Why Don't They Make 'em Like They Used To?
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- Опубликовано: 6 сен 2024
- Chris Stuckmann discusses the disappearance of the mid-budget film, what streaming has done to physical media sales, and how the films we choose to support impact the kinds of movies that get made.
I'll never forget when The Nice Guys came out and I saw it opening weekend. There were about 5 other people in the theater and they were all at least 50 years old. Seeing that movie not do well really made me realize just how much blockbusters took over audiences attention.
Great movie and it was sad. If people keep supporting fast food entertainment like the MCU or uncreative reboots like Ghostbusters After Life. Well, you can't blame Hollywood for that.
Honestly, I'd say it's because going to the movies is too expensive these days. If I'm paying 15 to 20 bucks to see a movie, it better be a fucking visual spectacle. Comedies I can watch at home on Netflix
Kiss kiss bang bang came out 11 YEARS earlier (2005) and it too bombed. So don't go blaming superhero movies just yet
Yep. I remember seeing that in a completely empty theater.
Now, I don't mind spending a bit of time to just... relax in a quiet, air conditioned theater watching a great movie. I think part of the problem is that the current theater model of just, having popcorn and nothing else is somewhat killing them because people aren't going to go out and make a night of it, because they could either do that at home OR go to a restaurant, have a good dinner and whatnot, and then go to their movie after and not buy anything from the theater itself other than the ticket price.
I know I can go out and see something like The Nice Guys, buy popcorn, and enjoy it greatly. But I also am an AMC A list member who buys popcorn and so forth because I pay very little on tickets and so forth and spend money on popcorn/food, especially at their nicer theaters that offer "decent" food.
I dunno, it's a really really weird thing for me because I love really niche and weird films but it's getting so common for me to see a great film but be, the only person in the theater. Wind River was another film that really made me think about this too.
@@nms7872 That wasn't playing in many smaller towns and the superhero boom was already off by 2005.
The disappearance of mid budget film is definitely a factor. Studios rarely make films that are a bit experimental, and the mid budget films were full of experimentation.
I don't think we'd get a film like The Matrix nowadays...
@@taffyroosevelt7809 We might but not from big studios like WB. They will come from studios like Bron and A24.
@@anthonyclarke2253 a24 is actually a really solid example
@@freddydefunct but those studios don't decide the movies tho, the movies were made and A24 and bro just bring exposure... for example the farewell was made and then A24 got it to promote it
@@xingincool9672 that’s a fair point, but at least the movie is still being put out by a larger distributor. So while they might not make the movie, they definitely still make their money off those films and it fuels their brand which carries said reputation. They don’t have to make the films as long as someone out there is !
“Hollywood doesn’t really know what a comedy is anymore.”
That’s facts.
I guess we need Sacha Baron Cohen to reprise his role as Ali G, Borat, The Dictator and even Bruno for trolling the world again especially politicians 😂
is either fart dumb jokes now days, cause of the sensitive times we live in, a smart comedy, would be censored or sued by whoever is offended lol.
@@davidsepulveda5812 what's a smart comedy to you? Atlanta's pretty smart and I haven't heard many complaints about it
Just imagine trying to write a comedy in 2021 though. You basically have to write it and cater it to the most sensitive people on the planet! It kills me knowing that many comedy classics could never be made today .
@@LebahG4nteng Ali G was funny for a movie or two but it got old pretty quickly
You know, one of the worst cases of a truly amazing film that everybody loved losing money in the end I've seen is Blade Runner 2049. That film got amazing reception, and yet it lost money in the end, and that just breaks my heart, because what are we telling the directors when we don't support good films like that?
Original didn't do well either, though, when it came out.
That kind of movie can take decades to achieve the recognition it's due.
@@MiloDC Well, that's because at the time, a film like that was super uncomon. It isn't anymore. People love that kind of gritty science fiction stuff.
This film financially flopped for completely different reasons. All of them culminating into one basic theme, which is that it didn't appeal to the casual movie goer. Not in its tone, not in its setting, but rather in its advertising and its length.
I'm really glad Denis Villeneuve shares my opinion on trailers, where he hates ones that reveal too much about the film. So he kept them very ambiguous. Unfortunately though, it didn't reach the common moviegoer whos eyes multiply in size when they see a new MCU trailer.
It also failed in part because it simply had time to breath in its scenes. Most people want action or forcibly witty dialogue around every corner, and this film was more stoic and elegant than that. Too much so for a lot of people.
@@Dalvory Nonsense. You're telling me that _BR2049_ flopped because the trailers weren't flashy and overly revealing, but for some reason _Dune_ is a hit, even though it features the same director, who approached its trailers the same way he approached _BR2049_ 's trailers? There are clearly other factors in play.
_Blade Runner_ -- meaning, the original movie and the (superior, in my opinion) sequel -- is *niche* . You claim that "people love that kind of gritty science fiction stuff," but I can't think of a single film like either _BR_ movie that has risen above the status of cult favorite. Not even Steven Spielberg could manage it with his terrific _Minority Report_ . Hell, the highly entertaining _Edge of Tomorrow_ added a nice splash of accessibility to the "gritty sci-fi" subgenre, and even _that_ suffered weak box office receipts, and has similarly remained a cult classic.
_"Most people want action or forcibly witty dialogue around every corner, and this film was more stoic and elegant than that."_
Most people _like_ that. It's most definitely *not* a necessity though, as proven by the many other successful movies -- in the past, and of late -- that are light on, or devoid of, those things. The obsessive focus of many people on the success of the MCU as some kind of proof that people are rubes who like only flashy comic book fare only reveals their own arrogance and myopia.
2049 sucked!
@@MiloDC If that were the case, the film wouldn’t have gotten near unanimous praise. It’s not that the film didn’t visually or thematically appeal to people. It’s that it didn’t catch much attention due to yes, it’s advertising. There are of course more factors in play because Dune was popular, but I think it also has to do with how the director is much more well known now in 2021 than he was in 2017.
Is isn't so much that they don't "make them like they used to" - but more of, "they can't finance them like they used to." - And that, as you articulated, is a very big reason behind this shift we're experiencing in popular cinema.
I just want to say I enjoyed reading your comment because you used punctuation and are well spoken. That’s rare to find on the internet these days let alone a huge typo hahaha. Take care!
I think there's also the fact that these kind of movies will never make Marvel money. And for some reason that's not enough.
I have a hard time understanding that, because for a studio if a movie that costs 20m makes 50m, it is considered a failure. I remember The Amazing Spider-man 2 that Sony considered a failure because didn't made 1bi, even making more than the double of the cost.
A similar thing is also occurring in the videogame industry. The games as service is way more profitable than the single player ones. The single player games did not stop making money, is just that there's a model that makes MORE money. And now the major part of the industry prefers to invest in that.
It's just sad. For real.
Daredevil costed 40 million dollars to produce each season, I was wondering why it was cancelled. I think i'll just rewatch it again because it's highly unlikely i'll see another marvel show with that budget and quality anytime soon.
@@44Gleek182 Indeed, making $20 million profit from a $10 million movie isn't seen as a sound investment anymore, which makes absolutely zero sense to me. We're losing a lot of these "middle-tier" films Chris mentioned. The thriller genre seems completely gone these days...
not at all its just wokeism
“This is a business where the buyer gets nothing for his money but a memory. What he bought still belongs to the man who sold it. That’s the real magic of the movies” -Louis B Meyer
Great quote
That phrase has taken on new meaning in the age of streaming.
And there is no real reason to pay for a lot of this mainstream stuff because it is so forgettable, you don't even get the memory. Not to mention the problems with not owning what you pay for.
The gaming industry loves that quote, too. And the gaming industry is almost identical to the movie one now, No coincidence there.
paintings and galleries.
Agreed Madness. The best films are worth paying for the memory.
Well said mate.
During the video as you were speaking, my eyes were drawn to your movie-drenched shelf and as I glanced over the titles I kept thinking, "Yeah, that wouldn't get made today."
It's disheartening to see the way things are heading and the pandemic has certainly added fuel to the fire.
Hey another Chris~
Hi Chris
Hi Chris! I completely agree and as someone who is studying film and passionate about the craft I am worried about the future of cinema. That being said if I have to make movies for 50 pounds I will it is what it is. Good luck to all of us trying to make it out there as filmmakers.
Hi Chris of Abroad
Chris!
i love this video. just telling the ACTUAL truth, instead of just complaining. this wave of hardcore complainers, who swear they know something when its just hot air. thanks chris stuckmann, for delivering straight rights. just plain truth.
I think something that needs to be discussed when we talk about "people showing up" is the cost of going to the theater (and this is coming from someone who has worked in Hollywood for 9 years now). Ticket prices have exploded, as have living costs, yet wages are incredibly low and haven't kept up. This is not the fault of the theaters of course, they have to deal with economic developments as well and most of them aren't exactly swimming in money. But I remember at the beginning of my career, that at best I could only go to the theater on "8 Dollar Tuesdays" at the Regal Cinema around the corner - to watch the very movies I had worked on. Yeah that's right, even working on a blockbuster film as an assistant didn't pay enough to actually buy regular movie tickets. My income was way below poverty line. Now imagine a family of 4 who have to spend a good $100 for 2 hours of entertainment - most families don't have that kind of money to spend on a regular basis. So if you can only go to the theater a few times a year, what are you going to choose? The obscure little indie film or the big event blockbuster? When Moviepass was a thing, it became very clear that people LOVE to go to the theater and that they'd show up for the indie stuff as well if it were affordable (they loved it a little too much even, leaving Moviepass completely bled dry). Now there's the AMC subscription that makes things more affordable but that would still be $100 per month for 4 people ($25 per person, compared to an average of a $10 streaming subscription for the whole family). I don't think it's that people don't want to go to theaters and show up for every movie - most of us absolutely LOVE it there as nothing really compares. It's just that most people simply can't afford it on a regular basis and have to choose their darlings in the process.
Absolutely, movies are quite an investment for the average family. With 2 you don’t children under 5 I may make it to the movies with my husband once every couple months. That’s a hundred dollar date for just the two of us. When families are going they feel the blockbuster will be worth it
100%! I'm a new mom and it costs me $20/hr to hire a babysitter to watch my baby when I go to the movies. So there's the cost of the sitter plus the cost of movie. And to be honest? Smaller movies don't necessarily benefit from being seen on the big screen the way a big budget blockbuster does. A small personal drama looks fine on a TV or even a phone screen while something with big effects and stunning vistas almost needs a big canvas to be appreciated.
But I admit that I miss the movies from the 90s just like all the rest of the hypocrites.
Well said. I feel that Chris is placing to much of the responsibility for this on the paying customer, the movie going audience, and letting Hollywood off without even a criticism of how its own self-destructive behavior (ie infusing movies with political messaging to the point of lecturing the audience) has brought about its own problems with fewer successful films.
All cap. Ticket sales for Spiderman have broken records. Support small films and artists period.
@@MovieJustin but it’s not. When I was a kid I would get dropped at the mall and see 2 movies a day. I saw titanic 4 times in the theatre. Smaller movies made money bc people went more frequently overall. Also, my partner will watch Spider-Man, he won’t be willing to watch silent night or last night in soho. Shoot to even see encanto with my kid we are doing a monday Matinee. These blockbusters make so much bc everyday people are only seeing this, not much else
Worth mentioning is that there just are so many more alternatives online for entertainment. And too many films on Netflix that films no longer garner the excitement they once did. In the past, going to the cinema was the only way to watch a new film. I would say that that is the primary problem. Too much supply creates less demand.
Yes. Even television shows are a spectacle in themselves where they provide 9/10ths the impact of a film at a significantly less cost.
This right here. You are absolutely correct, it's almost as if the movie industry has hit a ceiling. Everyone is so used to seeing all kinds of movies on Netflix that none of the new movies garner any kind of excitement from the general public. Everyone has become immune to amazing graphics, twisted storylines, new concepts that nothing phases them anymore. And this is mostly because they get to watch all of this on Netflix and other streaming services, day and night.
Not even mentioning other video entertainment like streaming or RUclips or more modern entertainment like video games. Literally lifetimes worth of free content, sure it's low budget but end of the day, people are spending their time and money on that.
So baffling to me because if there’s a new movie that I want to see I much prefer to go to the theatre. I have a decent setup at home, but it’s never going to be like being immersed in the theatre.
Oh absolutely. I rarely watch movies anymore (and I love a good movie) because I’ve been gaming more. I only have so much free time and money so I have Xbox Gamepass and that takes care of most of my entertainment these days.
