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The 1 Reason Media Won’t Cite for Bad Box Office

Hollywood is having a lousy summer, and there’s no relief in sight.

Domestic box office revenue for the season is trailing last year by 11 percent and none of the major releases still coming are expected to change that trajectory. In fact, things are likely to get worse for U.S. studios before the leaves change. Without a film debuting widely over the Labor Day weekend, BoxOffice Media predicts the film industry will end the summer of 2017 with sales down by up to 15 percent.

The ugly numbers inspired the usual array of think pieces pointing to several suspects.

  • Social Media
  • RottenTomatoes.com
  • Poor product

There’s a problem with those theories, particularly the first two. Both social media and Rotten Tomatoes have been readily available for years. That’s not to say they don’t impact interest in a particular film.

They do.

But they did last year, too. And the year before. So why do they suddenly hold such sway over our film choices?

And while this summer showcased a one-two punch of rancid movies (“The Mummy” and “Transformers: The Last Knight”) the season produced a number of solid blockbusters (“Wonder Woman.” “The Fate of the Furious”) and original treats (“Baby Driver,” “The Big Sick”).

RELATED: 5 Critical Lessons from ‘Snatched’ Box Office Fizzle

Esquire.com coined “dazzle fatigue” as part of the problem. Too many noisy blockbusters squeezed into one modest space. As theories go, we’ve heard much worse.

So what’s missing? The one theory makes more sense than most, even if it can’t be measured in any traditional sense. And, of course, it involves the man who’s been sucking the oxygen out of the news cycle for the past seven months.

Only you can’t blame President Donald Trump for this. He’s actually the victim here. Or, to be more precise, those who pulled the lever for him last November.

‘He’s Hitler!’ Lather, Rinse Repeat

Hollywood’s insane reaction to Trump’s ascent may be coaxing customers to skip the multiplex this summer.

Here’s the rub:

Many Americans who lean right, support Trump or check both boxes are aghast at what Hollywood has been up to for the past year. They’ve read the tweets, seen the interviews, watched the smug videos telling them how to vote and heard stars directly attack their candidate.

He’s Hitler. And you’re a Nazi for supporting him. Amy Schumer called Trump voters KKK members (guess which comedy star saw her 2017 film tank at the box office?) Michael Shannon told a reporter Trump votters were ready “for the urn.”

More recently, “Scandal” star Joshua Malina called Trump voters homophobic, anti-semitic, misogynistic and transphobic.

This only intensified following the cowardly attack on protesters over the weekend in Charlottesville. Suddenly, stars like Mark Ruffalo are calling out Trump and his supporters (again) in the ugliest ways possible.

But please see our movies! See the disconnect?

Anecdotal, but Telling

This reporter is very active on social media. For the past year I’ve seen and heard conservatives rail against Hollywood like never before. They’ve had it. The celebrity rhetoric is too much – too mean, too alienating and sometimes too ill-informed.

And social media amplifies every last message coming from Tinsel Town. You can’t miss it. Select Red State dwellers wouldn’t mind sending a message by refusing to directly support Hollywood product.

It couldn’t be easier, too.

Want to see a movie in 2017? Parents have to arrange for a sitter for a night at the movies. Teens have to pool their cash to pay for the increasingly high prices of the average ticket. Families eager for an afternoon of air-conditioned fun get sticker shock at the concession stand.

That doesn’t mention those unruly patrons talk through movies, yapping to each other or on their cell phones.

Life Is But a Stream

So why aren’t we seeing a stark plunge with TV show consumption? HBO’s “Game of Thrones” keeps drawing viewers in, and everyone is taking about the latest Netflix originals.

It’s simple. Watching TV or streaming devices takes virtually no effort. A few calculated clicks and you’re suddenly asked to choose between hundreds of shows for a fraction of the price you’d pay at the theater.

Who could resist?

Now, compare that to going to the movies. Many right-leaning Americans are saying, “thanks, but no thanks.” The fact that it might send a message to an industry hostile to their world view is icing on the outrage cake.

