As we close the book on the second year of a new decade it’s hard not too look back on 2011 in Hollywood with a little bit of a worried expression. While your feelings may vary on how the year 
turned out for movies overall, I’ve seen very few proclamations that 2011 was “the best year for movies since XXXX.*”Along with the (at best) “okay” release slate, there was a general sense of confusion as VOD reshaped the landscape for genre indie release (and began obfuscating B.O. numbers even more), while traditionally platforming indies couldn’t found it harder than ever to find a foothold, major studio efforts flopped, movies based on brands took an even higher share of the success, and studios pulled the plug on projects with no regard for the clout of the people involved.
It was a rough year in a lot of ways, and the masters of Hollywood pessimism at Deadline have recently run an extensive recapitulation focused on the follies of the film industry in 2011. Written by the very sharp Mike Flemming, the piece systematically checks off all of the major controversies and shocks of the year. A few highlights:
…it’s hard to blame Hollywood’s slavish devotion to sequels, prequels, reboots, and brands. Especially when 2011′s top seven grossing films of the year were sequels — Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2, Transformers 3: Dark Of The Moon, Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1, The Hangover II, Pirates of the Caribbean 4: On Stranger Tides, Fast 5, and Cars 2. The next three on the list were brands — Marvel’s Thor, Fox’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Marvel’s Captain America…
…for all but the biggest stars and their dealmakers, it has made an already hard job much more difficult. First dollar gross deals are a distant memory, and agents tell me that now. So is the system where supporting players establish a quote from previous studio jobs. Now studios assemble lists starting at the top and then go down until they find the actor who’ll work for the discount price allotted for the role. The pendulum swing of leverage away from talent isn’t helped by the fact that studios no longer trust the star system…
…writer reps tell me that a mindset of one-step deals and the demeaning practice of sweepstakes pitching (where scribes must prepare ideas to win a job) has become commonplace. There is no shortage of competition for those gigs because good jobs are harder to find….
…shortening theatrical windows and even issuing major movies day and date in theaters and home viewing at premium price points seems inevitable, but not when major theater chains assume an over-my-dead-body position…
The piece goes into much more detail, and I would encourage you to read it and let it stew in your chewer mind. To them, I’d add a few things to think about as well…
• Has the power of the film blogosphere (forgive the term) to act as a driver of buzz completely vanished? One need only look at the simple case-study of Attack The Block to say “yes.” Did that 
power ever exist at all for the film sites and their readers? If it did, has it simply been diluted by the water-cooler conversation moving onto Facebook and Twitter, where the oceanic waves of public opinion move with a power and speed all their own?
• Has this been a year of gasping at cinematic straws? While the reactions have certainly been divided to some extent, do films like Dragon Tattoo, Midnight in Paris, Hugo, and even films like Melancholia and War Horse truly represent the best work of many of the master filmmakers that put out releases this year? Will these efforts stand the test of time and sit high among their respective oeuvres in twenty years? Or has this been a year of minor successes made to look better for how shitty a year it was generally?
• How does the current state of Hollywood reflect the current state of the economy and the 
tumultuous political culture? Do you expect to see the country’s economic downturn grow as a common theme/backdrop in film?
• Will a slew of hugely anticipated films like The Hobbit, The Dark Knight Rises, and The Avengers on the way, might we see audiences reinvigorated a bit? Or are we just cruising for a series of disappointment, and a crushing disillusionment to follow?
• With all this out in the air, what are you hoping you do see from movies in 2012?
So with all these thoughts in mind, and the Deadline piece as a jumping off point…
I want to hear your thoughts.
Many sites (including CHUD in the past) have open threads or comment columns, but few have the relative might of the chewer brain-trust. So, I’d like to see you tackle any of these questions or trains of thought that you’d like with diatribes, rants, filibusters, or quick thought-farts all welcome.
I think it would be great to have a robust conversation in the comments below, but we also have the message boards still going strong (the post-releases during the fall prestige season have been great).
Also, you can always hit me directly on twitter.
You don’t have a voice unless you use it, and I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for particularly interesting and insightful posts to highlight, so don’t be shy…
*To be fair, I have seen one or two very good critics say exactly that, but it’s still a rare sentiment.
15 comments
“…writer reps tell me that a mindset of one-step deals and the demeaning practice of sweepstakes pitching (where scribes must prepare ideas to win a job) has become commonplace. There is no shortage of competition for those gigs because good jobs are harder to find….”
Wait a minute, so writers must be PREPARED and know where they’re going with their ideas in order to get the job? How fucking inhumane, right? Isn’t it a good thing if there’s more competition for the better jobs? I would think so. I can’t see any harm in there NOT being 32 different writers on the next Sandler flick. If the most demeaning thing that you have to do this year as a writer in Hollywood is COMPETE for a job, then I want to be a Hollywood writer.
Also, I know that people want to shit on sequels for not being brand-new, original ideas, but I like them a lot, as long as they’re done well. It’s why I follow TV shows. It’s why I continue to read comics. I want to see the story continue. Sure, there’s more money flying around when you’re talking about movies, but when the box office is in trouble, what do these fucking writers want? Article after article about how the box office was in the shitter last year is far less inspired and original than anything Avengers, Batman, or even GI JOE will bring to the table.