This is one of the most important videos about movies Chris has ever posted. One thing I would have added is that the more and more movies move over to streaming, the more and more you're going to lose your favorite movies. Firstly many people can't afford all these services, and therefore will not be able to access all the movies they want to see. But the bigger issue is that far more movies will not be available on streaming as often as you'd like, and lesser known titles may never make it to streaming at all. That means you are slowly going to start losing movies and will not be able to find them anymore. This is why I refuse to give up DVDs/BluRays/VHS. Because having a movie physically in your possession with a device to play it on may be the only option in the future for people that love watching films.
Every digital movie I buy I backup to a hard drive. Comes in handy when my internet randomly dies.
Torrents, baby ;)
If that's the case, then I'd be ok if streaming services stopped happening in favor of physical media.
I still buy blu rays
I still buy DVD's and for Christmas that is mostly what I bought myself. As a mom I want to be able to share films with my child and I don't want have to rely on an internet connection and a streaming service to do so. I also borrow stuff from my public library since they still have a large collection of DVD's.
I love Under the Skin and the Last Duel! It’s so difficult to find people to discuss these movies with as no one in my circles have heard of them. Love your channel and recommendations. Keep it up.
They have not heard of them because people by and large are staying away from theatres because the content generally is so poor.
Right now there is a back log of movies because of shut downs hence why we are spoiled. But that is about to run out in the next few months and it will be back to trash.
I did see an interview with a WB executive where they said that they would start to focus on the quality of the content rather than pure raw box office hence why they gave the green light for Dune part 2.
The lack of advertising is another reason for people not watching certain movies in cinemas. My brother and I heared very good things about The Last Duel and got interested in it, only to immediately find out it had already premiered 45 days ago and was no longer available in theaters in our country. We never saw a single add or trailer for that film. The same thing has happened many times with films that are not part of the MCU or some other franchise or Disney production.
They won't even release it in my country since the theathers probably know they'd make more money showing venom 2 for a day than show a 1700s period piece for a week
Exactly because the makers of tgat movie can't even get the studios enoung money for marketing. Like they can't even spare that money for more ads.
I live near San Francisco and didn't see a single ad online or IRL
Yeah that's real, sometimes I feel that the only movies that go to the theaters nowadays are franchise.
Same thing happened to me.
The French Dispatch was a fantastic movie I saw in theaters the week it came out and when I watched it I kept thinking about that phrase “Movies like they used to,” because it’s a great movie with great actors and a critically acclaimed director and it’s so small scale and has a small budget of $25mil. And despite a great, recognizable cast, great reviews, and a great director at the helm, it hasn’t even broke $40mil in gross yet. It feels like a move from a different age of Hollywood. It feels like the movie people have been asking for with that phrase, and yet no one goes to see it.
Yes. It was the most Wes Andersen film that had Mr. Anderson Wes all over every frame. A master craftsmen at his most realized.
Filmmaking is an ever evolving craft, and there must come a time where sensibilities shift on what kind of movies are made. There have been several major shifts in filmmaking throughout history that changed the industry and the kind of films they were making based on the temperament of the culture at any given time. How films are made and what kind of films are made always reflect the mindset of its time. And it starts with the he advent of film to begin with in the late 19th century. Emerging technology with cameras inspired people to record. Then we thought, hey, we can tell stories this way. So we did. Then we have the establishment of sound in film. No need for silent films when you can have sound, so nobody made silent films anymore. In fact, this led to the rise of the big budget musicals of the 1930s, 40s, and 50s. Musicals WERE the blockbuster films of their day. But as time has it, the political climate changed in the 1960s and 70s. The country was in a continuous flux of unrest. The civil rights movement, the sexual revolution, and the Vietnam War were all just a part of what brought a perpetual unease that big bubbly musicals no longer fit into. People wanted smaller, more personal film experiences. Many couldn't afford to go to the movies often, and big budget musicals just couldn't make their money back. Hollywood changed again and started focusing on low budget films after seeing a flux of low budget movies showed strong returns in comparison to their budgets. Sure, studios wouldn't make as much money this way, but smaller investments offered a far better chance of turning a moderate profit than investing large amounts of money into musicals that were losing them money. This is when and how directors like Martin Scorsese and George Romero were able to get their start. Movies of this time thrived, to some extent, on minimalism instead of excess. Small, contained, personal stories that appealed to the mindset the country was in at the time. And that's where 1975 through almost all of the 1980s came in and flipped the script again. The modern blockbuster.
While the 80s brought Hollywood back to an era of bloated budgets and high concepts, the indie scene of the 60s and 70s managed to stay alive in the background. But like all the other changes to Hollywood throughout film history, movies generally found their new flavor of the decade formula. And there was also a new after market for movies on cable television now. The home video rental market also exploded. All of this gave studios additional avenues to make money off their films. No longer did studios have to rely solely on ticket sales and three television networks they could license their films to in order to make money back, which in turn meant a willingness to spend more money making a film. The 80s were a time of excess, so movies were tailored to that excess. Action movies got more violent. More nudity. Classic horror icons like Dracula, The Mummy, and Frankenstein were replaced by Jason, Feddy, and Michael Myers. The mindset of the 80s was if you can go big, go bigger.
The 1990s was a weird time for film. It was kind of an amalgam of everything that came before it. The 90s saw a huge rise in animation. This is often sited as Disney's Golden Era of animated musicals, which kind of brought Hollywood back full circle. But the 90s wasn't as minimalist as the 60s and wasn't as excessive as the 80s. So the 90s kind of dipped into everything until The Matrix evolved the blockbuster yet again. CGI had arrived. If Terminator 2 is what began this shift in 1990, it was The Matrix that solidified the future of the CG blockbuster.
So now we come 2000s, where the next major shift happened. Hollywood went PG-13. Movie budgets crossed into the $200 million mark in the late 90s, and those budgets only got worse. The computer age became the information age, and streaming became a reality. Like the 80s, the mid-2000s began a new time of excess... only this time it was an insatiable need for information and content to consume. Hollywood adapted again. Rising technology allowed them to make movies that were never thought possible because of CG. Consumer technology allowed Hollywood to reach more people than ever before 24/7. More kids were consuming content like never before, so Hollywood stepped away from the R rating in favor of producing PG-13 content to reach as many people as they could. They had to. The cost of blockbuster filmmaking was higher than ever. And after the tragedies of 9/11, people desperately needed escapism. They needed heroes to look to. And that's how Superhero films finally found a home in Hollywood. Feel good movies where the good guys win, and rendered worlds beyond our imagination that we can escape into. We became obsessed social media and content consumption.
Hollywood will never stop changing. The pandemic is forcing another change as we speak. The future right now is shifting towards streaming. Some really don't like that idea at all, but what streaming can bring to the table has been proven in the past two years, if not well before that. RUclips channels like this one owe their existence to streaming. RUclipsrs have launched their filmmaking careers because of streaming. So, yeah, the phrase "they don't make them like they used to" has always been true throughout film history. The only thing that won't change is that film will always change to meet the sensibilities of the time and culture it exists in.
I saw it opening night and there was one other group of like 4 people in the whole theatre. Made me pretty sad tbh.
Dude, Chris, I am LOVING this new format of not just “talking about movies”, but analyzing how the BUSINESS of filmmaking WORKS. You have grown SO MUCH and I LOVE seeing your growth. Thank you for not just “talking about movies”, but helping me learn. I have been following you SIX years now? And I can’t wait to see you KEEP going
God bless man, keep going!!!!!
Totally agree but what's with the capitalized words
@@clarke5479 idk, just excited😄
This slow but uncontrollable decline of the theater industry is one of the most frustrating occurrences of my life. I am currently in college and the nearest theater is three miles away, making it a rather large commitment to go, especially without a car or free bussing. It hurts me to see these original movies that I would LOVE to see in theaters bomb financially when I know I did not support them. I’m hoping it becomes easier to go to the theater, because if it was in walking distance, I’d be there every single week.
Stellan Skarsgård spoke about this once. I recommend you all Google what he said. It’s a good read. He speaks about how going to the cinema has kinda been ruined and how streaming has affected the movies we see. Also how budgets have changed and how certain filmmakers don’t get as many opportunities anymore.
Yeah but he isn’t making things better by hogging his floating technology all to himself and killing monarchs while he eats all their food.
Or Matt Damon on Hot Ones....
@BasedAnybody yeah the music industry is in a wired place right now.
The empty man was horrible
it ruined nothing and hes wrong. its just a new way to consume the media and either you are going with the times or you are failing. the issue is the old fat guys at movie companies are angry that they are throwing they big wallets and dont see the wanted returns for those movies lol. no one cares, future is clearly streaming.
my (and many other people) tv is better quality than most of cinemas (middle of europe), 4k hdr with properly lit room, in comfort of my own couch and room.
A big problem for me and my girlfriend personally is that most of these indiefilms that really interest us (especially indie horror) usually aren’t available in theaters or on streaming here in Sweden. It’s like another comment I saw, ”Should we pirate the movie or never see it?”. I don’t know how a problem like this can be solved, but wanting to see indie films when living outside of the US is really difficult.
Yeah even I face the same problem here too in India. Its hard to find indie films outside USA.
Same here, it's hard to find an A24 or Neon movie in a theater around me. The last A24 movie that they played in a theater near my house was Hereditary and that was 3 FUCKING YEARS AGO!!!! There's always this thing where i get pissed till i emailed many movie theaters to ask "why does this film don't get played? it should be fine for its rating" Indie movies are now way better than blockbusters. I can't even wait any longer, there's rarely any Indie movie in Netflix or Amazon in my country, i had to pirate it, it's not something i do but what choice do i have?? I can't wait any longer, its dissapointing. I had to watch Spencer at a pirate website cuz the movie isn't on any legal streaming service. It's just sad man. Even a film from a big studio like The Last Duel and Last Night In Soho was played in a theater near my house for just one week then they take it down in favor of those disposable Marvel movies like Eternals and Venom. It's fucking pathetic, people always complain that Hollywood lack of originality but when a good original movie was released, people barely show up at the theater to support it, it's such a shame how cinema has turned out nowadays. And me as a Marvel fan, i always wanna try to take a step back and watch new stories, new movies, but the theater barely plays it. Its so sad
Hell, I live in the US, and it's hard even here to find a theatre that plays indie films unless you live in a big city. There's movies I wanted to go see that I would have had to drive at LEAST over an hour to see.
I thought this only happened in SA now we have a huge problem
I feel you....I'm from Romania and i'm a die hard fan o horror, and we don't even have shudder , and most of the indies can't be found anywhere on the Internet. I try my best to not pirate them but I can't find them anywhere
There was something that felt special about getting a physical copy of a dvd or blu-ray when I was 7 or 8, almost like a big event getting to experience the movie again with a more personal viewpoint, and getting to see the bonus features of how the movie was made. But now whenever something is streaming and trending on Netflix, it doesn't feel personal anymore, it feels like a drive-through at McDonald's, getting to experience it in a flash of light, just barely able to grasp onto or taste anything memorable. Gonna buy more blu-rays now as I miss that feeling. Thx Chris!
Completely agree
Νοt special, but is more sustainable, it is only a habit.
Also to add, just something about being able to put a physical copy of a film you love on the shelf and if it comes up in a discussion getting to say “I have THAT movie” if felt great
Agree, I still collect physical media but I get a lot my stuff through Amazon and it’s not the same as going to a store and holding the blu ray and buying it right away
This is just like reminiscing over going to the video store.. Sure it was memorable, but it's not really better, and you just can't hold up progress with less practical systems, unless you want to live in some fabricated bubble simulation kinda like in that movie The Village
My partner and I went to see Last Night in Soho, and no kidding, there were 3 other people in my theatre. We also saw Shang-Chi and the theatre was full to the brim. Speaks volumes on this subject, if you ask me.
Both were highly entertaining. But people only come for the IP.
Last night in Soho was trash, don't force it.
Shang-chi wasn't as good as it could've been
I love both those movies, but even in anticipation knowing I was gonna love LNiS, I knew that it wasn't gonna have a major audience. It actually did better at my theatre than I thought it would, but it sadly didn't last very long
@@leosotiri4982 last night in soho was literally amazing what
I feel like a portion of people who watched shang chi might have come for the cast. the idea that Tony Leung was there there must have been a drawing factor since he's starred in a lot of good and even in iconic movies! Like, following movies not just because of the subject but the cast is still a thing, or so I heard..
I completely agree. I can’t stand people who continuously whine about the lack of originality in Hollywood, to then only go and see blockbusters in theaters.
I had to call my brother out on this once, he shut up real quick lol
Where else are they gonna go? Theatres are where people watch movies.
@@spenser9908 The problem isn't going to the theaters, the problem is only going to see the blockbusters there.
I only go and see property movies rarely if I'm particularly interested in one like A Quiet Place Part II, but other than that I try to see as much original stuff as possible.
