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
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.
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.
F’em
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.
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.
Don’t buy the DVD, borrow it from the library.
Dunkirk is the only movie from this summer I’m planning on buying.
Good article, but TomHanks magnanimous toward Trump? He’s not as bad as some, but he’s not good.
I wouldn’t say smiting, unless it’s in a Blazing Saddles kind of way… https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BFCb4j0E2p4
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.
Not another dime!
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.
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.
Buttman and The Groper band together to save the World from Pepe the Destroyer
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/20dda21ab9158eaa7acc837b932627248975b8df32f2a12d75ce6cb63f24bf03.png A Love Story
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…….
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.
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”
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.