Isn’t it great too how Rise of the Planet of the Apes is an incredible breath of fresh air and inspired new direction for the series until the end of the year when they want to talk about how Hollywood relied on sequels, and now it’s just a “brand”. Yes, it’s part of a brand, but it was a dead brand that no one thought would continue, much less be any good, after Burton’s financially successful, yet poorly-received film.
I basically agree with the article’s conclusion. Something has to give. I’ve been saying for a long time that a business model of making multi-hundred million dollar bets again and again with ever decreasing returns in the hunt for an Avatar, or a LOTR or a Pirates is not sustainable. Not with the DVD easy money drying up, at least.
And what is going to happen? Hopefully a cut to budgets across the board with maybe one exception per year. There is no logic to a film with a concept as preposterous as Cowboys Vs Aliens costing 150+ millions. More flexible release strategies, definitely. The theater going experience is now fundamentally broken. It’s often unpleasant and always expensive and underwhelming. The VOD money, millions upon millions, are there for the studios to take. Whatever happens studios must change the way they do business or risk an industry wide crash.
Then again, maybe this would be a good thing.
I cannot speak to the inner workings of the Hollywood machine, the mindset of studios in regard to a release and what-not. But I do work at a movie theatre. A movie theatre with a restaurant on the inside.
2011 was a shitty year for release numbers, and attendance has been practically non-existent at my location (a location, I might add, that used to cater to the rich and fabulous that only Atlanta can provide, and could pull in $50,000 in sales on a good Saturday when I first started). Even then, it is kind of hard to attribute this solely to a decline in overall product – when we did get the titles mentioned in the Deadline piece we did excellent numbers in those houses with overflow going to other, less successful shows. We are also having to deal with the opening of a newer, more posh restaurant/theatre bastard down the road that has cut deep into our established clientele. That being said, the weekend Twilight opened we buried the competition in attendance despite the fact they were playing it on at least two screens and we were competing with Puss in Boots, Tower Heist, and The Muppets.
Which makes sense. The Dine-in-Theatre concept has always been, to my mind at least, the last gasp of the chains in reeling in all those pockets after they realized that 3D wasn’t the be all end all. Dinner and a movie; playing to convenience and novelty because they know that the blockbuster isn’t putting asses in the seats like it used to. The chains – and ultimately, I think, the studios – are finding that they are no longer having to simply contend with each other, or even VOD. Netflix is just a symptom of the will of the consumer. The chains are finding that they’re biggest competition is their audience.
The audience who knows that they’ll be able to see that movie on their beautiful 73 inch flat-screen HDTV in about two months on Netflix or from a Red Box or on their 3D Blu-Ray as well, if they were stupid – seated on the couch with a wonderful home-cooked Paula Dean butter creation, more booze then we could ever sell them, and then straight to sex directly after. Convenience is a synonym for laziness, and it is becoming the driving force of our consumer culture. In 2012 I’m interested to see how chains like Regal and AMC survive, if they can adapt, and if the products coming out of Hollywood carry enough hype and weight to motivate the masses toward that “traditional” movie experience. If not, the chains are going to look more and more like an awfully big middle man that the studios are going to want to cut out, and that would make a landscape that I find to be truly unrecognizable.
Here’s hoping the whole Hollywood system crashes in the next ten years. The only reason that brands, sequels etc are the top grossing films is because that’s all Hollywood gets behind financially. While there was lots of word of mouth praise for ‘Attack the Block’ online as you were saying that’s not enough as having billboards and constant TV ads like this other bigger shit gets. I’m ready for it all to collapse and hopefully allow for independent filmmakers and bigger ideas to converge. Technology is allowing everyone to make the film they want whether they have $5 or 5 million. And even if that means more people will be making features, the shit will get filtered.
Hollywood will be around for a long time, but I predict later on less will care for the dreamy landscapes it never fulfills. People will tire of eating plastic.
Sequels/remakes/reboots have been a Hollywood staple since forever. There are several versions of the Wizard of Oz before the 1939 film. Hollywood makes around 500 films a year, most are not sequels/remakes/reboots. Maybe it’s because many high profile films have such a tendency that it seems all Hollywood is this way but in reality it’s just another part of the ebb; but people do pay to see them no matter what.
My gut tells me those big seasonal 2012 films will be disappointments and bloated bore-fests while the leaner genre films will at least be successful in their execution.
Things will get worse in the US -I expect riots at the political conventions next year- and with stats like half the nation all ready receiving government hand-outs and increasing unemployment/unhappiness/spiralling debt, the bread & circuses offered by Hollywood could potentially go bust before it is forced into any reflection on the state of things.
