OT: Hollywood Box Office struggling

[cycloneworld]

Hollywood's hope for record summer fades | Entertainment | Reuters

Even with all of the "blockbusters" this summer, it looks the summer box office will fall short of expectations.

Why do you think the box office is struggling? Here are a couple of my thoughts:

1. Could we get some original movie ideas that don't completely suck? Instead we get the 3rd Spiderman, 3rd Pirates, 3rd Shrek, 3rd Ocean's 11, 4th(?) Harry Potter, 4th Die Hard movie, 2nd Bruce Almighty, and the 2nd Fantastic 4. Some of these movies aren't bad but people pretty much know what they are going to get with them. Also, the word of mouth about the quality of these (minus Harry Potter) have been pretty lackluster. "New" films like Knocked Up and 1408 have already greatly exceeded expectations. I would be that films like Transformers and The Simpsons will do the same because they aren't sequels.

2. When did the 2 - 2 1/2 hour movie become standard?? I haven't seen Pirates 3 yet because I don't want to sit in a movie theater for 3 1/2 hours after all of the previews. Even Knocked up was 2 hrs and 10 minutes for a comedy!

3. Prices, prices, prices. At the Century Theater in Jordan Creek it is now $9 to see a movie on Friday/Saturday night. Personally, unless people tell me a movie is really good, I can find a better way to spend that money. For the price of me and my girlfriend going to a movie, we can pay for our Netflix subscription for the entire month.

Comments?

[DaddyMac]

I think your reasons are all pretty sound.

Compound #3 and the price of getting in, with the prices of anything you want. Heck, for the wife and I to go to a movie any more is a $30+ proposition. $4 popcorn, $4 cokes, $3.50 a bag of M&Ms.

That $30-$35 buys a ton of "On Demand" or DVD rentals, a case or two of pop, a big ***** bag of M&M's, and twizzlers, and jr mints, and about a week's supply of microwave popcorn.

Oh, and then you don't have to deal with a ton of inconsiderate yahoos that we talked about in Travman's "Knocked-Up" post and blog on Monday. Cell phones, jabber mouths, etc.

Frankly, if I go to a movie at all anymore, it's way after the premier and at one of the not-so-popular theaters just to avoid the annoyance.

And I think you #1 has some merit. Although I'm looking forward to a bunch of the movies you listed. But you're right, it's the American entertainment industry that is so flipping un-original, it's just amazing. They take anything that has just a glimmer of success, and drive it right into the ground. The TV shows on 3 or 5 nights a week. Sequel after sequel after sequel.

[psycln11]

PRICE, PRICE, & PRICE!!

There have been several movies that I'd like to see, but it costs too much to go out and see them at the theatre. I'll wait until they come out on DVD and watch them for 1/4 the price.

I guess the fact that I have 3 kids and one of them is still nursing adds to the fact that I haven't been out much in the last 6 months. I did go see Ocean's 15 or was it 16??? I forget what number they are up to now.

[psycln11]

Compound #3 and the price of getting in, with the prices of anything you want. Heck, for the wife and I to go to a movie any more is a $30+ proposition. $4 popcorn, $4 cokes, $3.50 a bag of M&Ms.

It pays to have the wife carry in the "big" purse. It fits 2 - 20oz pops very nicely and also some little Mike and Ike bags.

[ISUAlum2002]

Its been about the price for me. The last movie I saw in the theater was Superman Returns, last summer. And that was at the IMAX. Before that, the last one I had seen was Batman Begins, 2 summers ago.

They keep jacking ticket prices, and for what? The quality of movies has decreased markedly. Its the principal of paying that much to sit there and be forced to watch commercials at the majority of theaters now. That just bugs the hell out of me.

[DaddyMac]

It pays to have the wife carry in the "big" purse. It fits 2 - 20oz pops very nicely and also some little Mike and Ike bags.

Well, I didn't want to say...... Honestly, I'm a little surprised that movie theaters didn't jump on the "national security" kick and begin inspecting bags like they do at ball parks or arenas. You know, "for your safety".

But that reminds me of another peeve with the movies (and business in general nowadays).

