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Hollywood Posts Worst Summer Since 1981

15,996 Views | 270 Replies | Last: 2 mo ago by Faustus
Cliff.Booth
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20ag07 said:

What did you see a woman cast in that a man should have been.


That isn't the right question. It isn't like you take the exact same project and replace the girlboss with a dude. You just stop trying to make so many girlboss projects. Cinemas can't take another decade of this *****
Quad Dog
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What you may think as "woke" is actually probably an attempt to appeal to an audience that isn't you. Women are 50% of the population, studios are interested in their money too. Those just weren't very good movies. But I I liked most of Oceans 8, it made good money.
20ag07
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Again- you would say the issue here was remakes/reboots- not "we need all white men again".

Did anybody need Oceans 14 with the same cast? No.

Did anybody need a Ghostbusters retread? No.

Did anybody need a 4th MIB (clearly Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones didn't). No.


20ag07
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Quote:

That isn't the right question. It isn't like you take the exact same project and replace the girlboss with a dude. You just stop trying to make so many girlboss projects. Cinemas can't take another decade of this *****
I don't know how many females you've worked with in business- but I guess it can't be many.

Every female who is good at her job, and there are many, isn't a "girlboss".

Females having a lead role in a movie isn't "girlbossness".

If you could actually remember far enough back, there was a time when Julia Roberts and Sandra Bullock were getting paid more than anybody on the planet, and nothing about that was "woke" or "girlboss".
Quad Dog
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That's just the era of movies we are in where everything has to be pre existing IP to get made.
You can't just make a heist movie it has to be an Oceans movie, you can't just make a Sci-fi movie it has to be MIB or Star Wars, etc.

But those three movies are pretty good examples of bad movies that lost since of the public trust for various reasons and might have lead to a down turn ~7 years after. But the counterpoint is that those kinds of movies aren't really released any more in 2025.
Quad Dog
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I don't know why the big budget rom-com genre went away. I guess studios realized you could make them cheaper on Netflix or Hallmark with less known stars and still make decent money.
fig96
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I think there's a really interesting discussion to be had around that, I believe it was Vince Vaughn a few months back who talked about how adult comedies have pretty much gone away too. But there's been sporadic films in both genres that have done really well (the romcom with Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney comes to mind, title escapes me).

On the other topic, I think it's tough to base any kind of Hollywood exec opinion on one Taylor Sheridan experience. While a lot of people like his shows most of them are very CBS and not HBO, that isn't necessarily good or bad but just the kind of shows those networks put out. I'm sure there's dozens if not more of "this exec passed on this show or movie that ended up being a hit" examples across all kinds of genres and networks.
Cinco Ranch Aggie
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Anyone But You is the title of that movie.
veryfuller
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I honestly think its a volume game.

Studios and streaming services are just shooting a fire hose of content at us all the time. There is no cycle anymore. TV used to operate on some sort of schedule and movies had a rhythm as well. Now its just a constant stream and most of it is not very memorable. Its all mildly entertaining. Occasionally something really good breaks through.

Add to that the price increase at theaters and its easy to see why people just stay home and be mildly entertained instead of gambling on going to see a movie in theaters that at best will be mildly entertaining. Its just inertia.

I think if Hollywood wants to come back out of this, they have to focus on the quality of the movies they are putting in theaters, add a longer theatrical window, AND re-release their back catalog in theaters. Stop remaking or rebooting and just put the originals out again. Let us go see them on huge screens for a discounted price and just enjoy the experience.
fig96
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Gracias.
Serious Lee
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Quad Dog said:

What you may think as "woke" is actually probably an attempt to appeal to an audience that isn't you. Women are 50% of the population, studios are interested in their money too.

cause its financially worked out so well for the WNBA, or any other women's league that women themselves don't find entertaining.
fig96
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Serious Lee said:

Quad Dog said:

What you may think as "woke" is actually probably an attempt to appeal to an audience that isn't you. Women are 50% of the population, studios are interested in their money too.

cause its financially worked out so well for the WNBA, or any other women's league that women themselves don't find entertaining.

