Summer movie season wasn't a breeze for Hollywood (Dinosaur Media DeathWatch™)

Los Angeles Times ^ | September 7, 2009 | Ben Fritz and John Horn

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If the year's first four months defied all expectations for what Hollywood could do in a recession, this summer delivered some sobering reality.

Through the end of April, domestic box-office receipts leaped 17% while admissions surged nearly 16% from the previous year, according to Hollywood.com. But as the weather turned hot, business cooled: From May 1 through Aug. 31, attendance was down 2.4% from 2008 and 6% from 2007. Summer box-office revenues rose 1.3%, not even enough to account for ticket price inflation, let alone the premiums charged in a growing number of 3-D theaters.

In the midst of the economic crisis, the best that studios could argue is that almost flat is the new up.

"To be marginally down on attendance and up on box-office at a time when so many other industries are struggling is a great comment on our business," said Adam Fogelson, president of marketing and distribution at Universal Pictures.

If there was one lesson the studios learned -- often the hard way -- it was that audiences were in the mood to be amazed and to laugh. Big-budget spectacles like "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" and gut-busting comedies like "The Hangover" ruled the season.

On the flip side, adult dramas ("The Taking of Pelham 123" and "Public Enemies") and neither-fish-nor-fowl comedies ("Funny People" and "Land of the Lost") labored to cover their production costs.

"Adult dramas are more vulnerable than ever before in this business," said Fogelson, whose studio was stung by several flops in the genre, including this spring's "State of Play" and "Duplicity."

The other victim of the summer was A-list stars, who studios used to think could "open" a movie on their names alone.

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[erman]

Speaking of “B” movies, I’m glad I have a fine selection of top quality biker exploitation flicks I can pop into the dvd player.

yeah, like "American Flyer" and "Breaking Away"... I loved those biker flicks...

[Tribune7]

"The Taking of Pelham 123" and "Public Enemies"

I saw Public Enemies and it was no where near as good as Dillinger with Warren Oates from the '70s.

I didn't see Pelham but I suspect it was no where near as good as the one with Walter Matthau from the '70s.

Spending a lot of money doing remakes of moderate hits from the 70s that are not as good as the original is not a plan for success.

[Jmouse007]

We love RED BOX! I hope they begin renting Blu-Ray movies as well. Forget “Block Buster” and their high-priced rentals and late fees, RED BOX IS THE WAY TO GO!

[abb]

http://adage.com/mediaworks/article?article_id=138852
Nielsen Reveals Full Extent of the Media Industry’s First-Half Battering

http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=138853
Kill or Cure: How Reckitt’s Big Buy Rocked Online Ads
$20 Million Seemed to Boost Medium — Until Giant Hammered Prices

[RayChuang88]

I have to wonder if it’s because today’s movies are so depressingly anti-American, anti-family, and literally anti-inspiration in that they do everything they can to avoid religious themes for most of these movies.

That is the VERY reason the movie industry is killing itself--they are losing the "flyover country" audience that makes up the vast majority of moviegoers. Besides this issue, don't forget the high cost of tickets and the movie studios claiming most of the profits from a movie during the first few weekends (which in turn forces the price of concessions through the roof in the theater as the theater tries to recoup the cost of the first few weeks of the run of the movie). Small wonder why companies like RedBox and NetFlix do very well, and even Blockbuster finally found a way to reverse their financial down spiral by getting into the automated vending machine movie rental business.

[Clay Moore]

Hey, I have a super idea for a movie that breaks all of the previous molds.

It’s an action movie.

We start with a suave, good looking, street smart, casanova, clever minority who shows all of the dim witted, stupid, square crackers how to do everything but breathe.

Then we throw in lots of gratuitous swearing (about every 4th word, extra points for the “F” word.)

Oh wait, that’s the plot line for 99% of hollywierd’s action movies.

Never mind.

[Yorlik803]

My buddies wanted to see G I Joe{ we are almost 50} I told them it looked like another over the top CGI action flick. It looked stupid and why would I want to spend 10 bucks for a ticket, 7 bucks for popcorn and drinks and two hours of my valuable time to watch this crap. They told me I had no taste.
This from a group of men who thought “White Chicks” was a good movie.
I need to widen my circle of friends.
Now I watched the movie “ Changling” last night. That is a good movie. Clint has talent and knows how to make a good movie.