I have a friend who complains about not getting movies like Blade Runner or Castaway anymore, and yet he has pre-booked a ticket for the upcoming Spider-Man movie. He's even completely aware that he's part of the problem
There are a couple of very important things I think you're also missing. I think the entire landscape of entertainment has changed. Movies just aren't the draw that they once were for our entertainment time. They're now competing with high budget television shows and extremely high budget video games. You have to look at it like if a person is looking to be entertained for a few hours back in the 80's or 90's, the competition for a film was either a TV show like a sitcom or a Super Nintendo game. There weren't the Game of Thrones mega budget and special effects TV shows to compete with and as much as I love old school games, film wasn't having to compete with the likes of the Fortnite and League of Legends type online interactive gameplay.
The only way to compete with our viewing time is for film to also throw out the big guns per say. They have to have mega budgets like the Marvel movies or established IPs, because the other things are huge time draws and competing with film. Also, the price of going to a movie these days is outrageous. A typical young person just simply doesn't want to spend that much money to see a 2 hour film in a theater with other people talking and on their cell phones, when for the same price they can buy a AAA video game or get multiple months of a streaming service. Also realize that film, video games, and television shows are ALSO competing with social media! Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and dare I say it, RUclips are all FREE. Free is always going to be a very challenging thing to compete with. The amount of content available for people to consume these days is so incredibly large, and the amount of hours to consume it is limited. Competition for our viewing and entertainment is making it harder and harder for film to compete. So what does draw the eyes of viewers from all these options? Huge budget movies with A list movie stars! You may not like it, I may not like it, but that's the reality of where technology has taken us.
Yes I agree!!
Don't forget the cost to promotting one movie sometime more expensive than budget of that movie itself...😐
Storytelling moved to games, CGI moved to Cinema - to the detriment of both.
Thank you for pointing it out that our movie going culture simply changed, it can't be the same as in the 80's/90's anymore. Heck, even from 2019 to now it's a completely new world where people can't be bothered anymore. If it's not an event (once in a while, expensive but more private type of room with my family) I'm not showing up for any movie. I'll watch it on any streaming platform later.
That’s just sad
Chris, part of the reason people don’t support indie movies is because they just don’t know about them. The marketing for the big tentpoles totally drowns out any marketing a smaller movie would get.
I haven't even seen much of the matrix, and that mother fucke comes out like next week.
@@assordante2205 It's starting to ramp up in ads, but they seem to be very selective based on some set of algos where they're running them. They're not "blanketing" for the filthy casuals to push them to see the movie. I could only describe it as niche memberberry marketing.
Chris made a video about this. He argues that today we are being fed information. So only the popular movies that shows up in your social media feeds will most likely get more support. So you have to find out for yourself which are good movies. Don't rely only on what's on your feed.
THANK YOU . I've been trying to say this for a while. It's always been like this.
I just got to know they made a new matrix like a week ago
The thing is, in my country (Mexico) it's hard to see certain types of movie on the theater. I remember years ago that I was waiting for REC to be released here, and nothing. It came out on theaters 2 years after the release in Spain, even though we speak the same language.
Even big names like Tarantino had a difficult time to get their movies distributed: During my college days, I also waited for months for planet terror and death proof to be on theaters. In the end I torrented all the movies i mentioned and then some more.
Now that we have streaming and You can rent movies online I try to give some money to independent films and filmmakers with original stories.
@Daisy Mae in that case if its possible perhaps buying the films in any way directly would be a better alternative.
The Captain America "I understood that reference" meme is the perfect meme to describe culture in the 21st century
dude!! great.......great analogy.
@@neon0wl2107 💯💯💯👍👍👍
right. i feel like there is sooo many shows and movies available to us that most people just end up choosing whats trending so they can feel they're part of the "cultural conversation". Like, how're you gonna understand all the new memes on social media if you haven't seen the latest marvel movie? Fear of being left out. Especially relevant now when social gatherings are extremely limited for a lot of us.
and the Captain America cameo in Free Guy
It’s not really a good meme if need to understand the reference within. That whole you think your better then me meme from Good Time was hilarious to me but I didn’t see Good Time until months after the meme was dead
Part of my reluctance to going to the theatre is paying 20$ per person and then dealing with people on their phones, rudeness, etc…
This!
It baffles me that people spend this much money to sit there and not actually watch the movie. Just go to a pub then.
And the inevitably woke generic drivel you’re about to be subjected to!!
I’m totally with you on the noisy people though, I can’t bear it.
Completely agree, I used to love going to the movies.
Same. There are lots of movies that look pretty good and I wouldn’t mind seeing them, but paying upwards of 30$ just to see one of them with a crowd who might ruin the experience anyway isn’t exactly feasible (for me or other people).
lol u havent been to the cinemas in quite sometime
Anthony Mackie made an interesting comment a while ago about the fact that being a “movie star” doesn’t carry the same weight or mean what it used to mean. I think society moving away from supporting movie stars simply because they’re movie stars is also a contributing factor to your topic. Sure, there are some exceptions (i.e. The Rock, Leo DiCaprio) but by and large, the draw of the superstar has waned considerably over the years.
There are many reasons for that. Most of them revolve around social media.
Now, I do believe in separating the art from the artist, and I think it's dumb how big celebrities have to be more careful of what they say than the average person. I think they should be able to say whatever they want just as we can without it threatening their jobs.
But because that isn't the world we live in, a lot of actors are "cancelled" for simply sharing any opinion that goes against the current norms. Now, I think people should be able to call out whoever they want online, no matter how dumb it is. But because Hollywood actors are so popular, what they say reaches more ears, and that only heightens whatever praise or hate they receive. Many of them didn't ask for the demigod status that was thrusted upon them when they became movie stars.
It's just the sad reality of things. I don't think there's anything that could be done to fix this that doesn't include taking away peoples freedom of speech, but one thing that could make it a non-issue for their careers is if online controversy simply wasn't a factor the higher ups consider when casting, and that only has a chance of happening if people stopped refusing to watch films just because it has an actor who made this joke, who expressed this political opinion, etc. More people just need to learn to separate the art from the artist.
Must say I was sad to see the Rock strongly promote Harris and Biden ticket to hell. He appeared to fancy her?
@Don Oh for sure. I was just expanding on the original post about why movie stars are looked at differently now, and how it effects the films being made, even slightly.
Another reason they are is that a lot of them have done fucked up things. But I don't think the greater whole deserves to suffer under the name of "celebrities" just because of a few bad apples.
@Don Its called doing your work and not being stupid to your public. There was a studio Star system of control and publicists for Indy well written films. There were editors with a brain. Now the people written about are as awful as their audience and making money without ethics is the score. Hollywood is over. Watching people talk who know nothing makes me ill. Talent requires discernment and cultivated values.
@@Dalvory They have a fan base responsibility--what is the average person. Duh.
Thank you for using your large fanbase to address such an important issue in this community. I could not agree more and thank you Chris for spreading the word
Because every thing has to be franchises most companies want prequels, sequels, spin-offs and tv shows.
Many companies are afraid of taking risks because they are afraid of losing money.
It’s cause of liberal ideologies, y’all don’t wanna say it for some reason. Just say it
Yesss..and at the same time they destroy the original,and beloved character that made the movies so great
@@zymosan123 We don't want to say it because it is pretty much nonsense. There is certainly a big boom in progressive, inclusive media but that has very little to do with the topic covered in the video. It really is a matter of money.
@@zymosan123 Corporate mindsets are way more universal and general to be sourced from "liberal ideologies"... whatever that means.
@@zymosan123 I’m getting tired of that disingenuous assertion. It’s pure invention. Mega corporations like Disney don’t give a fuck about politics, and they’ll pander to whoever they have to reach their bottom line. Case in point, removing their Star Wars gay kiss for Chinese audiences.
The problem is also the studios rushing releases on streaming and DVD. When I was growing up, movies would be available for home video a good 6-10 months later. They'd be on HBO and Showtime about 4-8 weeks after that.
This meant that if you didn't see it in theatres, you had to wait. And when things were released, you wanted to revisit that movie. Now, a DVD is available less than 2 months later. Why would I want to buy Venom 2? I just bought movie tickets to see in in mid October. It's still fresh in my mind.
For Christmas and my birthday my dad used to get me about 3 bags of DVDs. Many used from Rental stores, but about 3-5 new ones as well. I told him to stop because the movies would be streaming before we even got to my birthday or Christmas.
The turnaround is just too fast now. I haven't purchased a DVD for a movie in several years because of this. The DVDs I do buy are of plays. Why? Because they aren't available easily or quickly.
Hollywood shot themselves in the foot with the rush for home viewing.
I literally was talking to a friend of mine about this right after watching The Mummy movies, The Count of Monte Cristo, The Zorro movies, The Pirates movies. I miss those kinds of swashbuckling or just straight adventure movies
Same here! I was so happy when Jungle Cruise came out and did well, because maybe that'll mean they'll start making old-fashioned adventure movies like that again. I want to make movies like that myself (Technically you could count the recent Jumanji sequels as well but those felt more like affectionate parodies rather than straight up adventure films).
Legend of Zorro should be considered a classic, at least to me lol
Yup! Those kinds of film are totally gone
@@DougyFreshGames i think you mean mask, legend came out in the 2005
@@VegimorphtheMovieBoy Jungle Cruise was much better than I expected. Emily Blunt is incredibly talented.
I feel vindicated that Collateral is shown. I think that movie is a masterpiece.
I agree.
Going to the movies are expensive and most people can’t afford to see every movie they think looks interesting or hears good things about. The reason a lot of people go with the big IP movies is because they don’t want to risk spending their time and money on something they are unfamiliar with and find some level of confront going with a franchise they are familiar with.
I agree
That and gaming is stealing the spotlight more and more each year. Last year in particular the gaming industry grew immensely while movie theaters and production companies scrambled to stay afloat.
This.
Exactly right that it is about risk
@@TheVirtualObserver This has nothing to do with Video Games, don't make Video Games out to be the "bad guy" because they aren't, you wanna know why movie theaters didn't do that well last year? It was because most of the theaters were shut down because of covid 19
I really appreciate this perspective, and it helps me understand why movies do not get financed like they used to. I do have a couple thoughts, though, from the perspective as a consumer as to why it's hard for me to support films as a consumer in the ways that would help film makers:
While the phrase "they don't make movies like they used to" is accurate, so is the phrase "movies aren't as affordable as they used to be." The average price for a movie ticket, in my experience nowadays, is $12-$14, not including the expensive prices of concession stand snacks and drinks. At home rental prices as we experienced during the pandemic for new releases can be as high as $20, which is just a few bucks shy of buying and owning the movie (plus as someone who loves the theater experience, I feel like I am paying more money for the convenience in exchange for a lesser viewing experience).
A lot of us average movie goers are on a fixed income, don't have or live near a local movie theater, (personally I live 55 minutes from my nearest theater), and have a harder time justifying spending money on a movie that's experimental and we may or may not like, versus a film that isn't experimental (i.e. your marvels, DC's, remakes and big-name franchises), that we are at least familiar with. Speaking from a personal standpoint as someone on a budget and hourly wage, It's hard for me to justify spending $20-$30 on a DVD release for a movie like "the last duel," something that I may or may not enjoy, and something that even if I do enjoy, I'd watch once or twice every once in a while since I don't rewatch movies that much.
I mention the above viewpoints because I'm starting to see a rift between film makers and film goers. Comments from Ridley Scott essentially putting the blame on the millennial generation for not supporting his latest movie bothers me and shows how narrow-minded his perspective is. Thoughtful analysis such as Stuckmann's eventually boil down to "spend more money on movies when they first come out and if not, buy their DVD's instead of renting or streaming them." Neither statements address the economic and logistic constraints preventing consumers from seeing new and experimental projects, even if they want to.
While the question of "why don't they make movies like they used to?" has been answered, the follow-up question of "why are people not seeing movies like they used to?" needs to be addressed as well. Marketers, Film makers, producers, they need to find ways to make it more convenient and affordable for consumers to take risks on seeing new and experimental films. EX: I like the concept of new releases being streamed and paid for on day one, but as a single lower-income household, spending $20 to rent a new movie for 48 hours on my TV is too rich for my blood. However, I would be interested in spending $12-$15 in exchange for a shorter rent time (say, 24 hours).
Just something to think about, I'm just coming at this from a consumer standpoint who likes movies, loves the theater experience, but doesn't have the money to support them as he'd wish to.
Very much agreed! I would also add that income for many declined (at least for a time) amidst the pandemic, which further exacerbated the issues you brought up. For those impacted most, it has been far safer to rely on existing streaming subscriptions to fund as much viewing as possible instead of individually purchasing tickets, physical copies, etc. Not to mention COVID-19 protocols, whether issued by governments, individual theaters, or individual viewers... Ridley Scott made the decision to release The Last Duel *exclusively* in theaters at a time where we are still seeing occasional upticks (typically around holidays) in positive COVID-19 cases, even with many of us being vaccinated. I am not sure exactly how much that played into it's failure at the box office, but I can say that not everyone is going to be willing to risk their health to go see a film about relatively obscure subject matter.