Not that I want to dive down this rabbithole because I have no interest in having this discussion, but they doubled their revenue from 2023 to 2024, ratings are up 20something percent, and they're predicted to become profitable in the next year or so.
LMCane
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you aren't adjusting for inflation correct?

so of course every year is going to "beat" the prior year when tickets cost much more than they did 5 years ago.
Quad Dog
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Serious Lee said:

Quad Dog said:

What you may think as "woke" is actually probably an attempt to appeal to an audience that isn't you. Women are 50% of the population, studios are interested in their money too.

cause its financially worked out so well for the WNBA, or any other women's league that women themselves don't find entertaining.

That's my whole point, you obviously are not the audience for the WNBA (and a lot of women may not be either which the WNBA found out the hard way through many years of failure). But there also obviously is an audience, and one that is growing quickly based on the recent TV deals and attendance records they are setting.
Sometimes it takes time for a product to find its users.
Iowaggie
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Quad Dog said:

I don't know why the big budget rom-com genre went away. I guess studios realized you could make them cheaper on Netflix or Hallmark with less known stars and still make decent money.


I think that, yes, those are now considered "streaming" movies. Well, maybe is not the best phrase.


I think that there has to be some really appealing reason for many to go to the theater...better sound, better picture...major movie "event" feel.

I think that is Top Gun, F1,big IP, superhero, or war movies. I don't think movies like Wedding Singer, You Got Mail, or When Harry Met Sally would have done well nowadays, but Apollo 13 maybe still does? I don't know for sure on that.


Our local theater still does really good business on Friday, Saturdays, and Tuesdays (bargain day), and my kids always enjoy a movie in the theater (with their phones put away). They just rarely ask to go see a movie.
Cinco Ranch Aggie
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Quote:

I think that is Top Gun, F1,big IP, superhero, or war movies. I don't think movies like Wedding Singer, You Got Mail, or When Harry Met Sally would have done well nowadays, but Apollo 13 maybe still does? I don't know for sure on that.

Those are the kinds of movies that I'm seeing in theaters these days. F1 isn't in my wheelhouse of interests, but I couldn't pass on seeing that one in the theater after all the word of mouth I saw on it. Turned out to be my second favorite new movie this year.

I'd consider a historical movie such as Apollo 13 worthy of the theater.
fig96
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There's so many great direct to streaming films, original series that are better than most movies (and sometimes more cinematic), and/or such a short wait for most movies to be available on digital, that I'd bet a lot of people feel the same way.

And yes, F1 was awesome (and I follow the sport).
Lathspell
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20ag07 said:

Quote:

People also like to support companies/makers/industries they imaginekind of appreciate them, and anyone right of center knows that these studios, these actors, these executives utterly despise us, so we have better things to spend our time/money on.

Lol- if you don't think every studio head/executive appreciates you, you don't know what you're talking about. They want every single one of yours, and everyone else's, dollars.

You'll not find one single studio or executive saying they don't like people right of center.

You certainly will, as you just did, say it's "what you imagine".

Hmm... I'm gonna have to challenge this.

I think at certain levels, that's most obviously correct. However, I believe there are too many leftists in middle-management Hollywood who put message and political beliefs above earnings.

We are talking about idealogues, here. They are religious fanatics, and their religion is wokeness. Your post is like laughing at someone telling you they saw a suicide-bomber, and you scoff at them saying, "...if you don't think every Islamist doesn't want to live, you don't know what you're talking about."

Standard motivations and rationality go out the window for many when religion enters the conversation.
YouBet
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Iowaggie said:

Quad Dog said:

I don't know why the big budget rom-com genre went away. I guess studios realized you could make them cheaper on Netflix or Hallmark with less known stars and still make decent money.


I think that, yes, those are now considered "streaming" movies. Well, maybe is not the best phrase.


I think that there has to be some really appealing reason for many to go to the theater...better sound, better picture...major movie "event" feel.

