and while we might have to wade through a couple more years of dressed up crap to get there I really think 2015 might be the year that decides what way Hollywood needs to go.
Why 2015? Well we have Zack Snyders ill-advised Batman/Superman mash up which, if it fails, will deal a massive blow to a potential Justice League movie and prove that not even Batman can save this sinking ship. Star Wars Episode VII, Disney are fighting an uphill battle with this already. Star Wars fans are hard to please and have been hurt too many times in the past. There are so many big budget blockbusters planned for 2015 Jurassic Park 4, Fantastic Four, a Batman reboot, Avengers 2, Terminator 5, Independence Day 2, Pirates of the Caribbean 5 and the movies I mentioned already, many of which just sound like a last desperate attempt to simply recapture past glory. There is too much money being pumped into cinema in 2015 that there's no way many major studios won't feel the pinch. Maybe, if we're lucky, the studios might consider other options. Maybe movies with higher risks but lower investments?
We already have the seeds of a new Hollywood as it is people like Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez and Wes Anderson are already incredibly creative film makers (among others) who have demonstrated their ability to make movies on a tight (at least in Hollywood terms) budget. Drop the big name stars and you could drop the budgets more. Cut down the marketing budget (Hollywood sucks at utilising the power of the internet for generating buzz, instead focusing on it as "that thing the kids are stealing our movies with), shoot on location more. All of these things can help bring in a great movie for less than $10 million, which when counting for inflation is how much Woody Allen managed to make some of his most iconic films with. Check out new means of delivery. Easily accessible and affordable online service might bring you in less per person but Louis CK's latest efforts selling his live shows prove that if you give people what they want in a package that's easy to get at and with a price tag that people like they will buy it. And finally there's you, the viewer. You can do one simple thing to help bring this New New Hollywood dream of mine to fruition, wait. That's all, just wait. You don't need to see that movie right away. All the studios really care about is their opening weekend figures so just wait until Monday. The longer you wait the less money the studios get from each ticket sale too. Many cinemas offer off peak rates and special deals, wait until you can see these movies at a less extortionate rate and attack the studio heads' pockets even more.Do this and maybe, just maybe, Hollywood will need to explore alternative strategies.
In the mid 1900's cinema was struggling, the advent of home entertainment led the movie industry to do bigger and bolder things, Technicolour, cinemascope, 3D and stereo were all used to improve the technical quality of films, leading to large scale productions to show off the technical prowess of your local picture house and get people to stop watching movies in their own homes. This may sound eerily familiar to cinemagoers of the 2010's. This did not end well for the studios and eventually resulted in what is dubbed "New Hollywood". New technologies rendering cinemas practically obsolete, a young audience eager to adopt and embrace these new technologies and dwindling box office numbers as a result led Hollywood to do the unthinkable; give young, creative film makers in touch with the interests of the coveted 13-30 demographic greater control and have less studio interference. On location shooting and realism became the norm as opposed to artificial sets and big showy spectacles. It was an age when people like Woody Allen, Martin Scorsese, Stanley Kubrick and Francis Ford Coppola making creator driven works became the new mainstream. The blockbusters of the 70's with huge potential for tie in merchandise, endless sequels and once again intense spectacle eventually led to the demise of this new age of film making and set the scene for almost 40 years, until now. Transformers 3 almost managed to end the franchise because merchandise sales were so poor, The Lone Ranger proved that it takes more than just star power in your casting to get asses in seats. Man of Steel showed us that just blindly following the trends of the era will not necessarily get you the fat cash you hoped it would and Iron Man 3 might just prove that what goes up, must come down when arguably the follow up movie following the franchises most popular character will still underperform compared to it's predecessor.
Back in the day Woody Allen said (and I'm paraphrasing here) the studios could give him $1 million and he'd make them $20 million or they could sink a lot more into a blockbuster and earn $100 million. Admittedly $1 million wouldn't get you much movie nowadays but the sentiment still stands and it has been the strategy of the studios for nearly twice as long as I've been alive but if 2013 has taught us anything it's that throwing money at a project won't necessarily make it throw more money back. The circumstances surrounding the demise of Old Hollywood bear a striking resemblance to the way the industry is going today and while we might have to wade through a couple more years of dressed up crap to get there I really think 2015 might be the year that decides what way Hollywood needs to go.
Why 2015? Well we have Zack Snyders ill-advised Batman/Superman mash up which, if it fails, will deal a massive blow to a potential Justice League movie and prove that not even Batman can save this sinking ship. Star Wars Episode VII, Disney are fighting an uphill battle with this already. Star Wars fans are hard to please and have been hurt too many times in the past. There are so many big budget blockbusters planned for 2015 Jurassic Park 4, Fantastic Four, a Batman reboot, Avengers 2, Terminator 5, Independence Day 2, Pirates of the Caribbean 5 and the movies I mentioned already, many of which just sound like a last desperate attempt to simply recapture past glory. There is too much money being pumped into cinema in 2015 that there's no way many major studios won't feel the pinch. Maybe, if we're lucky, the studios might consider other options. Maybe movies with higher risks but lower investments?
We already have the seeds of a new Hollywood as it is people like Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez and Wes Anderson are already incredibly creative film makers (among others) who have demonstrated their ability to make movies on a tight (at least in Hollywood terms) budget. Drop the big name stars and you could drop the budgets more. Cut down the marketing budget (Hollywood sucks at utilising the power of the internet for generating buzz, instead focusing on it as "that thing the kids are stealing our movies with), shoot on location more. All of these things can help bring in a great movie for less than $10 million, which when counting for inflation is how much Woody Allen managed to make some of his most iconic films with. Check out new means of delivery. Easily accessible and affordable online service might bring you in less per person but Louis CK's latest efforts selling his live shows prove that if you give people what they want in a package that's easy to get at and with a price tag that people like they will buy it. And finally there's you, the viewer. You can do one simple thing to help bring this New New Hollywood dream of mine to fruition, wait. That's all, just wait. You don't need to see that movie right away. All the studios really care about is their opening weekend figures so just wait until Monday. The longer you wait the less money the studios get from each ticket sale too. Many cinemas offer off peak rates and special deals, wait until you can see these movies at a less extortionate rate and attack the studio heads' pockets even more.Do this and maybe, just maybe, Hollywood will need to explore alternative strategies.
RSS Feed