@@ShockinglyRandom94 Hell, lots of people won't risk their health to go see movies they really want to see, never mind obscure indie stuff. I'm fully vaccinated with 3 shots and I'm still not going out to any movie theaters even though I have one 5 minutes away because I got COVID last year and it fucked me up. Going to a theater potentially full of people who may or may not be vaccinated, where everyone is maskless because they're eating popcorn and drinking pop, while my state is currently on a pretty large rise in weekly COVID cases, seems like a pretty fucking stupid call to me. Unfortunately I've missed some movies I wanted to see, and will undoubtedly miss more, but it's just not a safe time to go out to theaters now. I think it's pretty stupid to release primarily in theaters now, to say nothing of exclusively in theaters, unless you're either releasing primarily outside of the US or you're releasing something that caters primarily to the anti-vax crowd who just pretend the pandemic doesn't exist.
Yes! Even before the pandemic, movie theaters were physically and financially difficult for me to get to. (Compared to going several times a month in the late nineties and early 2000's.) And I'm not interested in streaming services, a recurring expense for a limited and specific (and ever changing) library of materials I'm mostly not interested in, particularly since streaming services all split up again into several platforms, each with its own recurring expense. I'll probably end up buying Spencer 2021 on DVD and either keep it or donate it to my local public library. And I only know about it because of RUclips movie reviews.
Literally me being a broke film student who only saw IT and alien 2 in the last few years (for a discounted price) who cant even afford the discount price for the amount of film I want to see and just prefers to wait or use cough cough other methods because again I cant afford it. It's not even too expensive in the uk now but it's almost an hour of my work to go see a film I'm not even 100% sure I am going to enjoy (ex house of gucci, Spencer...) or film that I know that I would enjoy (dune) but I still cant justify the price. Am I going to see a Star Wars movie? Probably, because I love the franchise. Am I going to see a weird indie movie (pretty much what I'd love to make) without being 100% sure that is going to satisfy me? No. I'll rent it later if I can but sadly it's not enough. And it's not like Star Wars needs more money anyway. It's the horrible reality we live in, I cant justify art unless its tangible and I can gain something back from it in the future if I need to make money to live or it's something that I cherish deeply and even then I can fall into the guilt tripping rabbit hole.
Even worse if you have more than one passion ahaha
Tremendously informative and I’m so glad Chris made this video! Support indie filmmakers and films with smaller budgets, tell your friends, post about it on social media just get the word out. Vote with your wallet as they say lol
Yeah no thanks. How about they support me.
@@tylergable2445 You seem like a well adjusted, happy person. Keep commenting on Chris’ videos maybe one day he’ll give you the attention you want so badly, but I’m betting not. Either way if you want support get betterhelp or a dog crybaby.
@@carsonbertrand5619 wo
As somebody who knows way more about music than film, it’s really hard for me to blame audiences. When the break down of the traditional album sale model happened, that was designed by record companies to make it easier for them to not pay artists and not take risks on experimental music. This same thing is happening with film: this is 100% the problem with like four multinational corporations all owning media and less the fault of the audience for being picky about where they’re able to spend their increasingly-smaller pocket change.
Right on. I was thinking the same thing.
I agree with this, 100%. I think the best option right now is getting high profile people to speak about this. Have Dave Grohl make an argument and then release the next Foo Fighters a little bit early but only through a purchase; not through streaming. Have big Marvel actors branch out into smaller films and promote them and encourage people to go see it or at least buy the release.
Audiences of all media vote and speak with their wallet, and it’s those who don’t complain when things ‘aren’t the same anymore’
Yep, and with both smaller record labels and studios continually being bought out by larger ones, there is less of a willingness for those larger entities to take risks because they have a lot more overhead, and are continually increasing that by buying out smaller labels and studios, as well as share holders to appease. Buying out their competition leaves them needing more money to help pay for it, and so they focus on market testing and what will make them the most in profits, and for the creators leaves less possible avenues for their projects to get produced.
Blaming the audience is peak Hollywood arrogance. It’s so bizarre that is even an argument that someone would make and others not just laugh at.
I don't understand your comment and how it relates to movie production that Chris is talking about. How is revenue break down relevant to the way the studio is funding mid and low budget movies? Can you explain?
I’m digging that Christmas sweater! “You like Christmas don’t you Squidward”.
I’m in my 60s and the “They don’t make em like they used to” thought has been reiterated in every decade I can remember. I also don’t think people realize how many really horrible films were made back in the good old days.
This is also true.
Yeah, but how many of those terrible decades old films had a corporate, run-by-committee design to them?
I also am in my 60s and there is some truth to that. But it is also true that even the so-called good movies these days are not generally as good as the better movies of the past. There seems to be a lack of creativity and an aversion to true diversity -- diversity of ideas, issues and themes. Hollywood has always been tempted to preach rather than entertain. But lately they seem to have positioned themselves at the pulpit.
The good stuff always rises to the surface of memory with media. I look back at 80s films and think it was the best decade. But I'm only thinking of stuff like Indiana Jones, Back to the Future, some of the Star Trek films (itself in the IP category), ghostbusters, Beverly Hills Cop...But for every one great film there are 20 bad ones from the same era I just don't remember on account of them being dull.
@@jlev1028 tbh many of them did, like back in the 30s big studios would just write films specifically for certain actors and actresses, it wasn't about some auteur with a vision picking actors who fit the roles.
I'm glad that Chris now has an intro that doesn't give me a heart attack every time I click on his video! 🤣
Man I really hope you make it big as a director, been subbed to you since like 100k and your the reason I love movies and view them the way that I do. Can’t wait to go see a movie directed by Chris stuckmann in theaters
It not being certain whether dune would get a second part was honestly the straw that broke the camel's back for me.
@@The614zeke To be fair, LOTR was a massive gamble for the producers even then. They were putting everything on the line to get those movies made, it's almost a miracle that they exist.
They already confirmed there would be a part 2...
@@quentin117 Yeah, but that's not what he was talking about. What he's talking about is how the movie, that was designed as the first half of a two parter, wasn't guaranteed that second part until it was released and proven successful.
@@hiimchrisj Yes, and i'm responding to this by saying, Hollywood needs to adapt. I don't think having a big gap between movies budgets is a problem. I even think it's better, because when you have a smaller budget, you get very interresting movies. Just look at amazon small budget movies. There is a lot of great movies in there. The problem is not the budget, quit the contrary. The more budget they get, the more the studio wants (needs) to control it.
Dune 2021 is complete dog shit. If they make part 2 they better factor an audience who won't turn up after watching part 1.
10 years ago The Last Duel would've made 400 million worldwide and would probably be an oscar contender...now it's a big box office bomb...times do change
ugh, reading this broke my heart. that movie deserved so much better.
Honestly, prior to Covid it would have made tons of money. Theatre viewership has gone down significantly. I went to see Ghostbusters Afterlife opening weekend, and prior to Covid it would have been packed. But after? Half the theatre was empty. When more and more blockbusters (most of them owned by Disney which is really important to mention) are being added directly to streaming (and in Disney’s case they make ALL the money) less people feel the need to go to the theatre, and they don’t get the exposure to film previews/trailers or even the movie posters, which means they don’t go see those movies that are only in theatres. The amount of times I’ve been to the theatre and went to a movie because I liked the film poster is crazy. Also, there is a large portion of the population that is still uncomfortable in crowds because of Covid. I honestly think if The Last Duel had partnered with Netflix or something, it would have done better (also there was like no marketing for it).
Had that film come out in the 90s, it would be a contender for Best Picture
I feel like Physical Media feels so much better and more personal than just Netflix or Hulu. Call me old or not, I still think physical media is great
Agree but how many modern movies are worth buying on blu ray? Very few
Even with all these services there are plenty of movies and shows not on streaming. I don't want to subscribe to all these different things when I still have satellite TV and a sizable collection. Also there's no guarantee that what you want to watch will always be available to stream.
@@billsimms2511 I get what ur saying but theres still great movies that come out every year.
Also physical media also won't have scene removed due to current politics.
Hoarder yuk
I really like how you mentioned Vanilla Sky (I'm aware it's a remake). It remains, to this day, one of the best movie trailers I've ever seen and was also a fantastic, thought-provoking film, the kind you and your friends could talk about for a long time. All 3 leads were incredibly popular at the time and it was just so not what you'd normally expect from stars with such mainstream popularity - Diaz plays an insane jealous unlikeable character Cruise has his face mangled for half the movie, it explores some truly dark stuff. Great soundtrack and visually interesting movie for sure.
It is not a type of film that appeals to the public. It only did well because of the stars who were in it and the fact that Cameron Crowe at that time was the Christopher Nolan of of the era. The problem today is that audiences have been put off cinema because of the content that is being created by the industry.
Most normal working people are not interest in a CGI smash fest or an art house film about the struggle of the outer mongolians tribal people living in east LA.
I’m a DVD collector as well 📀
Nothing like *owning* a movie & seeing the deleted scenes, making of, director’s commentary, etc...
I too grew up in the VHS/DVD eras but I'll be honest with you....I don't miss the bonus features on the disk at all. They were, with a few exceptions, mostly crap
DVDs are expensive and take up space. Nowadays you can't really justify spending $30 on every single film you're probably going to watch once every five years. I only have a few now, and they're my absolute favorite movies that I'll watch multiple times a year. Other than that, I'll stream it when it's available.
@@inorite4553 Depends on the film I guess 🤷🏾♂️
Taxi Driver, Jaws, American Psycho, Steel Magnolias, Menace II Society (among others) had some GREAT bonus content!
@@JamesJiansen To each their own! I’ve got at least 300+ DVD’s & many of them were purchased *cheaply* at various thrift stores. A lot of movies/ shows disappear from streaming services, so I like having a copy in my library 📀
We say we want "original", "indie" films, yet we show up in droves whenever there's a Marvel movie. We are our own worst enemies.
Indie films with super low budgets are a risk ultimately as an average paying consumer (especially with a family) isn’t to ur benefit especially if marvel or other heavily marketed movies have that immediate appeal and shine. People who like indie films already have the pro bias going in. And as such most ppl need to be introduced to the system, standard and styles of the experience watching. I think a good middle ground would be to encourage further creative liberties with modern filmmakers rather than the companies and markets decide. Which is fair. For example we can get unbreakable or any other smaller budget, original film. But as extensions of newer media
Basically think joker 2019 bring the new era of older movies like taxi driver. It’s not impossible to tell these stories in a medium resembling the indie scene without going balls deep in the risks involved for the modern media industry. It’s not always the consumers fault. Though I do agree it makes me drone that ppl accept garbage which leads to this predictive style of filmmaking. Safety breeds the stagnation of the status quo. Imo at least.
The industry needs to evolve. The music industry did. Maybe not perfectly. But it’s a start. And that’s what is needed. Not relying on corporate predictive market formula based storytelling.
I mean, I can kinda relate in a way. I say I want original indie horror films and I DO! definitely want that, I watch those types of films all the time. But then when they do make an overproduced stupid modern big budget horror movie.. I still want to see that too.
As someone who enjoys watching indie films i say that not all of them are good movies and i'm not going to go and watch all indie films in the theater just cuz they are indie and i need to support them
@@LuisSierra42 You're not flawed in your thinking, I agree.
But you say that not all indie films are good movies... when I find that there are waaayyyy more bad big budget films than there are indie.
@@cookiesontoast9981 I agree, i think the average blockbuster can only work as passing entertainment at best while the average indie movie is usually a very personal story which could help you re-contextualize how you see certain things. What i say is that, if studios only respond to whether many people support indie films in order to finance them, then it is a losing game for both filmmakers and movie goers because it is not possible that mass audiences are going to go to every indie movie just because they have to support them. A lot of people just want to forget their problems for a couple of hours for which a marvel movie will suffice
I really agree with you Chris and I definitely try to go out and support the small films, but I think there also needs to be a different method in the way we consume our movies for these types of movies to survive. It’s easy to say the solution is for us audiences to go support the right kind of movies but there are gaps in marketing and in overall publicity around smaller project compared to larger projects to the point where I didn’t even know the last duel had come out til there was controversy. I don’t think the market itself is going to come out and refinance these films, so I think self financing films will be a lot more popular, or maybe it’ll be streaming services like Netflix that start to make more movies in that price range as their smaller studios ramp up
Thanks Chris. I have this natural aversion to paying 3.99 for a movie through Amazon, for example, and I know its because of streaming services. Thanks for reminding me that I need to be more aware of the impact the audience has on the films we love. I think we tend to forget that movies don’t just get made no matter what; we have a voice! Thanks again
I think part of the problem is that theatre tickets are cost prohibitive. I've written about this before, but when a ticket costs about 2 hours of minimum wage work in change, that's a problem. And people are only gonna spend that kind of money when they absolutely think it's worth it.