Some may not actively wish to boycott Hollywood. But it’s a breeze to say, “what about seeing a movie?” and decide on a half dozen home-based options instead.

Battling an Ugly Stereotype

Now, there are many stars who don’t say a peep about politics. A much smaller group are magnanimous toward President Trump (see Jeff Bridges and Tom Hanks for solid examples).

The industry’s image, as a whole, is another story. Conservatives think “Hollywood” and they imagine an elitist group smiting their world views, their candidates … their values. So even if a film features a gaggle of stars who are respectful of others’ views it’s too late. The stereotype has taken hold.

You can point to a number of reasons for the sluggish summer ticket sales. Just don’t ignore the political factor. It’s real, and it may be growing.

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Foter.com / CC BY-SA

92 Comments

  1. This “sub human racist deplorable” does not go to the movies anymore for the reasons cited in this article. I am NOT going to spend my hard earned money to empower left wing clowns to insult me and my beliefs.

  2. I gave up on Hollywood 15 years ago. I went from going to the movies half a dozen times a year to once a year… maybe.

    1. You have more foresight than I do. I only gave up 5-6 years ago. OTOH I’ve been multi-plex free since that last movie. No doubt I’ve missed a good movie or two.

      1. Last time I was in a theatre was Tarantino’s Planet Terror / Death Proof double release. Never again; not Tarantino movies, not Pervywood product.

    2. Back in the day, I virtually had a reserved seat in the local theater for the 7pm Saturday night movie, whatever it was.

      The last movie I watched in a theater was “Star Trek: First Contact”, back in ’96. I’ve watched maybe five Hollywood movies since then.

      The article mentions both major reasons why – the politics of Hollywood and the declining quality of the product.

    3. I used to go about 48 times per year. Sometime during Obama’s first term, I cut it down to twice per year. Now I don’t go at all. I was going to see “The Post”, until I read Spielberg’s politicization of it.

      What spoiled it for me was it went from being “hippie Left” to “Communist Left”. It went from being we went to Woodstock and enjoyed it, to we hate deplorables. I am not and never have been a hippie, but they don’t deeply offend me.

  3. I read this before so it’s not an original thought. The 120-180 minute format does not give much time to tell a story, develop characters, allow a story to unfold in a rich manner. A long form TV series, on the other hand, can give the detail and unfolding nature to video that only a well written book could do. We have had long form shows before, but on demand streaming changed all that. It used to be you had to block out time to see your show, and if you missed an episode you were lost. With Netflix and others, you can start watching a great story and allow the story to develop over five seasons. TV is where the great writing resides. Movies are forgetting this.

    1. I would say that the opposite is the problem. Cinema is an immersive experience that requires your total attention, so a shorter format is necessary to avoid audience fatigue. I find that the ideal length of a feature is 90 minutes and that the tendency of Hollywood to equate value with length is the same mistake that publishers make when they insist on turning a thin plot into a doorstep of a book.

      Today, we commonly see 180 minute films that in the heyday of cinema would have been event pictures with an intermission. Now we have to sit through 240 minute features without a break and rather than being thrilled by the climax, we’re thinking about how uncomfortable the seat is and how long we can hold out against our bladder.

    2. True, but Hollywood in the past nevertheless did know how to tell a story within the limits of the medium. They don’t know how to write a story any more. Most movies that even try have maybe at most an interesting premise or setup. But within 30 minutes the writers have lost their way, descended into formulas and cliches, or both. I usually find myself looking at my watch after about 30 minutes. Or rather, I used to. I literally can’t remember the last time I went to the movies.

      1. I think the budgets have a lot to do with it. Decisions to green light a project are made based on precedents which encourages more of the same.

      2. Hollywood won’t hire the writers who do know how to tell a tale. I’ve looked into screenwriting, and its all about having the right look and political leanings. They don’t look for originality anymore because they fear taking a risk on someone who isn’t part of their circle.