I think that is Top Gun, F1,big IP, superhero, or war movies. I don't think movies like Wedding Singer, You Got Mail, or When Harry Met Sally would have done well nowadays, but Apollo 13 maybe still does? I don't know for sure on that.


Our local theater still does really good business on Friday, Saturdays, and Tuesdays (bargain day), and my kids always enjoy a movie in the theater (with their phones put away). They just rarely ask to go see a movie.


It's the only reason for me to go to a movie these days so that pretty much automatically means a big budget action movie of some sort. Otherwise, I'll watch it at home.
maroon barchetta
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fig96 said:

Serious Lee said:

Quad Dog said:

What you may think as "woke" is actually probably an attempt to appeal to an audience that isn't you. Women are 50% of the population, studios are interested in their money too.

cause its financially worked out so well for the WNBA, or any other women's league that women themselves don't find entertaining.

Not that I want to dive down this rabbithole because I have no interest in having this discussion, but they doubled their revenue from 2023 to 2024, ratings are up 20something percent, and they're predicted to become profitable in the next year or so.


How many other businesses can operate at a loss for 25 years before they turn a profit?
ABATTBQ11
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Quad Dog said:

What you may think as "woke" is actually probably an attempt to appeal to an audience that isn't you. Women are 50% of the population, studios are interested in their money too. Those just weren't very good movies. But I I liked most of Oceans 8, it made good money.


This is kind of a, "No true Scotsman" thing. Most of the posters who say, "You can't name any, 'woke' movies," simply dent that any example given is, "woke." It's not that none can be named, it's that they'll find some kind of rationalization for why every example given isn't, "woke."

And I get what you're saying, but Hollywood, of all industries, knows what appeals to what audiences. Action/Sci Fi movies simply aren't big in that demographic, regardless of who is leading it. Sure Hollywood cares about female audiences and their money, but they also know what female audiences like to spend that money on and it's not genres that historically skew male. The fact that they spent the better part of decade trying to fit a square peg in a round hole and suffered flops like The Marvels, WW84, The Acolyte, She-Hulk, Furiosa, Madame Web, Rings of Power, etc really suggests that there is more of a subconscious or cultural agenda than a sincere attempt to make content for a female audience. If they want to appeal to a female audience they need to give women movies that appeal to them, not a radfem wet dream.

Let's also not ignore the Snow White fiasco and how trying to reimagine and update a classic film with a "modern" (woke) lens blew up in Disney's face.
fig96
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maroon barchetta said:

fig96 said:

Serious Lee said:

Quad Dog said:

What you may think as "woke" is actually probably an attempt to appeal to an audience that isn't you. Women are 50% of the population, studios are interested in their money too.

cause its financially worked out so well for the WNBA, or any other women's league that women themselves don't find entertaining.

Not that I want to dive down this rabbithole because I have no interest in having this discussion, but they doubled their revenue from 2023 to 2024, ratings are up 20something percent, and they're predicted to become profitable in the next year or so.


How many other businesses can operate at a loss for 25 years before they turn a profit?
Looking like AI companies at the moment.
fig96
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While I'm sure some are overly idealistic, I think you overestimate. The vast majority of Hollywood types have to make money to keep their jobs.

So while you or I or random middle American might not agree with a decision they made, they likely thought it would be profitable even if it doesn't work out that way.
ABATTBQ11
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Quad Dog said:

Serious Lee said:

Quad Dog said:

What you may think as "woke" is actually probably an attempt to appeal to an audience that isn't you. Women are 50% of the population, studios are interested in their money too.

cause its financially worked out so well for the WNBA, or any other women's league that women themselves don't find entertaining.

That's my whole point, you obviously are not the audience for the WNBA (and a lot of women may not be either which the WNBA found out the hard way through many years of failure). But there also obviously is an audience, and one that is growing quickly based on the recent TV deals and attendance records they are setting.
Sometimes it takes time for a product to find its users.