No question 2011 was just a weak year for films. I do think there are some long term trends which should be worrisome for the theater owners/operators (I think Hollywood will adapt and do just fine):
1) Going to movies is an expensive hassle. The family of 4 in line ahead of me at Tintin paid $40 for the lowest price first show. Then add parking, gas, popcorn, soda, then probably lunch afterwards…and what do they get for that? 30 minutes at least of fucking commercials, blasted so loud that you can’t avoid them (I had to turn up the sound on my iPod and still couldn’t drown out the noise). Then lots of previews, mostly for bad movies (though the Phantom Menace 3D trailer got a good reaction). Followed by a film that was good but not great. Oh yeah and then you’ve got people around you checking their cellphones, talking on their cellphones, explaining the plot to each other, etc.
2) Compare that with the home theater experience, where you can now get a nice big screen LCD with great audio, no commercials, any kind of food and drink you want, in any amount you want, you can pause the film for a bathroom break, etc. I don’t view this as “lazy” like one of the posters above does. Why would I not want an optimal viewing experience for a film I want to see?
3) How many films benefit from being seen in the theater? Blockbusters yes. Genre properties, yes. Serious dramas? Not so much. In fact so many dramatic films ares hot as if they were TV shows: close ups of people taking at the camera, no real effort at composition etc. When a great exception like The King’s Speech comes along (a film that is a true movie going experience) it puts asses in seats, which leads me to
4) Content. I was going to start a thread asking if Hollywood has forgotten how to even make films. Look at how many major productions are sloppy in terms of script, acting and production values. Xmen First Class, a film I actually enjoyed, has some real sloppy FX, sloppy to the point where you wonder what the studio was thinking, releasing the film before it was ready. How many $100M+ budgeted films literally have no plot that makes any sense (looking at you Pirate films).
And the “Indie” films have degenerated into an utterly predictable set of cliches: the Quirky Characters doing Quirky/wacky/horrible things. The “edgy” film that aims to “challenge” our sensibilities but is just stupid, etc.
Also, the good content that does emerge tends to appeal to a niche audience rather than a general audience. Scott Pilgrim and Attack the Block are good examples. If films like that are made with reasonable budgets they will make good returns (on the streaming services most likely).
Which brings me to
5) Studios are spending too much on making movies. They are spending multiple millions on movie stars who don’t bring in an audience, way too much on FX (at least the end result doesn’t seem to justify the budget in many cases), and marketing the films themselves (at least that last line item seems to bring people in). The other thing that is killing movies is the Studio’s insistence on locking in release dates, which results in productions being rushed, FX being half done, etc. Take some fucking time to make a good film!
I disagree a little bit. I’ve managed a theater for years AND I work as a bank teller, and believe me, as much as people bitch and complain about prices, they still blow more money on shit they don’t need than on anything else. I have to deal with people constantly that wonder why they’re overdrawn on their accounts, so I’ll look at how they’re handling and where they’ve been spending money, and I’m disgusted. Then, I’ll have to deal with these same people at my OTHER job, and man, when they complain about prices, they think they’re the first ones to ever do so. And just like everyone before them, they still pay up and head right for the concession stand, but not until after a lengthy “I know you guys have no control over this, BUT…” tirade that I now know by heart. If you know we can’t do anything about it, then shut the fuck up, DON’T give us your money, and go buy some food for your family or pay off a bill or something. Skip the cigarette shop and liquor store while you’re at it.
Hollywood is laying in the bed it made for itself. If they were serious about the entertainment then they would get the best of everyone and actually not be led by greed. Its ok to make money but milking a franchise is not the way to do it. Now I love sequels and all but only if done right and look at it this way the Friday the 13th franchise were so special due to the fact the special effects were done on a shoetring budget but looked so real many of the death scenes had to be cut or (in the case of the chick that was stabbed in the pussy) re-done. if Hollywood would get their heads out of their asses then I think true art could be accomplished and profitable without the tub and kitchen sinks thrown in.
It’s not just about writers being prepared… it’s about writers having to DO THE JOB before they even know if they’re going to get paid for it, all the while being directly pitted in competition against other writers who are forced into the same situation.
Most professional writers worth their salt take their job seriously, and like to get paid for the work they do – rather than being asked to jump through hoops and do a shit-ton of work that they very well may not get paid for.
How many other professions can you think of where you have to do a good portion of the work before someone decides whether they’ll pay you or not?
Waa-Waaaaahhhhhh!
Off the top of my head:
Musicians, artists, interns…
Not saying it’s right, just saying writers aren’t the only ones.
I’m a total dick and my response is that I see nothing going on in Hollywood that I don’t already see in every single corner of Western Civilization. There is no “greed” in Hollywood that I don’t witness everywhere else. There is no more pursuit of the “sure thing” that I don’t see everywhere else, from food purchases on up.
This cinematic state of affair is not happening in a vacuum, folks. I’m already having to replace my badly designed mp3 player – bought a year ago – whereas my original Sony Walkman sits unused in my closet, obsolete but still in perfect working order . . .
I really am a total fucking asshole and I wanted to add that we no longer live in a consumer society, we live in a disposable society. People buy shit for the privilege of throwing it away as soon as the new shit comes around, nothing else. To wit: everything Apple shovels onto market.
Well said.
… and then you went here. Not so much.
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