    3. Not many 120+ min movies these days. 90 is closer to reality so they can have 2-3 more showings per screen per day. Leeches.

  4. I still see movies frequently at Alamo Drafthouse, but even going almost weekly, I’ll only see a first-run movie every few months. Dunkirk and WW back to back was unusual for us (and mainly because the wife really wanted to see WW — left to my own devices I would have passed.)

    In fact, let me pull up my order history… I have Unforgiven and Fight Club scheduled. Before Dunkirk, it was Spaceballs, Full Metal Jacket, Big Trouble in Little China, Twister, Office Space… I have to go back 13 Movies before I get to a first run — Civil War, in May of last year. (FWIW, I did see the Harry Potter NYC creatures movies whose name I can’t remember, but it was while visiting family out of town and was more for the shared experience than because I wanted to see it.)

    Not only is Hollywood toxic now, but their movies suck too. I would see a good movie, even with the toxicity. They just aren’t putting any out. (I’m looking forward to The Death of Stalin when it hits major release.)

    1. Boy do I miss the days when (living in Ohio), I would go weekly to the two dollar place and see all the movies I wanted.

      Same thing doesn’t exist in NYC, and sure does not exist where I am now, in Tel-Aviv. Btw, the one thing I changed when I moved to Israel was I gave myself permission to watch movies online – which I never would have done in the USA. So now all the old and great movies are just a click away on my laptop.

  5. The Hollywood elites are certainly entitled to say anything they want, however, they need to understand that free speech sometimes has harsh consequences. I know that I have my list of actors and actresses whose films I will refuse to pay money to see. Sadly, the list is growing.

  6. I stopped going to movies at the same time I proclaimed, “I will forgive Jane Fonda when the Jews forgive Hitler.”

    Don’t miss movie houses. I no longer get stepped on, cussed at, sneezed over, or otherwise disrespected. I watch when and what I like. Gone are the days when I would order a soft drink at gasoline prices. And taste. No more crying little rug-rats, undisciplined miscreants, inattentive parents, and sticky floors.

    It’s good to be a discriminating viewer.

    1. You would have liked to be there the second time I went to see Dunkirk, a dick in the row in front whipped out his smart phone and began flashing it around. The old guy with the naval service cap sitting next to me leaned forward and jabbed two fingers into the kids neck and said “Shut it off”.
      He did. And when the credits came up he was out of his seat and gone in a flash.

  7. Amen. My list of actors, directors and studios (Disney/Marvel) was getting so long that it’s become easier to remember the short list of people I will watch.

    This summer my big movie was Dunkirk (twice, once with GF and again with a buddy). When I said as much on another comment thread, I got a snarky reply that it was a boring movie, I felt like asking him what the length of his attention span was, but figured that he’d Zone out before he could reply. Then another reply said it was just like the evacuation of Saigon in ’75. Now there is a keen understanding of history. (I forget, was it ’78 or ’79 that Ky landed in South Vietnam and liberate the country from that particular group of fascists?

    Thank God for my at home library of old movies. This weekend I’m running Mrs. Miniver.

    1. The African Queen and Moby Dick, now there you see some actual acting and dialogue.
      No cool explosions though, but I’ve learned to get by without them.
      The Caine Mutiny is also excellent.
      I just finished the My Name Is Trinity series too.

          1. 1968 – o’toole, hepburn, hopkins, dalton, and nigel terry (if youre familiar)

            top5 favorite movies…

            if they remade it, I dont (and dont think I want to) know of it

  8. If you’ve seen 5000 Hollywood explosiony films, you’ve seen them all.

    There is more to cinema than cool explosions and shaky cameras.

  9. Saw Dunkirk recently, which was the first time I’ve darkened the door of theatre since Avatar (blech). It was preceded by a dozen irritating explodey superhero trailers. I might be back in another ten years, but I doubt it.