Couldn’t agree more. In NYC theaters actually wrote that a film theater experience was no different than a Broadway experience and that the prices should reflect that. That did it for me, spending over 50$ for me and my kid to see an imax film with snacks is rough, especially cause the film wasn’t that good.
Ticket prices are a huge reason why theatres are dying but nobody in the industry wants to open that can of worms. Big prices mean people only see a few movies a year.
Exactly.. Ppl aren't paying money they are paying hours. 20$ is over 2 hour label.. And with covid crisis, unemployment is high as ever..
Exactly. And when, more often than not, so many modern movies are insultingly bad, it removes the incentive to trust Hollywood next time, and by extension people turn to piracy.
I have a local theater that has fairly priced concessions and tickets that are about half AMC price and it makes me want to go twice a month versus a few times a year. They make way more on my repeat business, theaters need to re-evaluate pricing.
This is why I'm so grateful for a studio like A24 to finance and distribute original and not IP movies and send them into theaters instead of straight to streaming. I saw Everything Everywhere All At Once last night and there were only about 10 other people in the theater. I'm gonna see Ambulance tonight and I'm not expecting a whole lot more people to show up at the showing that I'm gonna be at. People care more about seeing bland blockbuster films, sequels, remakes and anything that's IP like you said. Don't get me wrong. I saw The Batman and I loved it & the new Doctor Strange looks great. But, I'm far more interested in seeing original, quality films in theaters. Also, I rarely watch new movies that are straight to streaming because I want that first viewing of a new movie in the best way possible, THE MOVIEGOING EXPERIENCE!!! I'm sure there are definitely people that are on my side about this. But, a majority of other people don't care about seeing quality movies in the theater and would rather see Sonic The Hedgehog 2 instead of Everything Everywhere All At Once. It makes me truly angry and sad. But, I'm still going to the theaters to see the movies that do come out theatrically that I'm really interested in seeing.
I think Vanilla Sky is very underrated.
The prosthetic mask scene is still one of the very best of all time.
In many of the these large budget movies, a huge portion is spent on the 2 or 3 lead actors. Maybe Hollywood needs stop paying the key actors 20M+ and offer something more reasonable like 2M and a larger cut of profits. Now you will have more money to work with. Everyone takes on the risk and rewards. Just my thoughts. Great video.
@@thomashajicek2747 Why shouldn't they be paid that? If their names put butts in seats, then they deserve to get their fair share. This is a business like any other. You wouldn't tell any other businessmen they should make less to sell their product.
@@thomashajicek2747 You may not but most people do. Tom Cruise, Julia Roberts, Brad Pitt, Angelina and many others at one point or the other were the main draws to see a film. It's not about being a crybaby, it's about getting your fair share of what you bring to the table. This isn't about what you feel they should make. This is is about numbers, and big names bring tend to bring in higher numbers at the box office.
@@thomashajicek2747 they should be paid 20+. It’s a career that’s not guaranteed. I know actors who are not making much so for them to finally make it . Yes they deserve it.
This is crazy, I just started winter break and I’ve been on a roll watching early 2000s-2010 films and I was thinking to myself “man, they just don’t make ‘em like they use to.”
I mean come comedy, to romantic comedies, to actions movies. Hollywood is sorrily lacking. Now I watch Japanese movies for Horror, Korean movies for Thrillers and I watch Kdramas for action and adventure. I’ve pretty much outsourced my needs to other foreign markets because the shit Hollywood is churning out nowadays is just shit.
Not to say that Japan and Korea haven’t produced bad movies, but their bad ones are more tolerable to me.
Movies from 2000 to 2010 were awesome, man
the thing is that today crass comedies are harder to get released because you run the risk of pissing off some groups.
@@willhuey4462 that's not why. No one watched them as much as you'd like to think they do
@@phoenixfunny4517 i was referring to how sensitive the current generation.
@@willhuey4462 I mean. If you’re a studio, why risk it, look at typical crass comedies, they historically don’t make that much money, they don’t win awards, and they aren’t incredibly received, so why would a studio make a movie that will offend people, not make much money, and won’t get them any awards or praise?
Excellent analysis of the finance of film and why it impacts everything. I would add that this issue is hardly a new one and we're in a period of transition to newer mediums and avenues of expression in film. Theater was displaced by filmmaking, which itself started as short clips meant to enthrall and entice, similar to the advent of youtube videos ca. 2005. And now we're seeing a transition.
I see what is going on as a reflection of the 1950s when Hollywood saturated the market with Musicals and bankrupted themselves which gave rise to New Hollywood and the iconoclasts of Warren Beatty, Anthony Hopper et. al. As Hollywood continues to invest in safe IPs, and exhaust those IPs, it will cross a point of diminishing returns.
I see creators like Joel Haver as representative of potential future new-hollywood style developments where creators bypass the gatekeepers and push their market to a dedicated audience built up over time.
Do I like this fact? Eh, I don't know yet, but I see us entering a new phase of film and a subsequent market sprouting from it.
This comment should be much higher up! I'm always the one in conversations to point out that everything old is new again, and I find it almost always brings down the temperament of the conversation, in positive ways.
Good perspective on the bigger picture. Also to piggyback off of what you said, I personally think that the “new thing” in entertainment is gaming. While individual games can and often are more expensive than individual movie tickets, they can also provide entertainment for far longer.
@@TheVirtualObserver That's a good point too! I remember a few years on the show Patriot Act, they had talked about how video games were expected to bring in more than sports, movies, & concerts combined (which I think was going to be around a billion dollars or more). The episode is on youtube if you're interested, but there are a few games I can think of that are cinematic with better stories compared to big movie releases
I actually miss the era of "the movie star". Specfically the mid 90's to mid 2000's. When you had action guys like Van Damme, Wesley Snipes, Arnold etc. Then you had comedy guys like Jim Carrey, Robin Williams etc. Might just be nostalgia being a 90's baby but something about those films felt golden. Even the "bad films" still had their own charm. Felt like Hollywood made any and all films.
100% with you. Social media killed the movie star.
I think that was a big reason orginal films did well, the actor was enough to sell it. Not anymore
@@manofmedia992
It has nothing to do with social media. Hollywood stopped producing stars and stopped producing movies that the public as a whole want.
Disney is producing comic book movies that appeal to a sector of the public but outside of that which 85% of the population the content is terrible.
Most people have an expectation that a film is going to be of a certain point of view and they do not feel entertained by it.
@@bighands69 Social media is a big part of it because it diminished the star power of celebrities. Prior to MySpace we didn't get to wake up & go to sleep with celebrities, see where they are, what they're eating, they're family, see how normal they are, etc. They had star power & a Nicolas Cage led movie meant something in the early 2000s & prior. They were elusive & had a mystique about them. You only saw fractions of them on talk shows, red carpets, & most importantly the movies.
Now with the boom of social media any bafoon i.e. Paul Brothers, Fouseytube, Eliza Koshy, Viners, Twitch streamers, vloggers, etc. can & will be stars. The new generation isn't really that impressed with movie stars like they used to be, they're more impressed by the internet celebrities probably because that lifestyle is more in their grasp. All you need is an internet connection & a camera rather than film school.
Finally, Hollywood realized your George Clooney's & Brad Pitts of the world aren't drawing the crowds like they used to, so you're right, now it's more about the IP (BIG BUDGET COMIC BOOK MOVIES, STAR WARS, ETC) rather than the movie star. I stand by my point that social media & ill add The Internet, killed the movie star.
@@manofmedia992
George Clooney was starting to become irrelevant before the rise of social media. Brad Pitt movies still draw an audience but the whole industry is in decline. But Pitt is now closing in on 60 years of age.
If you go back to 2013 you can see that it was the year of Prisoners, Wolf of Wall Street, Dallas Buyers Club, Her, Gravity, Captain Philips, Oblivion, World War Z, Rush, Man of Steel, The Conjuring, Lone Survivor, Gangster Squad, Elysium, Trance, The Lone Ranger and the Purge.
The film industry today is nothing like that with absolutely no effort being made at all to bring those types of films to the theatres.
I rewatched a bunch of older Nicholas Cage big budget movies: Face/Off, Con Air, heck even Leaving Las Vegas. They are all masterpieces now when at the time, the critics gave some of these movies below average scores.
A big part of the reason “those” movies aren’t being made anymore is because they are being turned into shows and mini series. That content isn’t really disappearing it’s just turning into a different format.
They're only being turned into series because it's easier to get a series greenlit than a film nowadays.
@@KW-vy1rf because a series has multiple revenue streams, is cheaper to make and can run for multiple years
And those shows often don't have enough story for long form content (alot of pointless filler episodes).
Yes, and there are so many options on tv/streaming that people can find things they want to watch at home, and going to the theatre becomes less appealing and less exciting
Older people often tend to give less charity to newer things, forgetting the fact that as time passes, things will become less and less original and it'll be harder and harder to come up with new ideas. Artists in the past are idealized and mythologized, but if we are honest its hard to tell alot of times whether artists were truly genius in their time or were just simply in the right place right time and did something that was inevitable anyway.
I disagree with that. Humanity has been telling stories as long as we've existed and it has never cared for "originality" the same stories got passed around, they altered in the telling or in the cultures they got adapted for, and yet people never got tired of them. Heck, people aren't tired of them to this day. That's why we can make the period piece or the Shakespeare adaptation.
The issue right now, in this moment is money.
Studios and their investors want more of it, more than ever before. And wanting money means wanting to avoid risks. IPs have established fanbases, people that are going to see the film, no matter how good or bad, it means that they have built in profit and as such this has become a defining factor in getting financing in the first place. Movies have become more formulaic, because those formulas have been doing the job. When they finally don't any more, we'll see a change. But it definitely isnt' about artists or originality.
All the examples of good movies in this video are adaptations. How original.
@@LupineShadowOmega actually main problem is population.. The past 20 yrs population has increased as well.. So more ppl means more needs of resources... Hence the money has become a problem.. But also ppl's interests has changed and certain genre don't work or it does but ppl don't wanna pay for it bcuz the value has increased that being the ticket price.
Yes. This is true. But so many movies now have so many plot holes one gets annoyed. All one has to do is watch Screen Rant's Ryan do his movie pitches.
I disagree, you can still be creative and find new ideas or tell them in a different way. The 2010's/2020's so far has been the worse era for movies because Hollywood is still living off more creative decades and riding the coattails of older franchises. I hate using the word but Woke culture has damaged American movies and Hollywood/many corporations listen to a small percentage of leftist losers for whatever reason.
I really like that Chris brought this up. I've actually been purchasing some of my favorite movies of all time dating back to the 80s/90s on movies anywhere, because movies on streaming are only available temporarily, and I'm tired of having to search between streaming platforms to find a movie. I'd rather just own it now. What better way than through a digital library. While movies for purchase are 19.99, every now and then, they end up on sale (i.e. 7.99, 4.99, etc)
I think the main reason like you mentioned is what movies people go to see. I am 18 so naturally most of the people interacted with during school were my age and when it came to movies I noticed a few things. First and foremost people my age only care about one thing, “spectacle”. That is why the majority of the movies being made are blockbusters.
The people going to see movies these days are younger so it makes sense to appeal to them. But this causes an issue and that issue is that younger people don’t care about acting, storytelling, etc. they only care about the spectacle.
I’ll give you an example. I asked my friends what some of the best movies they’ve seen are and naturally I heard Marvel or Star Wars or pretty much any blockbuster made in the last 20 years. Then I told them some of mine. Good Will Hunting, The Departed, Silence of The Lambs and not a single one of them knew what those movies were. So in an attempt to show them what movies used to be like I recommended certain movies The Godfather, The Good The Bad and The Ugly, etc. and every single one of them said essentially the same thing “that was boring”.
Now I’m not saying all people my age are that way I know quite a few people like me that can see the faults in blockbusters and see the brilliance in other types of movies but the vast majority only want to see the “spectacle”.
For a second example I’ll use the wildly popular Spider-Man No Way Home. Myself and three friends went to watch it. All three said that it is one of the greatest movies of all time and although I did think it was very good it’s definitely not on that level. So I explained to them the faults I had with it and out of the three, one acknowledged my criticisms the other two didn’t care because all they saw was the spectacle.
Movies are made the way they are today not because people don’t know how to make good movies, but because audiences don’t know what good movies are.
First off, be encouraged that your journey for more will be met with great reward. I was about your age that I really dove deep into film and really studied it. Fell in love with it really. Haven’t stopped discovering and rediscovering it.
