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Do Audiences Prefer Crap Movies?

post #1 of 7
10/27/10 at 1:47pm
Thread Starter 
This article hit a while back, attempting to pseudo-scientifically quantify whether audiences actually preferred bad movies to good ones. His finding was that "B+" movies seemed to get most of the box office, and that success was weighted more towards good movies than bad.

Chris Bird of "Mighty God King" took issue with his methodology (for starters, the first guy used Box Office Mojo's grades as "quality" measure) and developed this chart.

Interesting fodder for discussion, anyway.
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post #2 of 7
10/27/10 at 2:11pm
So, the hypothesis really boils down to the general public really doesn't give a fuck. Which is something we all tend to forget. Spectacle will always get attention, but obviously fuck awful movies tend to do nothing to the B.O. on average, and neither does anything TOO good/smart. The middle ground, dressed up pretty enough, will always get the money.

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is why James Cameron is a diabolical fucking GENIUS.
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post #3 of 7
10/27/10 at 2:51pm
I love it people assume popular means quality.
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post #4 of 7
10/27/10 at 4:24pm
The methodology in the first article is full of gaping holes and is basically useless. The second one isn't quite as retarded but still turns out to be a waste of time because it doesn't show any coherent trends.

Anyway, what general audiences look for in their movies and what critics/cineasts look for aren't the same, and don't overlap all that consistently. If a movie has an appealing star, concept, or even genre there is a built in audience there that will most likely go see it regardless of the reviews. But no one goes out of their way to watch a 'bad' movie.
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post #5 of 7
10/27/10 at 5:06pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Paul C View Post
But no one goes out of their way to watch a 'bad' movie.
The existence of BIG MOMMA's HOUSE 2 makes this argument fairly weak. Enough people went out of their way to watch the first piece of shit to have a second made and released theatrically.
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post #6 of 7
10/27/10 at 5:11pm
Yeah, but the people who went to go see that movie didn't see something bad. They saw something that was mildly diverting for under 2 hours and promptly forgot about it until they picked it up for $5.99 at the supermarket much later.

Mediocre wins the day.

For some people, mediocre means bad. To some not.

If an audience thinks something will be bad (in a way that doesn't appeal to them), they will avoid it.
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post #7 of 7
10/27/10 at 5:40pm
The better question is, "do audience take movies seriously?", which is "no". That's the main difference between the mainstream and us. If we say a film is "challenging", they don't even know what means, or why someone would want that. It has to do with whether you go to movies to escape life or understand it.

A part of the problem is that the younger generation has no one to point them towards quality. We all have our favorite younger film writers, but it's a niche thing. Critics are old news to most people. That comes from the lack of seriousness I was talking about.
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