    1. When waiting for Dunkirk to come on I actually left the theater because the trailers were so horrible. I stood outside till I heard the feature presentation fanfare.

  10. Politics kills the movie industry for the conservative half of the population. So far the only movies my family has gone to this summer are Dunkirk, and Moulan. I would have gone to A Dogs Purpose, but my Golden Retriever died less than two years ago, and its too soon.

  11. I can manage to wait for superhero films, 6!, and retarded art and/or vanity films until they hit Netflix. Perhaps not even then.

    The product is crap, and the people are overpaid clowns. Why should I participate? So that I can pay $5 for a oversized cup of sugar water and $6 for some fairly crappy popcorn? I’ll pass.

  12. A simple analysis. Trump is just a symptom, go deeper. a) Hollywood (like the Dem Party, colleges, etc..) have adopted cultural Marxism b) which demonizes the great unwashed white middle and working class c) so Hollywood cannot use cultural norms, historic examples, and heroic motifs that we’ve had since Homer d) so now Hollywood can neither entertain nor educate and e) surprise! the middle class has turned away.

    1. Yep. The bad guys always turn out to be evil military, evil corporations, corrupt cops, neo-nazis, or our own government in bed with the bad guys. Because making anyone else the bad guy would be racist.
      Everything is so predictable. The exposition of the ‘twist’ comes out 90 minutes into the movie, and it so unsurprising. I’m sick and tired of it.

      Give me Amazon Video and all the great movies made before 1990.

      1. Hell yeah. I wanna see Bruce Willis’s John McClane take down a bunch of towelettes with James Woods playing McClane’s nastier, older buddy.

    2. The Trump-as-symptom point is one that is often overlooked. The other point overlooked is that going to the movies is usually a social outing. The offended Trump supporter has a group of friends, many of whom aren’t political. When the discussion comes up about what to do this weekend, there is soft pressure away from going to a movie, and toward doing something else. Before you know it, there is an 11% drop.

  13. I’ve been watching movie ads for a bout six years, now. I’ve gone to some, but I like the idea of boycotting those stars who are unthinking followers. One person hasn’t made a difference, but the fact is, I’m not at all alone.

  14. Can’t disagree with Mr Toto. Annoying patrons is my number 2 reason for not going.
    Have a projector and screen and love watching classics with my wife.
    Way better than listening to teens talk and the constant glow of cell phones.

    1. That “glow of cellphones” is something that is really hurting films. Word of mouth is already out, before the film is half over.

  15. Ironically, what’s the genre keeping Hollywood afloat? Superhero films.

    What genre most consistently promotes and/or at least RESPECTS Conservative values? Superhero films.

    COINCIDENCE…?

  16. As I noted on another site:

    There are movies whose clear intent is simply to entertain. This includes drama, adventure, comedy and romance. Those tend to do well. Movies whose first priority is to send a message or to clean out our pockets? Not so much.

  17. “Just don’t ignore the political factor. It’s real, and it may be growing.”

    If Hollywood is for something, the odds are overwhelming they are wrong and the best response is to do the opposite. Really, these idiots generally have enough money to insulate themselves for the repercussions of a bad decision. That is why we don’t take their advice and if they get too annoying, we won’t bother to fund their careers.

  18. Hollywood left me years ago. So much churning of special effects & a lack of a good story. Bastardizing Tom Clancy’s The Sum of All Fears sent the message. I also cancelled cable. Why subsidize the contempt that media has for you?

  19. Same thing is happening to American football.
    Hopefully it won’t be long before I have a good alternative to Netflix as well and I can dump their “dear white people” crap too.

  20. Yep, I now use the left’s tactics against them: the personal is the political. Why patronize people who hate me?

  21. Some people complain about superhero movies – but they’re the ones that are still doing reasonably well. Why? Because they still have a remnant of good, old-fashioned individualism and heroism in them, because a huge chunk of their market is China, which doesn’t appreciate “social justice” and “feminist” memes.