With that said, the theme of “spectacle” is spot on. I think it’s meant to be polished, to generate a “feeling” (be it that it’s deep or not, it was a sensation met) and then forgotten. What your describing reminds me of why songs originally were faded out during the juke box era, it gave a sense that the song was incomplete and prompted the listener to feed it more coins to listen again. I think this type of entertainment, at least from my experience, functions similar - the next chapter of the story, the next reveal of an anticipated character.
I took my cousin, who is 21 years my junior to see “No Way Home.” He was happy, that’s all that mattered to me but we also talked about why he was. I thought it was so so, it delivered what the fans wanted but by no means the most emotionally riveting or gut wrenching film I’ve seen. Speaking to what you introduced, it’s because there isn’t anything better to compare it to. And to be honest, some older films do drag. And before others jump on me for that, doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate the writing, set design, cinematography or advancement in specific techniques that were introduced in said film. I think it’s important to see origins and how they evolved and perfected. At least for me, I can appreciate film that way. For where it came from to where it is now.
In short, don’t be discouraged that others your age don’t get it. Continue to explore films that speak to you. Don’t hesitate to rewatch them either, I always find something new as the years go by that I didn’t appreciate when I first watched it. It’s not easy to go against the flow but stick with it. Thanks for sharing.
I do agree...this is what is ruining film. I'm 20 years older than you and it's weird because when I was growing up we could appreciate both forms. We had blockbusters like Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Men in Black, Independence Day and more, but we also had a ton of mid-budget films that are iconic today. My generation seemed to appreciate both. I wonder why your generation seems to mostly focus on the spectacle. Part of me wonders if it is their parents. My parents introduced me to a ton of different movies. We used to watch movies a lot as a family. I'd imagine with the increased economic pressures that exist today...maybe parents don't watch a lot of movies with their kids. Then when left to their own devices...I could see how they might just appreciate the spectacle.
Honestly, IMO...the blockbusters even used to be better in the 90's and 2000's. The blockbusters made today I pretty much react to the same way your friends do to classics...boring. They have no heart...no storyline...nothing. It's just empty...spectacle.
@@drewzalo Let me guess.
You didn't watch the power of the dog, did you?
@@avanishdutta2658 I have and saw Old Henry as well, both films were solid and appreciated what they bring to the western genre.
@@drewzalo Honestly who will actually see memoria or something like the lost daughter?
The Souvenir part 1 was called boring by audiences, whereas critics praised it. Even part 2 released last year was praised.
People really praise spectacle over solid drama driven by dialogue.
Even Mamet's House of Games is slow burning drama driven entirely by dialogue, but i guess people will walk out of theatres if it's shown today.
It’s a fascinating subject. My dad watches a lot of streaming content and he even said that the technical aspects are noticeable. On big, fun movie theatre films there’s a lot more creativity, whereas streamer flicks can be boiled down to 1-5 locations, lots of shot reverse shot dialogue scenes, and a formulaic story. My dad’s not in the bizz, so for him to notice that kind of shows that there’s a pattern.
There needs to be WAY more risk taking on all levels. If studios are so afraid of losing money on mid tier projects then it’s time to find creative ways to work with a smaller budget to mitigate that risk. We need to celebrate the really good low budget 500K-5 mill projects because that’s how future filmmakers get noticed, while also actively trying to foster movies outside the MCU/DCEU.
Well said and props to ur dad
Its time to get creative!
Interesting, and I agree with your dad. Simple formularic movies in streaming might implant too much in our minds that whenever there's an actual original movie with layers of storyline.. We might be too dumb to get it.. And I feel like that day has already arrived.. Or is close
@@emyf9197 This is true, I had to watch Squid Games alone because my girl didn't want to read subtitles...audiences all over are dummed down
@@ahmorgan I find it hard to read subtitles sometimes.. Like I have to have my eyes glued to the screen. So I watched it in dubbing in a different language lol honestly it wasn't that bad. I watched parasite in sub. And that was a breath of fresh air and felt I cleansed my brain from all the same stereotype movies that Hollywood nowadays releases
On the issue of piracy, When Netflix started rising, watching content was made easier. People would not get into all the trouble of searching and illegally downloading content but with all those different subscription platforms nowadays we just can’t keep up and wont even bother. They should come together and create collaborations so that lower incomes can keep up 🤷🏻
Exactly the thing that no one ever wants to mention. Making things more coinvent than piracy always wins you the war. It happened with music and it happened with streaming.
Exactly, a lot of people can't pay for more than 2 streaming services, or even Blu-rays. In Third world countrys like Argentina (which i live in it) we have no problem to pay monthly Spotify (even when it's expensive) because you know that everything you want, it will be there, but movies are distributed in 100 streaming services, Blu-rays are expensive as fuck (if you get one) and the only alternative to this is piracy. And movies like The Last Duel which i really wanted to see in are like at most, 1 week in the theaters , and if you are busy in that small time period you will know that you will have to wait for the movie to be available in piracy
Pirating was just as deep back before Netflix. Actually some would say (not me 😂) that piratebay was at its peak back then.
@@GasparReyna Argentina isn´t a third world country. It only has an inflation problem. Maybe don`t vote for the Peronist anymore?
Hollywood loves to play the victim but they would all kill their own mother if it earned them a dollar. Hollywood movies aren't about art, great scrips, good directors etc. Unfortunately Chris is way too deep into this world to see clearly and I was rather disappointed by this video.
Movies that get made have minimum risk for maximum profit. In my opinion there is no reason to save the industry. Let them all lose their career. When the ruins burn, very very quickly you will see a new industry rise and people can make clear again with only supporting the businesses that they like, what we really want from the industry.
This is what I like about A24 Films, they support a lot of "out of the norm" films that I love. I never got a chance to see The Green Knight in theaters because I don't have a local one to go to, but I sure as hell made sure I bought it on Blu-ray to show my support.
And it's funny that people trash A24 for calling it a flop studio in defense that their movies are bad. A24 is an indie movie, they don't give a single damn about box office, they just wanna make great movies and win as much as awards as they possible. It's sad that people complain that Hollywood lack of originality but when studios like A24 release a good original movie, people barely show up at the theater to support it. I'm starting to get really upset that theaters around me barely shows any A24 movie. The last A24 movie I remember that they shown in theater was Hereditary and that was 3 fucking years ago
@@LebahG4nteng No, people dislike A24 because they deliberately mis-market their movies. They're an arthouse studio, but consistently advertise their movies as though they'd appeal to mainstream audiences. People expect something along the lines of The Conjuring and get something nothing like it.
@@almightycinder Generalizations are useless. Only time I heard about a A24 film being mismarketed was "It Comes At Night", and even that was still pitched within the horror genre, so in actuality the outcry there isn't even all that valid.
@@tonyward5280 Lamb was pretty mis-marketed , idk A24 is hit or miss in general, to each their own though.
@@almightycinder watch Minari, First Cow, Moonlight, Tragedy of Macbeth, Lady Bird, eight grade trailers and try to tell me those are misleading. There are many others too
Thank you for this video. I never really thought that we as everyday people would have THAT big of an effect. But it helps to hear perspective from someone actually working in this industry.
Worth noting that The Empty Man cost $16,000,000, which is incredible for an obscure IP that's very hard to market for what it really is.
LOVE the empty man!!! I keep talking about it! Desperate to find a hard copy!!
Never even heard of it. Where can I watch it?
Yeah that is incredible……… but it bombed in the box office so don’t expect something like that to happen again
@@tomahawkinc5971 Sad that it bombed but I bet it becomes a cult classic! Technically I think the Shawshank Redemption didn’t do well at the cinema and made its money back from vhs rentals/purchases where everyone who watched it told someone else they had to watch it!!
@@TheDreamfinder99 yeah but Shawshank redemption came out at a time when people actually bought dvd. Everybody just uses streaming services now.
"Be Kind Rewind" intrigues me not just as a feature-length love letter to the moviegoing communities we cultivate in person or online, but how very few cinephiles I know discuss or have even heard of the film at all.
You’d think that with RUclips opening doors for viewers to learn about obscure works of cinema, "Be Kind Rewind" would be a title mentioned at some point. But for whatever reason, that has yet to happen.
Great movie
It always astounds me whenever people talk about low-budget films costing millions. The film industry is really expensive.
Smaller films can make money . It’s just the studios doesn’t advertise them as much and plus there are to many films and shows , events coming out everyday
Chris, I appreciate your thoughts, but I’m going to have to push back on you a bit here. Here in the Denver metro area, I’ve been to different theaters here about a dozen times since I moved here 2 years ago, and almost every time it’s a miserable experience.
Most notably, the evening that Dune came out, I got tickets, the moment they went on sale, for Thursday night, and I mistakenly thought I wanted the imax experience. I say mistakenly because this theater was such a POS, they tainted the experience that I wanted to be great. The seats were uncomfortable, the rows were too close to each other to the point that my knees were touching the seats in front of me. The sound was clipping, the screen was thrashed and there was something eminating a small blue LED light from behind the screen in the middle of the picture.
All of this is not to mention the common problems with most of these theaters like: the food prices are ridiculous, the staff customer service is not on par to commensurate how expensive it is to buy the food, and they don’t give the best effort in keeping the theaters clean, and they’re not monitoring the audience for disruptive guests during the film.
I can’t stand going to the theater and it breaks my heart because I want to, but not as much as I want to avoid being a sucker. Sorry but, this is a more complex issue than: just go to see the movie. Things need to change in every aspect of the business in order to make it an equitable value for the customer because most of us are perfectly justified in preferring our own sofa and eating our own food and watching our own screen.
I love having physical copies of my media. I buy tons of Blu Ray and DVD. One thing I'm noticing is it is really hard to find things like Stranger Things or the Mandalorian on actual physical media bc they are so closely tied to the streaming services. I understand that. Those shows might be the only things bringing someone to actually subscribe to Netflix or Disney+. So, it makes sense that someone would just buy the physical media and save money on streaming services if they were readily available. I hate this concept. Everything is going to streaming. We don't own anything any more. Music has been primarily streaming for a very long time. I support bands I love by buying albums on vinyl. Video games are the same way. Everything is digital. If those services decide to take down those shows or movies, we lose them. Or, even worse, they can significantly jack up their prices, and you're screwed if you want to have access to it. And now, we don't just have Netflix and Hulu any more. It's going to end up being cable all over again with all of these stupid bundles and everything. The streaming service "web" (I'll call it) is a convoluted mess. The worst part about this is I feel there will come a time that you won't even be able to buy the movies/shows. They will only exist on the streaming services. I don't know how to prevent this, but I hope something happens to indeed prevent it.
I was literally just thinking to myself. Chris is probably making this video right now. 🎬
Not gonna lie that movie the empty man sucked
6:37 But I think a lot of that mentality is simply down to the amount of "spectacle" on offer. For most people, actually going out and seeing a movie in a theater is an event that takes time and planning (especially these days) so it's only natural that people are going to feel more compelled to do this for a big budget, big spectacle, special effects heavy movie with action and explosions, where the huge screen and surround sound really makes a difference... as opposed to a much smaller, intimate character-driven film, and I think this has pretty much _always_ been the case, at least for me.
Agree with the problem but most of these budgets are tied up in actor salaries. When demand drops (or moves from dvd to streaming) and supplies are high (multiple cheap viewing options), prices go down. The REAL solution is to decrease actor salaries to meet the current demand.
Exactly. Yes they carry the movies but do they really worth couple hundred million on top of all the back end deal
If they all stop giving in to all their demand then they have more money for other resources
Eg RDJ is great but it is also the vision the director …etc. if iron man was handled poorly , it would still tanked
I’m glad nowadays society don’t treat celebrities like they used to in the 90s when their word were treated like second coming of Jesus
Also streaming make me see how much better foreign movies and shows they are now compare to Hollywood
Because if an actor is part of the guild and they play the same role more than once their salary goes up dramtically because it makes them type casted?
@@MiniBeas still don’t think they should be paid monies that they no longer need to work for 20 generations if not more
When health care ..etc or even ppl who work on the movies , the stunts that actually risk their lives get paid peanuts
Cast of friends still receive millions every year Sure u can argue they bring joy to so many ppl even till now
Yes I get it’s how capitalism works but with more choices , social media RUclips streaming .. glad they don’t have the monopoly like before
Just like how this pandemic made many ppl realize they don’t need to be abused just for some earning.
@@dandansfu my post wasn't really trying to defend the actors it was just trying to show that there's already a corrupt Hollywood system in place.
Dragged across concrete and The mule were pretty good films that did sell a lot of tickets at the theatres. They came out during the ultimate prime of the MCU and still did good. I remember myself going to the theatre to watch and it felt weird cause for about two years all that really came out were bug blockbuster movies to the point that actually watching a drama didn't feel like a 'theatre experience'. I hope more people can support movies like that so we can still enjoy them in the future.