That's a bar so low you can't even trip over it... And it's only taken... *checks notes* ...30 years.

But on top of that, and back to the point, while the WNBA is made for a specific audience and is finally finding one, it's a very small one and the league's payscale and production levels reflect that. If they were paying players and had facilities commensurate with the NBA, they'd be centuries from profitability and would've folded decades ago. The analogy falls apart when you look at the audience versus expenditure ratio for a lot of "woke" movies. Yeah, a lot of "woke" movies are made for a particular audience, but they're also often made with a blockbuster budget reserved for mass audience appeal productions where the audience is well known and proven. Case in point, Snow White. Absolutely massive budget but obviously targeted at a niche audience. Same thing with The Marvels. Huge budget, niche audience.

So the question is, why blow huge budgets on productions for very niche audiences that have no hope of delivering the revenue necessary to make a profit? You can't say that it's a money thing at that point.
BlueSmoke
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fig96 said:

Serious Lee said:

Quad Dog said:

What you may think as "woke" is actually probably an attempt to appeal to an audience that isn't you. Women are 50% of the population, studios are interested in their money too.

cause its financially worked out so well for the WNBA, or any other women's league that women themselves don't find entertaining.

Not that I want to dive down this rabbithole because I have no interest in having this discussion, but they doubled their revenue from 2023 to 2024, ratings are up 20something percent, and they're predicted to become profitable in the next year or so.

Because of ONE player. ONE. Who this stupid ass league won't protect and who will sit due to repeated injuries for the remainder of the season while league numbers start to retract. Great example.
BlueSmoke
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maroon barchetta said:

fig96 said:

Serious Lee said:

Quad Dog said:

What you may think as "woke" is actually probably an attempt to appeal to an audience that isn't you. Women are 50% of the population, studios are interested in their money too.

cause its financially worked out so well for the WNBA, or any other women's league that women themselves don't find entertaining.

Not that I want to dive down this rabbithole because I have no interest in having this discussion, but they doubled their revenue from 2023 to 2024, ratings are up 20something percent, and they're predicted to become profitable in the next year or so.


How many other businesses can operate at a loss for 25 years before they turn a profit?

Quad Dog
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Most Social Media and Streamers
FL_Ag1998
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So far in this conversation I haven't listed "woke" issues as one of the top contributors, in my opinion, to the recent downturn in hollywood revenue. Because overall I think its probably down on the list around #5 or 6. And this will likely be my only contributing to this particular topic.

But we can't pretend there hasn't been a "woke" agenda by at least some of the filmmakers and the accompanying hollywood media. Read this article....
https://screenrant.com/lightyear-movie-writing-defense-lauren-gunderson/

It leaves zero room for doubt that one of the scriptwriters had an agenda of including a gay kiss in Lightyear. It leaves zero room for doubt that the studio heads who left the scene in approved of that agenda. And finally, the writer of the article explicitly states that she approves of that agenda, an agenda which encourages kids to ask their parents why two cartoon characters of the same sex were kissing.

There's zero doubt in my mind that kiss, which was made well known before the movie hit, was a huge reason why this movie was a major flop. But if you want a good laugh read this article, also by Screenrant, which goes to incredible lengths to blame the failure on everything BUT the same sex kiss.
https://screenrant.com/what-went-wrong-with-lightyear-movie/

Cliff.Booth
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20ag07 said:

Quote:

That isn't the right question. It isn't like you take the exact same project and replace the girlboss with a dude. You just stop trying to make so many girlboss projects. Cinemas can't take another decade of this *****
I don't know how many females you've worked with in business- but I guess it can't be many.

Every female who is good at her job, and there are many, isn't a "girlboss".

Females having a lead role in a movie isn't "girlbossness".

If you could actually remember far enough back, there was a time when Julia Roberts and Sandra Bullock were getting paid more than anybody on the planet, and nothing about that was "woke" or "girlboss".