    But even there, the movie makers can’t help themselves, and the superhero movies are being gummed up under the weight of PC cult nonsense, just as the comics have been (and the comics are dying for the same reason).

    The amusing thing, I think, is that it’s not just Right-wingers who are sick of the same old same old, I suspect “liberals” themselves don’t go to see the movies their ideological kin make.

  22. been 31 years since i set foot in a theater and no plans to ever do it again.

    hollywood is filled with child abusers, mohammedan apologists, and racists
    anybody who buys the product is supporting this and is no better

  23. The only movies I have watched in the last … 15+? years were Dinesh D’souza movie/s and Atlas Shrugged. I tired of the “indoctrination” a couple of decades ago. Wait … I did see Star Trek 2009 and wished I hadn’t.

  24. the thing is, I know how rancid hollywood is. It’s the Stars Wars bar on steroids. A hive of scum and villany. Who the hell are they to demean me? GFY you child molestors and misogynistic swine.

  25. “Anecdotal, but Telling”

    Yes, that is the problem. This is correlation, but without a comprehensive survey, that is all. Other factors that are mentioned are, in my opinion, more important: the “craptacular” nature of most movies make it so that your average family has to choose more wisely and carefully, which means they go to fewer movies in the first place. Add to that the fact that you average movie costs upwards of $11 and it makes it almost cost-prohibitive for an average family to go to the movies more than once in awhile.

    Additionally, despite the fact that Joss Whedon has said some absolutely batcrap crazy things about Trump and conservatives, if he gets involved in another Avengers film, people will turn out in droves, liberal AND conservative, to see it. Watch how Thor: Ragnarok does. Even if it isn’t as good as the others, it will do well at the box office. Liberals alone cannot propel a film to box-office success. All of my church-going friends went out and saw Spiderman: Homecoming and loved it. They had no idea who directed it or what their political views were. To most of them, it simply did not matter. They knew going in that the film was well-done and told a good story. Despite the presence of the incredibly-left leaning Robert Downey, Jr., everyone agreed that the presence of Iron Man was a plus.

    I am not saying there isn’t *some* truth to the premise, just that the R-square might not be as big as we hope it would be.

    1. Most comic book movies aren’t overtly political. And Hollywood will go out of their way to make sure non of their movies is political for the overseas market, especially China.

      Once in a while Hollywood crosses certain line, like that all female reboot of the Ghostbuster series, which flopped here and did slow business in the foreign market. Truth be told, I think even foreign audience is growing a bit tired of messaging in films. At Naver (a Korean news portal) reader reviews often ding Disney for planting social messaging in their animations.

  26. Movies earn most of their money outside of the United States now. That is why they don’t bother with a story requiring any subtlety that people with limited English proficiency will probably not understand and the dislike for America is as common overseas as it is in Hollywood.

  27. I see the story says tom hanks has been polite to the President, BS hanks is a known hillary and bill kneed pad wearer and donated to their legal defense fund when they left office he is a world class piece of manure

    nothing worthwhile comes from any branch of show biz.

        1. You haven’t seen “Episodes” on Showtime? He kills it. A worthwhile branch, however small. Also, Marco Polo and Narcos on Netflix are well-done story telling.

  28. Some friends brought “My Name is Khan” and “The Butler”. The first is Bollywood, afaik, and had some anti-US nonsense. Couple of discontinuities. Point is, our friends owned the things and nobody made a dime when we watched them.

    1. Shahrukh Khan is a megastar in India and hates it when US Border entry officers flag him for further inspection due to his last name. So there’s a story behind why he’d make a movie like that. A recent fun Bollywood two-parter is Baahubali. There’s also the Dhoom movies.

  29. The big stars don’t have to mind backlash at home (that much), because even if their movies flop in America, they still make tons of money abroad. The latest pirates of the Caribbean film made more money than Wonder Woman overseas.