Maybe you need to revisit the films that came out in 2016 - 2017
@@isaiahfreeman there were other good films ofc just these two happened to be on top of my head.
So glad you talked about this! With Hollywood, you vote with your dollar. A few times this year I've had to drive out of my city to see smaller movies. Gotta do it if we want more great films to see the light of day.
It's not just Hollywood, it's literally every company. Other companies are more supportive of creative projects and not just franchises but they still give plenty of shit about money
Yeah, I'm trying to see "smaller" movies in the cinema to help "to maintain" a variety of films. I guess AMC films, Netflix, Apple Movies, Hulu and other online movie services are helping the smaller movies to be made. I liked "The Last Duel". I thought it was well adapted from the book, especially for today's film audience. I liked the three variations of the same story in one.
I know Chris said that streaming killed dvd sales and significantly lowered the chances of these movies made but I think streaming could also be thing that brings these movies back. It happens so often that I see a mid budget movie trending on Netflix. Whether its a Ryan Reynolds rom com or a Liam Neelson action movie, the mid budget genre seems to be very popular on streaming. Since these services use user data to gauge what the audience likes and greenlight their movies accordingly, they are more likely to finance these movies than say Sony Pictures or Warner Bros.
Netflix has already seen tremendous sucsess with their mid budget original movies. Films like Bird Box, Project Power, Extraction, The Old Guard are all in the budget range that Chris talked about. Now none of them are particularly good movies, but they are bringing in viewership and thats all that streaming services care about. I think these kinds of movies will continue to exist, the only difference will be that they will be exclusive to streaming instead of purely theatrical.
You seem to be glass-half-full when it comes to streaming , and I generally agree that it’s not like good non-franchise films are going to disappear completely. But the last movie I saw was Home Sweet Home Alone, which kind of emptied my optimism glass.
But when it's just content padding on a streaming platform, there's no incentive (or at least far less) to make it good.
Streaming doesn't make enough money. At the end of the day it's about money. If many people watch it but there's not enough money , no reason to continue .
Lik Chris had mentioned in the vid, streaming just doesn't make the same amount of money when it comes to profit.. Or even to break even.
If this goes on, even the Theater face the danger of being irrelevant in the future because of bigger/better TV screens, home projectors, and sound system..
The Positioning of Value is just different, not just about accessibility.
They may not be good movies but are they entertaining movies. The general audience doesn't care about good or bad, they only care about entertaining or boring. Like sam raimi Said the worst thing a movie can be is boring, implying maybe the best thing a movie can be is entertaining.
Exec: "Why didn't anyone see our movie?"
Unpaid Intern: "Because no one knew it was coming out because we didn't put any money or effort into marketing? We also didn't spring for a wide release, so people who did want to see it didn't live anywhere near where it was showing? We also told them that they could wait a week and watch it at home for exceptionally less money on our streaming service instead of 'forcing' them to buy it physically and making our money back?"
Exec: "No that can't be it... did we win any Oscars?"
This.
As a film major myself, i can tell you that I love buying movies. More on stores like Disc Replay to buy movies on DVD or blu ray from $4-$6 each and love buying a lot for collection. New movies are hard to buy right away and depends of the streaming it will be on right away (DC films going to HBO).
Someone like my sister who mostly watches TV shows on Netflix, she will NEVER buy a DVD or blu ray for the ret of her life. She doesn't have a game system or a shelf for herself, so she is like most young audiences who will watch it streaming and never buy a movie
So I'm one of few people like many y'all here that still buys physical movies. But with limited space, just buying those that we love.
And it sucks that many people I know like my cousins who aren't movie buffs, don't ever buy physical movies either and some watch streaming shows on illegal piracy ways to not pay them which is dumb.
So it sucks that because this is how we live right now with streaming services that many movies are going to be on a strict budget 😕
There are more original films being made than anytime in history. Its just that they are on streaming instead of the big screen.
Chris is not just talking about volume. I'm not sure how you missed that -- that was sort of the central thrust of the entire video.
@@artistryartistry7239
Wow, that's a snobby response. If not for streaming democratizing filmmaking, I now greatly appreciate the diversity in entertainment that I am now able to enjoy that never existed before streaming.
Why am I expected to only watch Scorsese for the rest of eternity as the only standard of movie quality? How snobby is that?
@@nnveepathlight9528Dude he isn’t being snobby
He is addressing the fact that Hollywood is primarily making more and more I.P franchises films
While original ones are made with lower and lower budgets and then dumped on streaming and forgotten in a day.
You mentioned Scorsese, well if Scorsese was young today he probably wouldn’t have become as well known Taxi driver would’ve been dumped on streaming and maybe gotten a small cult following and not the iconic classic today.
I think budget control is a big issue, especially since the MCU took off. I can think of so many movies that could have been made for 20-30mil less than they actually were, which would have put them into that neglected mid-budget range you were talking about.
I think cheaper, story driven movies will make a comeback. That, and season long "movies" like Midnight Mass on Netflix, which was quite good.
The nice guys, which a lot of people mentioned, still cost $50 million when they surely could have made it cheaper and turned a profit.
@@jamesatkinsonja That was a fairly big movie, and any time you make it a period piece it's going to add to the budget. $50 million isn't bad if it includes Russell Crow's salary.
@@capitalcitygoofball1987 True. I'd expect they had to fight for that period piece and budget tooth and nail [it was going to be a tv pilot-with cheaper actors at one stage and the proposed TV spin off was contemporary-and in name only].
@@capitalcitygoofball1987 but it cost Netflix 30-50 million to make these movies too what’s gonna eventually happen - Netflix will soon raise your monthly rate to $99 and then people will cut the Netflix cord…shit maybe this will mean books will make a comeback
I think my favorite part is you seem to think a bunch of people have disposable income to throw away on a film that would have been just, or maybe more entertaining at home because you get to watch and absorb the movie without all the other issues with going to a theater. The people who are theater diehards are lessening by the day. I used to go to the theater at least 3 times a month then I couldn't see spending that money on the gamble where I could just get another game that will give me hours of enjoyment.
I called him out on this very thing.
Life has gotten much more expensive which is why "cutting the cord" led to the rise of Netflix and other streaming services.
Moviegoers aren't killing movies, the lack of disposable income is
Chris is in too deep and cannot have a decent opinion about this anymore. Also, as a movie maker he is way too biased. It always saddens me when people get so stuck in their own bubble that they think their life is the standard.
@@inorite4553 he’s not denying that though. he said there’s multiple reasons as to why things have changed. he’s not gonna talk on something he can’t personally relate to so he’s sharing only his experiences and how he believes things can change.
@@subject122 Agreed. But the days of people buying $20-$30 blu-rays are long gone and never coming back. It literally makes no sense when it's available on Netflix or it can just be pirated. And for people with limited income, there's no way they're gonna spend anything on stuff like movies, TV shows etc when they can literally watch them for free one way or the other.
Not saying that Chris is intending to do this, but I'm not really that keen on the blame the audience narrative tbh. Its a very multifacieted issue that reaches far beyond just that.
My main issue is that people seem use this line of thinking to suggest that there has been some kind of audience dumbing down over the years, like all folks want to see is explosions and cars (and sometimes they do and that's just fine), as if people can't appreciate a good narrative anymore - but for me even a casual oservation shows that this is not really the case. I would argue that people now more than ever regularly expose themselves to extremely complex narratives and understand on a subliminal level story telling far better than people of past generations. There has been an explosion of rich and complex narratives explored in TV, video games, books, comics and hell even roleplaying - the fact that something like Critical Roll can span 100+ episodes per season and is a making multi millions on twitch says something creatively. People have no problem supporting deep complex narrative story telling. Nerd culture, which feeds off these kind of intricate details, is now more than ever - THE culture.
I can tell you why I don't go to the cinema very often and that's mainly an economic issue, especially post economic crisis where many jobs have not kept up with raising living costs. In my life time (I'm 38) there has been a very real pumping up of cinema ticket prices that makes it hard to justify a night out at the movies, especially for something that's not a sensory spectical. Its the audience that can't afford to take risks these days. For example, if I want to go out with my wife, have a meal and watch a movie, its £50+ easily, which for me (and I'm sure many) is significant. How do teenagers even go do the cinema or have a movie date these days? Student tickets are like 50p less than full price, which is a joke.
Movies and cinemas have turned themselves into luxury experiences that just aren't accessible to the average person who will happily pay for art, but wont be gouged for it. That £50 I quoted would be a good chunk of my monthly "fun money" budget. Many people simply look at the price associated with going to see a movie + car parking + food + child care + what ever the fuck else and subconsciously shrug and say to themselves "Nar I'll pay for Netflix and watch Arcane - which is 9 episodes of exceptional art thanks".
Then there is just the hard reality that people can frankly have a better time watching a thriller, comedy or character piece from the comfort of their own home. Its cheaper, the TV size and picture + sound quality is good enough to give you everything you would want from the experience of watching something like Bridge of Spys (the last "like the old days" movie I probably did see at the cinema). There are no annoying people around you, no having to walk from A to B in the rain and the cold to get there, no super late night after a long shift at work waiting for a showing time, you can just watch it with your feet up in the best seats in the house - because its your house and your seats. Cimenas can't compete with that and price themselves like they can.
I'm aware of course that cinemas don't truly set the prices and many struggle to make money, especially indi cinemas - but that just expands my point. Its an economic issue. Its not surprising therefore that movies have just fallen back on making big budget Marvel style movies, they offer a cinema a chance to do the only thing you can't do at home - show a big sensory spectical as large as possible.
None of this is saying that I like the situation, it sucks, but I can't see the audience shifting until the economics of going to the cinema shifts - and whos fault really is that?
Anyway, sorry very ranty and just to make clear I really love Chris's videos so its no bash on him - just a point I wanted to put across.
I'm also 38 and You make some great points. My family didn't have a lot of money growing up but going to the movies and getting something to eat was affordable even for working class families back in the 90's. I think so many things have changed the game, blockbuster movies use to feel like an event, they were mostly coming out in the summer or maybe one or two got dropped around Christmas, but we get hit with a new superhero movie every like 2 weeks and we get slammed with reboots/remakes. I agree with Chris on missing those middle budget movies like Rainmaker or A Few Good Men, Actual adult movies that got a budget and felt epic in a way. I put some blame on the general public, So many people say I'm sick of superhero movies and reboots, but they keep seeing them in theaters. The only way Hollywood will change is if we force them to be creative and not allow them to live off previous decades/older franchises.
@@BishopWalters12 Hiya, thanks for the reply! I don't really comment much, which probably shows based off how long and shit my comments are. lol
I actually don't put that much blame on the general public tbh, as I've said I don't think the economics of the situation can be understated. The hard reality is that many showings of movies are almost empty and needlessly so. They have turned going to see movies into a theme park ride in an attempt to justify the prices and compete. But they can't compete with being in your own house, eating your own food in a much better and private setting than any cinema can provide. Lets be real the only two advantages a cinema has are: 1) Bigger screen and sound and 2) you get to see it early.
Factor 1 is almost entirely irrelevant for a very large array of none mega blockbuster films so that only leaves factor 2. Imagine if going to the cinema was much cheaper, the prospect of going to see that new interesting character piece early would become much more appealing and not just to you but a good number of people. One of the reasons this is not the case is because it's more profitable (for the studio) to have multiple showings a night of one massive visual spectacle movie charging £14 per ticket than it is to have all the screens active, with many more people spread across multiple screens watching and supporting different movies for £5 a ticket (which would be better for the cinema as more people means more food and drink purchases - which is where they make their money).
A lot of this is the result of the wild success of movies like Lord of the Rings, Titanic, Jurassic Park and especially Avatar, which really shifted the perception of the cinema into more of a theme park experience thanks to the 3D era that followed. I'm not bashing any of these movies, but to my mind after Avatar we entered a period of not so slow erosion that was inevitable because prices have a way of never going down once they go up and we all proved that we were happy to pay extra to slap some glasses on.
The entire range of media, including this very channel and platform, offer people so many opportunities to experience artistic expression. My mention of Critical Roll rearly is no joke, just consider how unlikely that would have been 20 years ago, and yet they are so successful they are getting an animation made and are the top-earning twitch channel - a live D&D game. The competition by other media for a moviegoers attention is greater than ever and our opportunity to consume new and interesting narratives in a number of different ways is no longer limited to the "big screen". The Video Game industry (for all its horrible dark side, which is a very separate topic) makes more than the music industry and film industry combined. The game has quite literally changed and the film industry just mirrored the music industry, which stuck to their old ways in the face of spotify, napster and everything else and mass-produced off the back of talent shows to survive. The movie studios have done the same - bottomlined themselves into a corner where all they can produce is the big-budget spectacle movies to justify ticket prices for their themepark ride experiences - all so they can give shareholders what they want.
