The LA Times has a piece where studio execs are finally facing the music and giving themselves the blame for the recent slump in people going to the movies:
One of Hollywood’s basic tenets is that when things go wrong it’s somebody else’s fault.
Which is why it’s so startling, suddenly, to hear studio executives and producers taking responsibility for the rows of empty seats in movie theaters this year.
“It’s really easy for all of us to blame the condition of the theaters, gas prices, alternative media, the population changes and everything else I’ve heard myself say,” said Sony Pictures Vice Chairman Amy Pascal, whose summer releases “Bewitched” and “Stealth” flopped. “I think it has to do with the movies themselves.”
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.
My favourite piece from the article is one that sums it all up in one sentance:
“It’s the movies, stupid,” said John Fithian, president of the National Assn. of Theatre Owners. “That’s what we’ve been saying all along.
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