    Not many Americans might know that while they watch almost no foreign movies, the rest of the world watches many of America’s big films. Combine this with the fact that ticket prices are uniform regardless of supply and demand, and the result is that Hollywood can afford to insult half their paying customers.

    I watched 4 movies this year (got dragged into watching LaLa Land) and I probably won’t watch anything else other than the next Star Wars film. I’m not gonna touch Thor Ragnorak and I already skipped Guardians of the Galaxy 2. It’s tough to go on diets, but it’s not that hard to minimize trips to the theater. The product just isn’t satisfying or tempting. It’s the same stories over and over again, often made palatable for overseas audience. Nothing like Robocop or Seven will ever be made again.

  30. I am a big movie fan and try to go to the theater every week. However, for at least four weeks in a row I have not been excited about any current film. However, I went to The Emoji Movie and liked it. I’ve heard that the new ‘IT’ is expected to break records in September, and without any competition it’s no surprise.

    “Serket’s Movies: Commentary and Trivia on 444 Movies”

  31. I’m all for boycotting Hollywood based upon the regular insults they hurl at conservatives and the ignorant comments they make which are illogical at best. The real reason for box office declines, however, is that the movies stink! It’s that simple. If Hollywood still made decent films, the fact is people would go to the movies in larger numbers. The movies are bad remakes, superhero films, sequels or cartoons; that’s it. There are few, if any films aimed at an adult population. Dunkirk was a recent one that actually worked. For the most part, Hollywood is garbage.

  32. I wonder if it could be 1) CGI laden extravaganzas that are written on the reading level of a ten year old 2) Boring superhero and comic book movies that are the exact same thing over and over again 3)Sequels (many of whom fit #1. My God how many times can you watch fake looking giant robots fight or cars drive in a world where physics doesn’t exist? 4) Comedies written for a poop obsessed thirteen year old where a fart joke is the equivalent of Noel Coward, or a stupid Judd Apatow film that has two characters ad lib about farts for ten minutes. and finally 5) Boring politicized polemics, pushing their left wing agenda at the expense of good story or believable actions, like where the Muslim terrorists are never the real enemy, but it’s white corporate America pulling the strings…….

  33. I’m so stupid I went to a movie once not knowing it was from a comic book. I kept thinking WTF. Oh well.

    Anyway, Trump should have forced accounting rule changes on the movie industry as well as changing the tax code for them.

  34. A) The Mummy was not that bad, what’s wrong with everybody?

    B) Magnanimous? Please don’t strain a muscle.

    C) Entertainer careers are affected by being unlikable, this is obvious. How they got so out of touch with this reality is a bit puzzling. But more importantly, and you don’t mention this at all, is that it isn’t just unlikable tossers we are boycotting, but the endless progressive propaganda in the movies and shows themselves. Propaganda and fun are inherently mutually exclusive. I doubt that even the people who AGREE with the propaganda really enjoy the product.

    I tuned into the updated Fuller House on Netflix thinking I would find some extremely simple-minded tv nonsense to doze off too. First episode, first five minute: an anti-Trump joke, and this is before he was elected. How could they not lose a chunk of viewers over that. Of course they want to believe, and want us to believe, that these viewers are unimportant and unnecessary. But that’s not business. That’s government propaganda.

  35. I will never see a movie in a theater again as long as I live. And yes, movies are stupider now than they’ve ever been. But the lunatic fringe leftie Hollywood types who despise everything I believe in – that’s the real reason they’ll never get a penny of my money ever again.

  36. Use to go to the movies, buy the dvd, watch on tv. Now just buy the dvd. I can pause it to piss when I went to. Popcorn and pop are cheaper. Plus the resident kitchen chef makes some surprises from time to time. Plus I can stop the movie take a nap and resume watching on my clock.