Totally nailed it from a realistic audience/consumer standpoint.
@@rezza6 Thanks! I really appreciate that! :)
I'm 37, live in Argentina. Going to the movies here is really expensive. A ticket here is 700 pesos x person + 500 for pop corn and a coke for 2 people. $1900 for 2. That is not counting transport, parking ig you have a car or taxi, or going out to dinner before of after the movies. Imax here is go far away that no one goes to Imax anymore. Imagine being a parent and having to take you kid to see a Disney movie por example. It's just crazy when salaries here are average 70000/100000pesos range. It's a lot of money to spend in 1 day. So most people stream, pirate and skip the cinema. It's just not doable for most people.
Experimental ideas were explored more in the 90s and 80s because the star could sell the movie alone. It ironically allowed for more creative concepts and abstract film ideas (the mask, ace Ventura, demolition man, terminator). I loved the randomness and risk taking in that era. Those types of movies nowadays may not get much recognition. A good example of that is upgrade which is one of the coolest sci-fi action films in the past 20 years. There were only 5 people in my theater. It’s not just about audiences showing up, marketing is a problem too because many don’t know there’s an r rated comic action film that puts a lot of marvel films to shame
This is why I'm glad Red Letter Media exists and that they get around a million views per video, give or take. When they make videos about strange, artistic indie films there's a good chance their audience will give that movie enough of a voice to tell producers that we want more of it.
Ryan Hollinger and Good Bad Flicks look at similar films.
Tbh I enjoy watching RLM and other RUclips creators more than I do modern movies and tv
Don't get me wrong: I love Marvel movies as much as the next guy. But a good summary of where things stand today is that someone like Tom Holland can publicly downplay someone like Scorsese and everybody will think that's ok.
Yea that was a bad move and I'm with you I love marvel movies just as as anybody else but that was definitely a bad move I wish he would've said something like martin Scorsese is a brilliant filmmaker the best in the world and but I disagree with his opinion cuz that's what this is at the end of the day
@@montero863 when the fuck did he do that? I'm out of the loop . I thought the op was making shit up for example.
Okay i read it and damn. I mean Marvel movies are great and all, and I'm sure the cast puts a lot effort and shit , but none of them are even close to being what something like taxi driver or Schindler's list is.
Scorsese has made nearly 100 movies. Why are we expected to shed a tear for this guy? He's been very successful, what more is he expecting? Give other people a shot.
@@montero863 I disagree. Why should he kiss Scorsese's ass just to stroke his ego? If Tom Holland disagreed he has every right to say it in whatever way he wants.
@@vedaryan334 and how would you know that? Do you work on those films?
Completely agree. I get so tired of people complaining, but they do nothing to help fix the problem. I saw The Night House as soon as you recommended it, and I drove to a completely different state to see The Last Duel before it left theaters.
Another big factor is that younger generations have less interest in going to see movies. With social media, content creators, and video games, there are literally hundreds of different things competing for your time and attention. A majority of younger folks prefer to spend their time watching TikToks or RUclips, browsing Reddit and playing video games than going to the movies. There's nothing wrong with that, it's just what it is. A lot of people I know prefer investing their time in a great TV series, rather than films. Films have to do better at fighting for your attention and giving you a better reason to go see them. It's been years since I've seen a trailer for an original film that really got me excited to go see it.
Underrated comment. I think this is true (and not a very obvious reason).
i agree generally with the video but the thing with the last duel for example, i hadn't even heard of it until i saw your review. also the last (almost) two years (y does time go so quick it's scary) with covid might just have people in general being more interested in more upbeat (for lack of a better word cause there probably is 1) movies/shows like marvel at the current time.
I also hadn't heard of The Last Duel until Chris's video.
Unfortunately it didn't get the best marketing push and I only really knew of it cos I heard of it long before release and wanted to follow it. I watched in cinema and I quite liked it tbh tho without spoiling anything I could see some ppl leaving a little disappointed. It's on Disney plus now so if u hot I'd defo say u should give it a watch
I asked my two theatre buddies about it and neither had even heard of the film. Also, it never even ran in my local theatre.
Marvel has been dominating for over a decade so saying people prefer that content only "now" because of Covid is incorrect.
Yes, time do seem to run faster than ever😭 I can't tell how fast 7 yrs has gone by.
Steelbook editions get me almost every time. The Perfect Blue one was so gorgeous. 💕 But I do admit for everything else I buy the movie digitally if I really love the film and occasionally a Blu-ray if it's on sale.
Same story was with Gone Girl. When that movie came out I was hypnotized by it's feel, perpetual duality of main characters and great ride you get watching it the first time. And when it didn't break even, so we didn't really see a pure thriller on the same level since then.
Gone girl was a profit. Made almost 369 mil worldwide on a 61 mil budget
@@saatvikmaddineni7496 yeah, but it was a commercial failure by the studio standards. Between advertising expenses and expected profit, it was less than what gets studios excited. Same was with Prince of Persia and Warcraft. Both covered their budgets, but never seen the sequels.
@@SnuggleKingHS No way a $60m movie that made $360m didn't break even... That's bs
Gone Girl is Fincher's best in my opinion, and my third favorite film. Even though my first 2 favorite films aren't directed by him, he's still my favorite director.
@@nekitamol1k242 I never said it didn't break even. I said it was viewed as a failed project by the studios. Same thing will be with Last Duel. I was talking about people voting with their dollar which movies studios should film.
I think a big issue as well is how expensive tickets have become. A decade ago I went to the movies all the time to see everything that interested me and sometimes even just whatever if there wasn't anything interesting playing. Nowadays I find it impossible to justify going to see anything but just the few biggest and most eagerly awaited films every year, and most of the time I end up skipping even those.
I concur. If I took a date out to the movies that involved getting popcorn, over $50 there.
I work at a cinema in the UK, and it's £4.99 a ticket online and £5.99 in store. If you bring snacks and drinks from home already and it's a ticket for two, then that's only £10 out at the cinema.
@@masonspencer918 Damn. I live in Finland and tickets essentially start at 16€ nowadays.
@@sakkenakke
People would be willing to pay the price if the quality is there. During the 1930s great depression people still went to the theatres because they had quality films. In the 1970s period of economic stagnation where prices went through the roof people went to the theatres.
In the year 2013 the theatres had amazing films such as Wolf Of Wall Street, Prisoners, Her and Gravity. But that was a decline from the the year 2000.
And in 2022 we have very little remaining.
@@masonspencer918 London? Big cinema or small independent local one?
I think one of the issues is time and accessibility.
Last duel wasn't available in my city. I live in England... in a city of 150k people. It genuinely wasn't available in my city. Everything around was No time to die running 9 times a day, or Dune still running 2 months later etc. These are big chain cinemas too, they just didn't run it.
My friends and I are working a tonne at the minute, so not only are they simply not around, we often haven't even heard of them because there's like no advertising for them either. Combine that with us having little time any more, and you just get us coming back home and turning netflix on. It has pretty much everything.
We could buy dvds, but I'm not going to splash £15 on a film I've never even heard of at all, especially with what passes for writing at the minute. I'll pick up 3 for £20 of films I know are good but they already made the money back.
It's kind of the same with anime, or TV.
I bought the complete box set of The Americans for a friend. *Half the box set is in a different region*. Or, with Anime for instance, there's about 4 different cowboy bebop soundtrack cd's for £10 each and they don't even have all of it... and they only had one season. So, again, you just end up looking on netflix, amazon prime, HBO or w/e, realising it's not there, looking it up, going "nah" and looking for something else you already have access to.
That's strange because I live in a small town in England and The Last Duel played at the Odeon for a couple of weeks, they even brought it back for one showing last week. On the other hand, The French Dispatch was nowhere to be seen, despite it being advertised in that very cinema. How do these chains decide what they're going to show and where?
I honestly don't know.
My small home town in Cornwall with 6k people in it had Last duel, yet the only place showing it in my city was the campus cinema at the local uni. That was it. We have Odeon, Vue, and Picturehouse and for some reason none showed it. (Did show French Dispatch though.)
i never watched the last duel cause i have never heard anything about it before it came out. had no clue it was coming
I didn't even know about it until Chris reviewed it
To me it's more of a timing thing.
The Internet really blew up at around 2007-2008. Social media became crazy popular and RUclips blew up along with it.
At around the same time, the Dark Knight released, and that was coincidentally the same year the MCU started. Then you also had Harry Potter going strong, while Spider-Man 3 and 007 were killing it ticket sales.
I think Twilight and Transformers came out at around the same time too. So we had all these big properties owning movie theaters and it set the stage for movies going forward. The big fanbases were able to go to the movies and then go talk about it online with millions of people, and even do reviews. That was when we saw Jeremy Jahns, Nostalgia Critic, Schmoes Know, Spill and other reviewers on RUclips popping up.
So yeah, it wasn't just money talking. Everyone was going crazy when big news of a popular IP came out and we saw trailers, reviewers going nuts about them, discussing them, reviewing, etc. It became pretty cool. Plus, since you couldn't reserve your seats at the time, you had to be there to get a seat for midnight showings and be able to take part in the first wave of online craziness.
I think that it also has a lot to do with people wanting to be a part of something big. You can wear a t-shirt of Captain America, dress up like him for Halloween, at Comic Con, see him get put into 10 movies, into more comic books, into videogames, theme parks, etc. so your investment in the character is constantly getting validated. You don't get that with smaller movies and even if you did, chances are the creator wanted it to be a one-off so you wouldn't get continuous validation as you would with a franchise.
As far as streaming contributing to the problem. I agree. Streaming services have killed physical movie releases, but imo the real killer is just human nature. People want to be part of a cultural phenomenon which is why so many got caught up in Star Wars back in the day. Now, there's just more IPs on that Star Wars level so naturally there's less money left for the little guys.
This is such a fresh and interesting perspective that no one mentions! I completely agree, and you add in the fact that the market is more global than ever and not everyone in the world could connect to smaller more ‘personal’ and therefore more culturally specific stories.
@@JeannesMovieChats Thank you :)
Yeah I think you're right about that too. Sometimes we don't step back to think about it, but the interconnectivity of the world really hit a new high after 2007. Even smartphones became a big deal in 2007 with the release of the iPhone. It was a crazy time and many just forget that that stuff was pretty much non-existent before then.
Thank you. You’ve summed it up perfectly 🙌🏽
At that time you mentioned content started to decline in quality. Up to about 2013 there was still quality films at the theatre such as Wolf of Wall Street, Prisoners and Her.
Dallas Buyers club cost $5 million to make and made $55 million at the box office but that year there was a decline from previous years.
As an avid film buff with a love for film making, who has a BF who only sees generic bland action movies or movies with a big IP, I feel your pain.
I went out to see Mike Mills new film last night "C'mon C'mon" & I had the same thoughts that Chris had in this video. That film is a perfect example of a film that needs to be supported because of its importance but sadly will not get that big of a box office return. Like every A24 movie though I'm going to purchase the blu ray as soon as it drops.
While watching that movie, I noticed how different the viewing experience is at home vs in the theater (when I actually like the movie lol). I feel much more sucked in, even if there is some annoyance from the audience.
I think this was a great video Chris. I also want point out all the GREAT independent films and filmmakers and actors that don’t get the credit they deserve
If I take my wife and kids to the cinema to see 1 film, the tickets alone cost more than 8 months of Disney +. It’s simply not worth it. Granted I still see some films like Dune or Tenet on the big screen but the number of films I see in the cinema are far far lower than 10 years ago and mostly it’s because the ticket prices are outrageous.
True. The cost for going to cinema is freaking high -_-
I'll even go further back in time. I just watched 12 Angry men. It's my first time watching a classical movie. Man that was a great movie. 12 men arguing in a room, simple but great. It kept me engaged the whole time and trying to guess who was gonna change his vote every time they had an argument. You're right, they don't make'em like they used to!
Black Swan was made for $13 million and did over $300 million at the box office. Dallas Buyers Club was made for $5 million and did over $55 million. In 1999 American Beauty was made for about $10 million and did over $350 million.
It is only 9 years ago that Wolf of Wall Street, Her, Prisoners, Dallas Buyers club, American Hustle, Captain Philip's, Trance and Gravity all came out in the same year.
One a very small side note for smaller films. For many people there just isn't the places that show them anymore. I live in the UK and its a two hour drive to my nearest city with a small screen cinema that plays indie films. Even then they aren't playing these types of films anymore. I cant imagine how bad it might be living in a bigger country. I'm either left with the choice of hoping it comes to a streaming platform, or waiting at least another year before it arrives in the UK on DVD. The instant availably of piracy is too good compared to what is currently offered. People want ease and access, I know a huge amount of people who stopped pirating music, when services like Spotify and apple music became easier. Many of us cant support anything even if we wanted to.