TV shows:
Babylon Berlin - nearing the end of the first series. It's been very good so far. Heartily recommend.
Atlanta - Working my way through series 4. Don't think it has hit the highs of S3 so far, but still enjoying it a lot. Well worth watching all the same.
Films:
Cam - ultimately underwhelming psychological horror that didn't do enough with the premise I think. Not bad, but just perhaps not ambitious or exploratory enough with its comceit.
El Conte - another great premise, but ultimately underwhelming film. Went in wanting to love it and it started well, but botched the landing. Maybe if I was a leftist chilanos it'd have resonated with me more, but the whole "it's all corrupt and they all knew" thing just fell flat. I wanted it to go beyond that. Some good moments and nicely shot scenes though.
I was ultimately ambivalent about Poor Things, but this one looks more like the Lanthimos I’ve enjoyed in the past. I think I’ll make an effort to see it in the cinema.
Excellent analysis that torpedoes a lot of explanations for this slow year.
In 2024, the domestic box office will be in its 22nd year of sustained decline. And due to the pandemic, audiences are behaving as though they’re between 32 to 37 years into this decline. Fewer than two thirds of Americans still go to the movies, and on average, they will purchase just about 3 tickets annually (hence the average American buying about 2). The practically addressable number of tickets is even more modest as a handful of signature releases each year (e.g. an Avengers, Jurassic, Avatar, Despicable Me) will devour 5-10% each. These constraints mean that the box office – audiences – won’t support many films, or many great films. The misses will consistently surprise moviegoers, critics, stars, and reviewers. This is not a new challenge, per se, but it has never before been more brutal (note that while the modern dominance of comicbook movies is often likened to the heydays of Westerns, Westerns thrives at a time where Americans headed to the theater 20-35x a year!). This will have to change budgets, talent incentives, risk proclivities, franchise plans, and more.
This is key, I feel. If people are going only three times a year, they are going to the biggest most hyped films as it is less of a risk.
Still, changes are probably due. An independently operated MoviePass was always a dumb idea, but to renew frequent moviegoers, it’s clear that some form of AYCE subscription or subscription perk will be required. AMC A-List is a good start, but doesn’t Disney+ have an additional tier (perhaps Disney++) that provides free or discounted tickets to Disney films while they are in theaters? For that matter, distributors should sell premium movie tickets that include EST entitlements or discounts (this may not increase attendance, but it should increase total revenue per customers).
I have the Odeon's pass and it pays for itself if you go twice a month - I go twice a week and 5 times last week.
Some recent changes should probably be unwound, too. While rapid PVOD windows have helped some money-losing films recover their investments, this model probably just trains audiences to skip uncertain releases because they might be available at home in three weeks anyway.
This seems like an important change - if the cinema is the only place to see a film for a while, then they will go back to the cinema.
Ian McKellen is teaming up with RuPaul’s Drag Race U.K. star Divina de Campo to share the titular role in the upcoming stop-motion animated film, Dragfox.
McKellen, currently performing in a production of Henry IV, Parts One and Two on London’s West End, will voice Ginger Snap the Fox.
“Together, this unlikely duo embarks on a magical musical adventure where they discover surprising commonalities and learn to embrace the beauty of their differences,” a plot synopsis reads.
The story of Sam and Ginger Snap reminds us all that our uniqueness is our greatest strength, and that love and acceptance can be found in the most unexpected places.”
Dragfox is a stop-motion animated short film directed by Lisa Ott and produced by Owen Thomas.
The film’s score is recorded by The London Gay Big Band, a jazz orchestra composed of LGBTQ+ community members.
The original article contains 508 words, the summary contains 140 words. Saved 72%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
They're just going to see bad numbers and fire everyone below them to use more AI and cheap rebrands or remakes and wonder why nothing is getting better
Movies are bombing now, and they keep churning out the same, and consistently worsening, garbage.
Studios will fire their entire staff in exchange for an AI megafarm before they consider "wasting" any more of their time on quality. Why would they when quantity is enough to fill their pockets?
So called enshitifaction is taking hold everywhere, what makes you think the entertainment industry is any different?? Hoping for shareholders to give a shit, at this point in time, is laughable.
I have faith in some kind of course correction, if it becomes profitable in some way. Otherwise we're watching the death of cinema in real time.
"We have no obligation to make art. We have no obligation to make history. We have no obligation to make a statement. But to make money, it is often important to make history, to make art, or to make some significant statement. We must always make entertaining movies, and, if we make entertaining movies, at times, we will reliably make history, art, a statement or all three. We cannot expect numerous hits, but if every film has an original and imaginative concept, then we can be confident that something will break through."
-Michael Eisner
Then neither you, nor Michael Eisner are paying attention (though LMFAO at you bringing a former Disney exec, not even a creative but a business man, as representation of someone who gives a shit about cinema. That's like quoting Musk on environmental issues. Hint: People like that absolutely have been paying attention, things are going great for them, they just can't not lie to make themselves feel important, and to make their shareholders, and people like you, believe in some white/greenwashed fairy tale they spin for you while they continue exploiting people and destroying industries out of sheer greed for money and power).
Also, the idea that if the big corporate propaganda machines fail, cinema fails, just goes to prove how well said propaganda works.
I thought your argument was that the movie industry isn’t immune to enshittification? I was pointing out how you’re correct by using a quote from a film exec that proves your point. Films are a business, and if businesses want to make money then they have to appeal to audiences, so course correction is possible. I’m allowed to live in my duality.
It is wild to me how well they have done at the box office. They just kept getting worse and people have only recently stopped going to see them. I wonder if hese do poorly after release, but are big events in the short term.
A huge amount of people go to see Disney stuff in theatres because they feel like they're supposed to. Disney has done a great job creating a sense of their stuff being a mandatory experience to keep up with pop culture
They have had lots of misfires though. Has anyone even heard of strange world? Even going back to the original lion king, they used to release lots of straight to video sequels. Cheap to make, high margin.
As you say, they have monopolised children's entertainment very successfully. Even with inside out 2, they have taken the character and made them older so the original target audience of viewers can follow the arc personally.
I haven't yet seen an in-depth interview with Villeneuve where he addresses whether or not he wants to continue making (admittedly thoughtful and overall excellent) adaptations vs original works.
Going back over his filmography, every film since Maelström (2000) (or perhaps Polytechnique in 2009) has been an adaptation of a previous work. I really love the work he does, and I would not want him to be tied down to existing properties. Then again, he may believe that adaptations are where he does his best work.
Whichever it is, let the man work the way he wants to work. I'm here for it.
Is Sicario an adaptation? I can't find any reference that it is.
Also, Prisoners is technically an adaptation of a short-story, but it's a not very well known short-story (I don't even see a name for the story on Wikipedia) from the writer of the screen play, so you could make an argument that the short story is essentially just a first draft of the script.
I do agree that we should just let him continue doing whatever he wants, he's done excellent work.
I feel like doing really great adaptations like he has is a really rare skill in his line of work. Dune was considered to be unfilmable even David Lynch failed to do it. But he did it extremely well
He's mentioned somewhere (believe me I'm an internet enthusiast) that he doesn't like writing, he's just a master at adaptation. And I get that. Being really good at visualizing a story well is really hard.
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