You continue to misrepresent what I'm actually arguing. Even in those Drinker videos he included numerous examples of strong female characters done well and done the right way. YES, I've worked with some stellar type-A women who were true leaders. My little great grandma was a tough, tough lady who I grew up admiring a lot. One of my favorite movies of all time is Zero Dark Thirty, that's a strong female character done right.

What I haven't witnessed in my lifetime is small-framed women beating the **** out of guys their size or larger. I haven't witnessed groups or jobsites where the guys in charge were buffoons and it took an assertive, smarter woman to set us all straight. I haven't known a lot of families where the husband/father was a useless goofball and his wife was the wise, resourceful rock of the family. I haven't seen the types of women who are just better/smarter/faster/holier/cooler than their guy counterparts that Hollywood keeps trying, and failing, to make the thing.

Lame girlboss movies/shows are failing and losing money left and right. Those aren't the only problem causing studios to fail and making life harder for cinemas obviously, but girlboss fatigue is one factor among many.
fig96
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BlueSmoke said:

fig96 said:

Serious Lee said:

Quad Dog said:

What you may think as "woke" is actually probably an attempt to appeal to an audience that isn't you. Women are 50% of the population, studios are interested in their money too.

cause its financially worked out so well for the WNBA, or any other women's league that women themselves don't find entertaining.

Not that I want to dive down this rabbithole because I have no interest in having this discussion, but they doubled their revenue from 2023 to 2024, ratings are up 20something percent, and they're predicted to become profitable in the next year or so.

Because of ONE player. ONE. Who this stupid ass league won't protect and who will sit due to repeated injuries for the remainder of the season while league numbers start to retract. Great example.
From my admittedly limited knowledge of the league there's definitely things they could be doing better, but none of that negates the fact that they capitalized on the popularity and turned it into a massive media deal.
fig96
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While I get your point, I think you're oversimplifying.

With Snow White, for example, it sounds like the production was a train wreck, first evidence of that being the studio totally backtracking on the dwarves after hearing public opinion which apparently led to a very disjointed film. Add to that problematic comments from the lead that alienated a lot of people and that film was set up to be successful. But whatever miscalculations were made, there's absolutely reason to believe that a live action retelling of Snow White could be a really profitable film particularly after some of their other remakes had been huge winners, including some that many labeled as "woke".

With The Marvels, I think it was a better film than it got credit for but obviously didn't have the audience (for the record Ms Marvel continues to be one of the most underrated Marvel series), and you again have certain actors that are polarizing to some viewer. But do you really think they said "we think this film is going to bomb but we're going to drop $200 million on it anyway"?
Cliff.Booth
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fig96 said:

do you really think they said "we think this film is going to bomb but we're going to drop $200 million on it anyway"?


They fundamentally don't understand what people want. It's the same as the geniuses that greenlit spending the GDP of a small nation making Furiosa. How many average dudes want to see a Mad Max movie starring a skinny chick. Not a lot. How many women want to go see a movie about flaming psychotic car wrecks and explosions just because there's a chick in it. Not a lot. Either make that movie on a (far) smaller budget or just don't make it.

I promise that in someone else's hands Top Gun Maverick would have been about a promising, assertive young female pilot who overcomes misogyny to prove to Maverick that SHE is the new top dog. And it would have lost a ****ton of money. But, it was made by people with common sense and who like money.
ITEAggies459
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Casual spending on entertainment is down across the board. Rising prices, stagnant wages, tariff uncertainty, etc.
BadMoonRisin
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I like taking my kids to the theatre for nostalgia because I have fond memories of seeing Jurassic Park, Twister, Congo (let down), opening weekend and I loved the feeling of going to "the movies".

At the end of the day, though, anything I want to see I will just wait to see on streaming.

Also, and I might be super weird for this, I will look forward to seeing amovie, but the second my ass hits the seat, I get some sort of weird anxiety and my brains is like "ok, how long am I going to have to stay here?" and I am anxious until the movie is over and I can leave.
Cliff.Booth
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How long have you had that anxiety issue in that setting? More of a recent thing or going way back?
 
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