  37. I keep adding actors whose moves I won’t pay money for. I finally had to add Tom Hanks to the list. Wow! And when you put both Hanks and Meryl Streep (whom I’ve hated for a long time) in a movie that’s sure to preach how bad all Republicans are because one Republican president did something so relatively innocuous the media would celebrate it if it had been their lord and savior, just not going doesn’t seem to make enough of a statement. But what else is there. The hypocrtitcal pukes will continue to make millions playing let’s pretend.

  38. Stopped reading at “see Jeff Bridges and Tom Hanks for solid examples.” The writer must have missed Tom Hanks troubling himself unnecessarily to signal he cannot bring himself to screen “Post” at Trump White House. Did somebody ask? They must have. Because why else say anything? Goodbye Hanks, you can just suck my …

    finger. Yeah, that’s the thing of mine you can suck.

  39. Of course this is true.

    I want the NFL to collapse into bankruptcy.

    I also want Hollywood to collapse into bankruptcy. If the most powerful engine of movie-making on earth were Bollywood, the whole earth would be psychologically more healthy. I would much rather take turns reading old books aloud with my children than turn the idiot-box back on.

    (And I don’t much like Bollywood films, really. But they’re not much worse than Beach Blanket Bingo, and that makes them about as bad as Hollywood was fifty years ago.)

    What else? Oh, yes. The New York Times should go out of business, along with the Washington Post. They’ve failed their basic mission of conveying reliable, or even plausible, information about the world. So why should they stay in business?

    What else? Pretty much every major university or private college other than Hillsdale and a handful of other explicitly religious/conservative institutions. I enjoy college hoops and football as much as the next man, but I’d gladly see my own alma mater and all her major rivals collapse down to the size of a rented post-office box, if doing so meant that all the leftist professors and administrators would be out of a job.

    In short: Screw them. Screw them all.

  40. Poorly written and executed article. It is an idea for an article with no supporting evidence–not even anecdotal anonymous quotes. I’d like to hear from those who may be boycotting Hollywood.

  41. “That doesn’t mention those unruly patrons who talk through movies, yapping to each other or on their cell phones..”
    And most of THEM are Obama’s sons.

  42. The last movie I saw in a theater was “Yogi Bear” back in 2010. I really enjoyed it. Since then, I’ve had no interest.

  43. Tom Hanks is “magnanimous” towards Trump? Seriously, dude? Let’s see: Already this month, Hanks has refused to screen “The Post “at the White House and said that President Trump’s attacks on the media bear a resemblance to tactics used by repressive governments to sow distrust and disdain for the press.

    1. That was my reaction too. Hanks is a major democrat party fascist. C Toto has been too long in tinseltown if Tom Hanks appears magnanimous.

  44. It would seem to be easy to cross-index movie theaters and movies by red/blue county and prove or disprove the theory. Such a thing is obvious to any big business and thus I have to assume has been done, since we haven’t seen any thing like that publicly suggests that maybe the studio execs don’t like the results.

  45. I still go see a couple or three movies each year, but I cheat!. To make sure a Leftist like Matt Damon, Sean Penn, George Clooney or Scarlett Johansson don’t get a penny from my watching their movies, I buy ticket to some other movie showing at about the same time.

    Yea……..I’m being a hypocrit just like these RICH Hollywood Commies!

  46. Plus the fact that movies just plain suck. Not an intelligent, interesting one out there. Add the fact that these no-nothing actors insist on lecturing me every chance they get. Who needs it?

  47. Tom Hanks is “magnanimous” toward non-democrat party members? Since when? Or is that in comparison to democrat party spite-spewers like Damon and Affleck, Clooney and Baldwin, O’Donnell and Streisand, Cher and Streep, and almost all the rest?

  48. Tom Hanks blew it this week when he proactively stated he would not accept an invitation from Trump to go to the White House for a viewing of “The Post” if it was offered. That’s all it took for me to decide to not spend my money to see the movie.

  49. You mean it might be imprudent to tell half or more of your potential customers that they are stupid or bigots or both for holding views standard 24 months ago? Could also be that the several lefties with standards don’t like this phenomenon either.

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