Monday, June 27, 2005

Box Office Decline

So, the box office is down for something like the 97th straight week.

I know of two reasons why:

1) MONEY. Movies have become way too expensive. To pay bloated movie budgets and actor salaries, theaters have been forced to raise ticket prices astronomically. Here in the Kansas City area (where tickets are probably lower than the rest of the country), the price of a normal adult ticket is about $8.50. Matinees will cost you $6.50. That's just too expensive. I remember the days when tickets used to be $1.75 for matinees (and I'm only 28). If you purchase a DVD in the first week it is out, it will cost you no more than $20. Plus, you'll own the movie for watching whenever you want, so it's pretty much the same price.

2) CRAP MOVIES. Has anyone noticed how the movies that are put out on a regular basis are unoriginal, derivative, and often just plain crap. More often than not, you'll get maybe 10 great movies out of the hundreds that are released every year. You'll might not even see all of them in the theater. Every other movie that comes out is a remake of some foreign film. I don't have a problem with re-makes, but when each one is some different take (actually...usually not even that different) on the last Japanese horror flick that scared the crap out of everyone...well, that's just lame. Hollywood is becoming more about excess than it is about art. Directors are becoming almost as big of prima donnas as their actors.

And for some reason they don't get it.

It's no wonder that America is disenchanted with going to the movies.

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