The Stalwart: Good Movies=Better Ticket Sales. Surprised?

We've been saying it for some time: The problem with big media is the product. It's not about Long Tail vs. Mass Media, or means of distribution; if you make a good movie people will come to see it in droves. If you make a tired redundant movie with an unoriginal plot (Do we really need Elizabethtown when we already had Garden State?) starring the flavor-of-the-day Jessica Simpson-clone then you've got trouble.

Well, it looks like Hollywood's starting to get that:

After months of hand-wringing and doomsday forecasts about the permanent erosion of moviegoing, the lunchtime chatter at Mr. Chow in Beverly Hills and other industry haunts has turned decidedly inward. Now, four straight weekends of crowded theaters have forced moguls and creative executives to admit in public what they have spent months avoiding: They were clueless about what audiences wanted.

"There's always a year when the pundits say the movie business is over," said producer Brian Grazer, whose May release "Cinderella Man" was a disappointment despite strong reviews. "If there's a movie people want to see, they go see it. I just think we all have to do our best to make better movies."

Credit a healthy September with showing that people haven't completely rejected the multiplex. "The Exorcism of Emily Rose" and "Transporter 2" both drew throngs of moviegoers. Last weekend "Flightplan" (also produced by Grazer) and "Tim Burton's Corpse Bride" pushed the box office 41% above the same weekend in 2004. From Labor Day through last weekend, grosses were 17% above a year earlier.

Nobody is predicting that 2005 will beat last year's record gross of $9.4 billion and attendance of 1.5 billion, which was driven by such hits as "Shrek 2," "Spider-Man 2," "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" and the surprise blockbuster "The Passion of the Christ." And this weekend may well fall short of a year ago, when the animated comedy "Shark Tale" surged to $47 million.

Still, to date, ticket sales lag behind 2004's numbers by only 6%, with attendance off 8.7%. Both those numbers are a vast improvement from a string of weekends this spring, when year-to-year comparisons frequently showed double-digit drops.

To be fair, you can't blame Hollywood for being paranoid of things like BitTorrent and other new circumventing technologies. After all, the hip techno-elite (*cough* Jeff Jarvis *cough* Cory Doctorow) have been saying the exact same thing, only in the form of a warning to Hollywood that they better not try to like their content up cause it'll only make users mad, oh and they'll take it anyway.

As for movies...saw Flightplan this weekend. The Stalwart highly recommends it.

What is This?

The Stalwart is a blog written by Joseph Weisenthal, covering such topics as stocks, business, economics, politics, technology, gambling, chess, poker, economics, current events, music, math, Chinese food, science, randomness, kurtosis, sports, evolutionary fitness, and anything else of the author's choosing. The words contained herein are the author's own, not affiliated with any other firm or employer.

Stats

Comments

Why do you wish to waste your money on other ED pills when they do not give you a strong erection under tough conditions? Of course your every penny has value and when you spend on an ED drug, they must ensure the best result even when you have diabetes mellitus or heart diseases or even when you are taking medicine for lowering blood pressure. The only ED pill that can help you in this condition is levitra. It is the most popular pill which can give you an erection even when you do have any hope. This pill has become so popular that you can buy levitra online. Yes, what if you buy levitra over internet? Let me tell you that you can get cheap levitra when you order levitra using internet. Amazing! Is not it? So, who can stop you from having a great sexual life after so many years of hopelessness? Go get it!

Posted by: levitra | November 18, 2006 at 06:24 AM

Viagra can doubtlessly rescue you from the clutch of erectile dysfunction but only when it is used with adequate care under the supervision of a doctor. But the sad fact is that the recreational use of viagra has become a norm with a large section of people especially gay & bisexual indulging in Viagra misuse and falling prey to sexually transmitted disease like HIV & STD. After you buy viagra, you should duly follow the instructions of the physician to avoid unwanted circumstances. For the purchase of authentic Viagra, log in to viagra online. Fill up a few forms online and order viagra. This way the drug will arrive at your doorstep in a safely packed form. So buy viagra online and strengthen your war against erectile dysfunction.

Posted by: viagra | December 08, 2006 at 04:58 AM

Three phrases should be among the most common in our daily usage. They are: Thank you, I am grateful and I appreciate.

Posted by: penis enlargement | March 18, 2007 at 10:58 PM

Wow!!! Good job. Could I take some of yours triks to build my own site?0

Posted by: Bush | June 01, 2007 at 02:50 PM

This is very interesting site

Posted by: sveta | June 02, 2007 at 02:14 PM

Da nu Nah

Posted by: sveta | June 02, 2007 at 07:03 PM

I\'l be back... :)+

Posted by: Bill | June 03, 2007 at 03:12 AM

PORN MOVIES REVIEW