GREAT PIECE. NY TIMES. How Bad Can It Get for Hollywood? (1 Viewer)

[mskaye]

Written by Mark Harris, former EW movie editor and a brilliant author of several major books on Hollywood and a lauded bio of Mike Nichols.

Opinion | How Bad Can It Get for Hollywood?

It’s time to find out what the film industry’s new normal looks like.

www.nytimes.com

 

[Sam Favate]

This is a great piece. It seems to say that today’s problems are just another bump in the road and that Hollywood will find a way to reinvent itself again. Before the pandemic, box office records were being broken, but things never got back on track after the pandemic break. After staying home for so long, people seem to need an event to go to the theater. Streaming seems like it hurt movies far more than color TV, cable or home video ever did.

 

[Keith Cobby]

Great piece, thanks for the heads-up. When I was growing up it took at least three years before a film was on television, now it's something like 45 days. Streaming is the game changer, you don't have to wait very long nor buy a disc. Also, many folks' budgets are under pressure and a family visit to the cinema is not an inexpensive outing.

 

[Sam Favate]

a family visit to the cinema is not an inexpensive outing.

I'll say. I spent well over $100 to take a family of four to the movies yesterday (including snacks of course, which I buy because I want to support the theater, and that's the only real way they get money).

 

[Jeffrey D]

The last film I saw at the cinema was Once Upon A Time…In Hollywood- end of July 2019- mainly because I don’t have the time to go regularly. The next (and supposedly final) Quentin film is the next one I’ll try to make time for to see in a theater.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I'll say. I spent well over $100 to take a family of four to the movies yesterday (including snacks of course, which I buy because I want to support the theater, and that's the only real way they get money).

I’ve been saying for a long time that the model is broken if the theater can’t make ends meet selling the product that is their primary reason for being: movie tickets.

This isn’t directed at you or anyone else here but I really resent the guilt trip from the theater industry that I need to purchase overpriced junk food that is bad for my health in order to keep them alive thing. It’s one thing to have it available as an option but it shouldn’t be a requirement.

Part of me honestly believes that we’d be better off these days if the studios owned their own theaters as they once did; the Paramount decree has been ended so they are now allowed to own them again. Let them have some skin in the game towards making it all work, instead of allowing them to extract all of the profit while leaving other parties stuck with the bills.

 

[Sam Favate]

I have to agree with Josh. Theaters have become purveyors of popcorn and candy, primarily, and it’s the movies that get you into their store. Last I read, they make 10% or less on a movie ticket. So, if the ticket is $10, the theater is getting a dollar at best. It’s no wonder most theaters (around me anyway) are literally crumbling.

 

[Joe Wong]

Great piece, thanks for the heads-up. When I was growing up it took at least three years before a film was on television, now it's something like 45 days. Streaming is the game changer, you don't have to wait very long nor buy a disc. Also, many folks' budgets are under pressure and a family visit to the cinema is not an inexpensive outing.

Case in point - the new Mean Girls is premiering on Paramount+ tomorrow! Its release date was Jan 12.

 

[Worth]

...Also, many folks' budgets are under pressure and a family visit to the cinema is not an inexpensive outing.

It's still pretty inexpensive compared to anything else - bars and restaurants, live theatre, sporting events etc.

 

[Alan Tully]

I’m not in the game anymore, I’ve totally gotten out of the habit of going to the cinema, & am quite happy to wait a couple of months to see a movie at home (way back in the sixties I’d go 3-4 times a week). I think the big problem is that films cost far too much to make in Hollywood. The Japanese made Godzilla Minus One only cost $15 million, & I’m thinking that would be more like $150 made in Hollywood. A lot of last years box office disappointments actually took in quite a bit of money, but the budgets were so huge that they ended up in the red. I don’t know how the big studios can carry on with all those big losses.