December 29, 2011
Roger Ebert: I'll tell you why movie revenue is dropping...

1. Obviously, the absence of a must-see mass-market movie. […]

2. Ticket prices are too high. […]

3. The theater experience. […]

4. Refreshment prices. […]

5. Competition from other forms of delivery. […]

6. Lack of choice. Box-office tracking shows that the bright spot in 2011 was the performance of indie, foreign or documentary films [this has arguably been the case since 1989 with Soderbergh’s Sex, Lies, and Videotape]. On many weekends, one or more of those titles captures first-place in per-screen average receipts. Yet most moviegoers outside large urban centers can’t find those titles in their local gigantiplex. Instead, all the shopping center compounds seem to be showing the same few overhyped disappointments. Those films open with big ad campaigns, play a couple of weeks, and disappear.

 The myth that small-town moviegoers don’t like “art movies” is undercut by Netflix’s viewing results; the third most popular movie on Dec. 28 on Netflix was “Certified Copy,” by the Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami. You’ve heard of [him]? In fourth place—French director Alain Corneau’s “Love Crime.” In fifth, “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo“—but the subtitled Swedish version.

The message I get is that Americans love the movies as much as ever. It’s the theaters that are losing their charm. Proof: theaters thrive that police their audiences, show a variety of titles and emphasize value-added features. The rest of the industry can’t depend forever on blockbusters to bail it out.

Say it Roger. If #1 wasn’t so prevalent (please stop with the sequels and remakes guys!) then the rest wouldn’t be so bad.

(Source: news.ycombinator.com, via kateoplis)

7:19pm  |   URL: http://charliefoxtrot.tumblr.com/post/15004820836/roger-ebert-ill-tell-you-why-movie-revenue-is
(No. OF NOTES: 523)
  
  1. destroyinertia reblogged this from david
  2. lindsayslabyrinth reblogged this from david
  3. sprinklesofsugoi reblogged this from seanhigby
  4. zeezeescorner reblogged this from david
  5. anindiscriminatecollection reblogged this from femmenoire
  6. mikeambs reblogged this from kateoplis
  7. seanhigby reblogged this from david and added:
    I’m not a huge fan of Ebert, but he definitely raises some good points in this.
  8. painted-veil reblogged this from david
  9. dreamsfaithandlove reblogged this from david
  10. penguinsayswhat reblogged this from david and added:
    Or, you know…90% of the movies being put out are trite remakes of things we’ve all seen done before.
  11. fyrdrakken reblogged this from amezri
  12. little-grey-cells reblogged this from kateoplis
  13. donovansung reblogged this from david
  14. mini-mags reblogged this from kateoplis
  15. indie-horror-movies reblogged this from charliefoxtrot
  16. glassgirlfromouterspace reblogged this from thebookworm
  17. thebookworm reblogged this from wordvomittt
  18. rubyvroom reblogged this from internetflotsam and added:
    I’ll assume he fit a rant about 3-D gimmicks in here somewhere, since he’s a fellow hater of 3D movies. If not, that’s...
  19. harryfrancis reblogged this from directingfilm
  20. amezri reblogged this from very-ish
  21. zacharybinkss reblogged this from directingfilm
  22. wand3rlust reblogged this from jezibaba
  23. detroitmel reblogged this from david
  24. okwhistle reblogged this from kateoplis
  25. jezibaba reblogged this from monkeyknifefight
  26. christiantheatheist reblogged this from wordvomittt
  27. isopycnic reblogged this from glamaphonic
  28. onionjulius reblogged this from monkeyknifefight
  29. no-1-likeme reblogged this from inashley
  30. msmatcha reblogged this from nissanissas and added:
    I too am tired of action movies and all their bwom bwom and also anything with a John Williams score and also pretty...
  31. inashley reblogged this from cirquedusoneil
  32. cornellnotetakingsystem reblogged this from directingfilm