We went and saw Spiderman 3 last Tuesday at Wynsong. We usually go because the Carmike cinemas have $0.50 popcorn night. They obviously run this promo because they're trying to draw people in - right?

THEN STAFF THE D@MN PLACE. There's 50-75 people waiting in lines for concessions, and this place has only 4 or 5 poor kids working one concession stand. The other main lobby one was closed, and I couldn't tell you the last time I saw the two inside stands open.

I swear we we stood out there for 15+ minutes. Fortunately, now that they run about 10 minutes of commercials along with a preview or two, we didn't miss too much of the flick.

Customer service is right out the window at these places. They got stuff so cut to the bone. The theaters are rarely clean and most smell like a dump (nothing is worse than old, stale popcorn).

[bos]

1st Yeah i dont really understand the high prices of tickets? Have you seen all of the Ad's before movies now for all sorts of products? Gimme a break. You know someone is making cash from these Ad's and arent sharing the savings.

2nd Sequals are fine, but alot of them focus on making bigger and better special effects and dont spend enough time continuing a story (the reason to have a sequal) Take spiderman 3 for instance. Sam Raimi lost creative control over that series. Yeah he gets to direct and throw some stuff in now and then, but ultimately Sony dictates how it all should go. They see $$$ for big special effects and a dumb crowd to flock to it so they tell Sam what he can and cant do.

3rd There are alot of original ideas coming down the pipe, but movie studious dont know how to market them. Its easier to market something everyone knows about. ie: spiderman, etc

4th Movie studios see us as cattle. Stupid, ignorant cattle. And they are right. Most of us will go see movies with big explosions, amazing special effects, and not think anything of it. We will fork out whatever to see it. Until people stop going to movies and start speaking out about the bs, it will continue..

[bos]

But as the cattle I am, I will definitely see Transformers on the big screen. Some are just too hard to pass up!

[cybsball20]

There are a number of reasons I dont go to movies, but I think the number one reason is Netflix... For 15 bucks a month I can watch around 20 movies a month if I really crank through them... They are pushing movies out faster than ever so it's not like I cant be patient and wait for them... Not to mention the quality in home theaters, I am in the process of building mine and when it's done I might never go to a movie... Even know I think the only times I go is when I get a gift card from work, even then there is the price of popcorn, drinks, hassle of parking, etc... One solution, start selling beer at movie theatres... I know I would definately go to more, then you could drop prices of the tickets and raise beer prices... Unfortunately I am sure the cost of liabilty and liscensure would prevent that...

[Cydkar]

Prices and home big screen HDTV are all you need to know. I can wait to see a movie at home with a beer in one hand and a breast in the other.

[bos]

Have you ever seen what movie rental places pay per copy of a movie they rent out? Its true they make it all back, but what dictates that price? I saw one movie was 350 dollars a copy. Yikes!

[cycloneworld]

3rd There are alot of original ideas coming down the pipe, but movie studious dont know how to market them. Its easier to market something everyone knows about. ie: spiderman, etc

I think word of mouth is much more important than previews...I don't think the studios understand that. I saw a couple of previews for Knocked Up and it looked pretty funny. But I didn't go see it until 4 or 5 people told me how good/funny it was.

I haven't gone to see Spiderman 3 even though I like the first 2 because several people have told me that its long and not that great. And I haven't gone to see Pirates because of the previously mentioned length...I'll just wait and Netflix it.

[joepublic]

It pays to have the wife carry in the "big" purse. It fits 2 - 20oz pops very nicely and also some little Mike and Ike bags.

I'm so old I remember taking my own bag of home-popped corn to the movies. And Charms were about a nickel apiece at that grand old theatre in downtown Ames.

[bos]

Ha ha you are old! Jk. I love the new theater in Ames, it ranks as one my faves. Just cool looking and comfortable. Is the one by Peoples still open. I like that one as well even if it is old.

[SuperCy]

I'm so old I remember taking my own bag of home-popped corn to the movies. And Charms were about a nickel apiece at that grand old theatre in downtown Ames.

Is that when you and the neighborhood kids would go to a Saturday matinee to see a "talking picture."