[OESY]

The reporter, Sharon Waxman, led the movement at the Times to blacklist Mel Gibson for "The Passion of the Christ."

[johniegrad]

"The Passion" was the only movie I've seen in the past five years. I probably will not go to another movie for five more. I have no interest in the garbage they are promoting.

[starfish923]

The made-for-boobuss-toobus industry cut into their sales. Those movies go straight to DVD, even without ratings.

Besides, WHO CARES?! The older I get the more garbage I see produced. It MUST be me. Lol.

[TheBigB]

Hmmm, I saw..let's see...exactly 3 of those. Van Helsing, Spider-Man 2, and DodgeBall. I do want to see Princess Diaries 2 and National Treasure, though.

[aquila48]

In all his long analysis, it never occurred to this clueless idiot the real reason why attendance is down - LEFTIST HOLLYWOOD HAS COMPLETELY ALIENATED ITS AUDIENCE!!!

[APFel]

Is it me, but were movies this year, with rare exception, dismally awful?

Those on the list that outgrossed their worth are Shrek 2, Harry Potter, The Day After Tomorrow, Shark Tale, I, Robot, Troy (Dreck) 50 First Dates (Terrible, terrible, terrible) Van Helsing (Possibly the worst action movie EVER) Fahrenheit 9/11, and The Grudge. Turdsmears on film.

APf

[weshess]

Are movies growing bigger as theater audiences are becoming smaller?

Maybe it is just Hollywood spending more money on crappy movies.

[Wayne07]

People forget that industries have life cycles. It is easy to assume that because film is a big and growing business today, it always will be. But if you take a long term look at things, industries tend to grow, plateau, shrink, and become niche, diappear or evolve into something fairly different. Music industry is on the way down, and film will follow.

[ProudVet77]

The real issue this year is that we are a nation at war. We have learned about real heroes. About real men. They make the hollywood heroes pale by comparison. Brad Pitt vs Pat Tillman. No way. The Marlboro Marine vs George CLooney?
The success of the cartoon movies indicates a need for escapist entertainment, but the characters are not people with liberal political views.

[William Terrell]

Here is the statement that is defeating them, "I'll wait for it to come out on video."

[tm22721]

Most people hated King Arthur but I thought it was good because I am a history nut and Keira Knightley didn't hurt either.

BUMP

[Cicero]

Liberals love parity. The U.S. is just as bad as the Soviet Union. Israel is just as bad as the Muslim terrorists. "The Passion" and "Farenheit 911" are equivalent.

In the first place, "The Passion" was #3, and "Farenheit 911" was #15. What was the reason for headlining these two movies in particular and "taking them out"? "The Passion" made three times as much money as "Farenheit 911," in spite of the fact that the MSM virulently attacked it and gave Moore's film unprecedented publicity.

Finally, "The Passion" was a brilliant movie, artistically, while F911 was a piece of turgid cr*p.

[Grampa Dave]

We saw one movie this year in a theatre, the Passion.

As Follywood continues to drive republicans away from their new movies, their movies become more expensive.

Pretty soon their financial houses of cards will cave in on them.

Below is the trend that will be gutting Hollywood over the next few years:

"With nearly two weeks to go before the end of 2004, domestic box-office receipts appeared likely to top last year's total of $9.27 billion, nearing $9.4 billion, according to Exhibitor Relations, which tracks the figures.

"But an increase can be attributed to a rise in ticket prices, up 3.85 percent to an average of $6.25, while attendance fell by 2.25 percent this year after dropping 3.8 percent in 2003.

"That audience drop appeared especially troubling in a year in which Mel Gibson's controversial "The Passion of the Christ," distributed by Newmarket Films, brought many new moviegoers into the megaplexes and finished No. 3 at the domestic box office with $370.3 million in ticket sales, while Michael Moore's anti-Bush hit documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11," from Lions Gate Films, became a magnet for political activists and sold $119.2 million in tickets.

"If you took the half-billion dollars of 'Fahrenheit 9/11' and 'Passion' out of the marketplace, we'd be in a real dismal situation, and they barely got distribution," said Paul Dergarabedian, Exhibitor Relations president, referring to behind-the-scenes struggles that ultimately landed both films with independent distributors.

"As the audience shrank, budgets continued to spiral upward, with blockbuster movies commonly costing upward of $140 million to produce, followed by tens of millions of dollars in marketing expenses."

Merry Christmas to Follywood and may 2005 be even more of a financial disaster to Follywood.

[1Old Pro]

the number of moviegoers in the United States dropped for the second year in a row.

Just like readers and viewers of the "old" media. They don't get it. I paid for (went to) one movie in 2004, Passion.