Posted on 08/21/2009 3:03:59 AM PDT by abb
The spring and summer box office has murdered megawatt stars like Denzel Washington, Julia Roberts, Eddie Murphy, John Travolta, Russell Crowe, Tom Hanks, Adam Sandler and Will Ferrell.
Can Brad Pitt escape?
A-list movie stars have long been measured by their ability to fill theaters on opening weekend. But never have so many failed to deliver, resulting in some rare soul-searching by motion picture studios about why the old formula isnt working and a great deal of anxiety among stars (and agents) about the potential vaporization of their $20 million paychecks.
The cratering of films with big stars is astounding, said Peter Guber, the former chairman of Sony Pictures who is now a producer and industry elder statesman. These supertalented people are failing to aggregate a large audience, and everybody is looking for answers.
Mr. Guber added, Even Johnny Depp starring in the drama Public Enemies didnt exactly deliver a phenomenal result. (The A-list results may be damped partly because Will Smith, a regular summer powerhouse, had no movie open this season.)
Mr. Ferrell bombed in Land of the Lost, a $100 million comedy that sold only $49 million in tickets in North America. Ms. Roberts missed with Duplicity, a $60 million thriller that attracted $40.6 million. Angels & Demons (Mr. Hanks) was soft. The same for The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (Mr. Washington and Mr. Travolta).
Imagine That, starring Mr. Murphy, was such a disaster that Paramount Pictures had to take a write-down. Mr. Sandler? His Funny People limped out of the gate and then collapsed. Some of these may simply have not been very good, but an A-list star is supposed to overcome that.
The gradual trend away from big-star vehicles in the summer has been under way for years.
snip
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I know....
Hollow-wood should do MORE remakes of classics. Or more of those rousing anti-war/anti-America movies.
[/s]
The problem isn’t so much with the actors. The problem is with the scripts.
Well, maybe it is with the actors. If they would refuse the poor scripts, they might get better scripts.
SodomWood wants to declare war on America, America will declare war on HomoWood.
Pray for America and Our Troops
Lol...People are even forgoing downloading this this crap on torrent sites and giving a thumbs down on the forums. That’s how bad it is.
Can we say, Gunsmoke, M.A.S.H., All in the Family, Cheers, etc., etc. to name a few????
http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/FineOnMedia/archives/2009/08/zelnickmedia_en.html
ZelnickMedia Enters Chase For BusinessWeek
http://www.freep.com/article/20090821/COL27/908210342/1001/rss01
Time Inc. house call is welcome change from gold-rush journalism
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=112037
NBC To Stream ‘Sunday Night Football’ Live
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=112002
DirecTV To Launch Manhattan-Only NFL Trial
Yep and the price of a movie ticket is getting to be outrageous. I’ll wait till I can rent it for a buck at the Redbox.
Hollywood is bankrupt for ideas and the Left that is running Hollywood doesn’t understand that the American people don’t buy garbage. Good to see they are losing the power gradually.
The trend toward big star affiliation with destructive liberal ideology has been under way for years.
I worked on Public Enemies, There was SO much great footage that didnt make the movie. Maybe if Michael Mann would of had a plot the movie would have been a lot better.
Just got done working on an independent movie about the first terrorist attack on Wall Street in 1920. Now that looks like it will be a GOOD movie.
Hollywood is beging to realize the high price star movies are not bringing them in. The indies are like Slum Dog Millionaire etc
Good. The half decent movies will be on Net Flix very soon.
As Liz and I have commented in the past few years, when Follywood craters, their hate America thugs have less money for the DNC.
Ooops due to a low level of coffee, I forgot to ping you.
Except for "John Q", which was basically a two-hour DNC Ad.
http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman2/publish/Dayparts_update_51/In_death_Jacko_was_a_morning_story.asp
In death, Jacko was a morning story
http://blogs.barrons.com/techtraderdaily/2009/08/20/will-time-warner-dump-the-magazine-business/
Will Time-Warner Dump The Magazine Business?
http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=23018
Apple’s future TV: Can Web-based apps replace “channels,” kill cable?
http://www.nypost.com/seven/08212009/business/vogues_suite_deal_185656.htm
VOGUE’S SUITE DEAL
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/08/20/BU3V19BD1O.DTL
Leaders try to save Japanese American newspaper
It seems to me that some of the older stars "remade themselves" as politically active just to get some additional spotlight time - a way of marketing to the liberal Hollywood estalishment. It is my sincere hope that what we are seeing here is everything Hollywood is tagged with a liberal brand mark. That being the case, the liberal establishment sell far fewer of their movies to ordinary people like us because we have had enough of their insults.
As far as the younger generation, I will do whatever I can to encourage bad reviews on Twitter, Facebook or whatever of anything Hollywood.
spot on! It’s way too expensive for me and my husband to take my daughter and her friend to the movies, even with the minimal military discount, and then buy the overpriced sodas and snacks. Then, we somehow wind up sitting near the person who refuses to turn off their cell phone, or believes they can sprawl all over the seats infringing on everyone else. It’s just way easier to rent a video and see it at home...
That, and the knowledge that the DVD will always be available two months later. I can rent it at Blockbuster at less than half the cost of a one-viewing-only movie ticket (and if we're talking "RedBox" rental or Netflix, at one-tenth of the cost). If I'm really intent on shelling out $10-14 for a movie, I can just buy the damn thing on DVD and watch it all I want, instead of paying for a one-viewing-only ticket at the boxoffice.
But there are other good reasons in the article that also help explain the decline. "Taking of Pelham 1,2,3" was a remake and was boring. It had no females, was set almost entirely in a subway tunnel (dark, difficult to see), and the plot was a little shaky. Both Denzel and Travolta were overweight (yes, the plot called for that, but nevertheless, it's hardly a way to fire up the imagination of "romantic" heroes and villains).
I always thought Julia Roberts' drawing power was suspect; Eddie Murphy, despite "Dreamgirls," hasn't had a real hit in years; and if you look at the three movies that have been successful this summer, they are all teen-oriented.
Although it’s out of the theaters now, I recommend “My Life In Ruins,” starring Nina ____________ who starred in “My Big Fat Greek Wedding.” Witty and touching, it does what a movie should do, entertain. Also, to my surprise, “Wall-e” was extremely funny.
You just sort of have to suck it up and deal with the fact that some of these idiots are commies.
Johnny Depp’s political leanings are to the Left of Chomsky, but he is one of my favorite actors.
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