The Core
Why We Are Here => Water Cooler => Topic started by: rcjordan on January 07, 2018, 03:04:08 AM
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http://www.foxla.com/news/movie-theaters-hit-lowest-attendance-record-in-22-years
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With the rise of Netflix, Amazon and other video streaming services, people now have more entertainment options than before.
The article doesn't mention the rise of ginormous televisions. If we had streaming, but still had smallish TVs, the theater experience would still be important. When a 50-inch TV is under $300 though, adjusted for proportional distance, if I lie on the floor at the foot of my TV, I've got a similar viewing angle the third row of the theater.
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> article doesn't mention the rise of ginormous televisions
Excellent point. Along with that, I've read several articles citing the development of a mini-screen and/or multi-screen viewing 'experience' among viewers -particularly the 18-35 demographic. I've noticed this with Louise, her viewing habits are now primarily mini-multi-screen. She'll be running movie-game-facebook on a 50-inch tv, an ipad, and sometimes even her phone . A single movie screen session for 90 minutes might seem limited somehow by comparison.
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I do think content plays into this.
1. The best screen writers are devoting more time to streaming series.
2. So many unoriginal movies are, either part of a tired franchise or a remake of a movie that didn't need remaking.
Demographics and niches: I'm not sure young people care to go to the theater yet so many movies are targeted to young people. Us old farts feel left out, plus we have no clue as to who these young whipper snapper stars are. Hollywood is aiming for the wrong niches, target middle aged cat ladies and you might make a mint.
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??? CONTENT ???
So few good productions these days
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I watched 1 movie last year, The Last Jedi, and that was upgraded to a premium experience with mahoosive seats and waiter service :)
Other than being a hardcore star wars fan nothing else would even tempt me to plonk my bum on their seats.
But then I do have a cinema set up at home where I can lie horizontally on the sofa munching on food that doesn't cost me an arm and a leg :D
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I do think content plays into this.
Good point. The mostly awful new releases are playing against the entire back catalog of great and awful movies. I just watched Pan's Labyrinth. Great movie... probably the only thing at the theaters as good would be the Shape of Water (also a Del Toro movie).
Demographics and niches: I'm not sure young people care to go to the theater yet so many movies are targeted to young people.
Actually, and here's the key thing you're missing, they are targeted at young Chinese people. This is a huge shift in the movie industry. It explains why studios like animated penguins (culturally neutral) and action films with little dialog. In many ways, it's like a move halfway back to silent film where the story works without words.
- World Economic Forum, "Why Hollywood bows to China’s movie market" - https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2015/08/hollywood-chinas-movie-market/
- BI, "18 Hollywood movies that pandered to China's giant box office", http://www.businessinsider.com/hollywood-movies-in-china-2016-10/
- https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/04/opinion/china-film-industry-hollywood.html
Many in China’s film industry, from young scriptwriters to senior critics, know Hollywood’s dramatic structure all too well and advocate its tropes and tactics. And many American offerings introduced in the Chinese market, regardless of quality, continue to do well among Chinese audiences, especially with young people, whose tastes and viewing habits have been shaped by Hollywood movies and TV shows