Movie Theatres - Beginning of the End?

Blockbuster after blockbuster flopping at the box office.

Just read that the much hyped new Mission Impossible had a very mediocre opening weekend. The chances of it turning a profit without a strong opening is now slim. It joins other big blockbusters released in the last few years to disappoint, even though some have very good critic and audience scores.

Indiana Jones
The Flash
Ant-Man
Shazam
Black Adam
Strange World
Light year
The Northman
Babylon

All flopped hard and cost their studios 100’s of millions in losses. The winners are getting fewer and fewer.

We are in a time of change and I’m skeptical theatres as we know them will pull through. Comedies used to be cheap movies to make and if they got big they could make a lot of bank. The new generation and wokeness has killed the comedy. They don’t like anything that offends so movies that made a lot of money like the Hangover are done.

Majority of dramas are going to streaming and the studios are left with the blockbusters, which cost a ton to make and market and are now losing studios big money. Movies like Indiana Jones and the Flash cost over $300m when marketing is counted and the studios split the revenue with the theatres. Those movies need to do between $600 - $700m to turn a profit. That’s a huge risk.

It will be very interesting to see what happens in the coming years, but things will have to change. Hollywood has always been about turning a profit.

Maybe Cinemas are on their last legs. Would be incredbly sad to lose them tho. That said, i dont think ive been to the cinema, since pre covid days. Partly to do with being para about catching the virus, but also, the movies that were being released, just did not excite me in any way. That said, there are a few coming up id like to go and see on the big screen.

I have Sky Movies as part of my Sky TV package. A few years back, subscribers to the movies channels were getting a big name, blockbuster movie, every friday evening. Now, such movies are thin on the ground.
Gone are the Blockbusters and self made movies have taken over. And more often than not, these are real low quality movies. It is almost impossible for me to get excited about such movies. Its the same story with Netflix and Amazon made movies. i find them to be massively inferior, to what came before. Movie making really does seem to be in the doldrums right now

Good point about the Netflix made movies. They are pretty bad. Bad writing, made on the cheap.

Good point about the Netflix made movies. They are pretty bad. Bad writing, made on the cheap.

Cant be any worse than Sky Originals. When i see those words, im pretty sure its another way of saying crap movie.
Last year, one of the sky original movies we got, was about a little English village, who were fighting to keep there local Post Office open (or something like that). We used to get Hollywood blockbusters every week

I don’t watch much of anything (TV, movies, series) but the bit I’ve seen of some series has actually impressed me in every way - concept, writing, acting, set and costumes, etc.

And I feel like there are some really interesting stories being told in that medium. I’m sure there’s a lot of garbage too, but damn, I think some of the finest stories on screen have been made in this format.

One interesting point is that they can use exactly the amount of time (in terms of seasons, episodes, and minutes per episode) that they need to tell the story. Sometimes they just need six hours, too short for a traditional TV series, too long for a movie, and possibly not paced right for a movie trilogy (which will require some climaxes at the 1/3 2/3 3/3 marks as well as other pacing requirements). A series episode will need to feel complete in some way but not necessarily with a climax, just a feeling of a chapter is enough.

Movies on the other hand seem to be frequently unoriginal these days, either reboots or remakes, or dragging on franchises to a ridiculous extent. For me, I’m done with Star Wars ffs. Great trilogy we could have all remembered fondly. Indiana Jones, ditto. Come up with something new, folks, this is lazy and boring and stale. New stories and ideas are happening over on streaming. In the movies it’s all Marvel (which is ok…) and a million stupud reboots that did not need to be done but made somebody money.

The movie theater in my town closed without warning five minths ago.

My wife and I haven't been to a theater since 2019. No matter how interested we are in a film, we just can't muster the energy or desire to go see it on the big screen. Dune Part II is probably the only thing we're actually planning on seeing; streaming is just more convenient, quieter, and much cheaper.

Laoghaire made a fair point about some of the series being produced. Some really good ones, especially on HBO and Prime. Great writing and acting and being a series they have time to breathe. House of the Dragon, Jack Ryan, Stranger Things, and others have been top quality. People can find good entertainment without leaving their homes.

I think one thing the studios need to do to keep the movie going experience alive is keep the theatre movies off streaming for a year or so. Don’t give people the option to wait 2 months for the film to hit TV. If people want to see it they gotta go to the theatres.

I believe the last movie we went to the theater to see was The Meg in 2018.

Will probably go and see Indiana Jones this week since i have a day off.  Its possible that during covid everyone got used to not going to places like theaters,  bars,  etc.  Some of the local bars around here never really recovered.  Also there would on occasion be an active shooter in places like these. 

It doesn't help that the movies are plain shit.  Disney can't make a film without shoving woke crap in it and audiences have turned off.  No one wanted to see a Buzz Lightyear film without Tim Allen in it.  Warner Bros has ruined their DC universe. There's always money from China- but that is not a good thing ultimately.

The last time I went to the pictures was at a cinema in London in 2007.

The last time I went to the pictures was at a cinema in London in 2007.

Geez TD, are you living the life of a hermit ?

Sadly the only film i've seen in the last few years is that newest Pixar film, Elementals.  Horrible.  But my son took me for father's day so it was a good day still.

It appears that both Barbie and Oppenheimer, released this past weekend are very successful at the box office.

That could be a message to Hollywood. Stop rehashing the same old franchises and propose something new. Not that I plan to see Barbie, but obviously, there’s a crowd for it.

Saw this..........

Saw this..........

No Marvel
No Star Wars
No DC Comics
No James Bond
Etc…

Interesting…

(Oh, and we have here 5 films that had a major cultural impact, all of them).