@chrissedoff said:
@viking_funeral said:
@chrissedoff:
Movies are more expensive than ever. When something bombs they can lose $100 million+ dollars. As you can imagine, they want to avoid that. So they take safe bets: known stories, franchises, and directors. Someone is going to go see the new Robocop / Total Recall / Jurassic Park, no matter how good or bad it is. New ideas have more risk, unless they can get a famous director or actor attached, and even then it's a risk.
This much is obvious. The question is why do people only want to show up and pay money for the same old stuff over and over again? Are people scared that their time and money might be "wasted" on something that might expand their horizons a tiny little bit? If people opened their minds just a bit, it might be easier for talented artists to make a living. But, nah, let's put up some more online rants about when is Hollywood going to make an R-rated Sonic the Hedgehog movie.
At home entertainment has never been better in quality, in either the shows being produced or the physical systems within people's homes. With so much at their fingertips, it can be hard to convince someone to sit it out for a couple hours in a crowded theater for $50 a visit. You speak of broadening horizons, yet there are countless videos and documentaries available on demand or on YouTube. People can now watch Terrence McKenna give a lecture on opening the doors of creativity while riding the bus to work.
Movies faced their first great competition with the initial rise of television in the 1950s-1970s, and they were losing that battle. They tried to fight by providing top notch storytelling and acting, which is why so many classic movies are from that period, but they were still losing the war. It was the holy trinity of Jaws, The Omen, and Star Wars from 1975-1977 that created the modern blockbuster that has fueled the modern movie system and allowed for smaller creative projects to be held up by these tentpoles. However, movies are facing their second great extinction. Superheroes and mega-franchises like Star Wars are keeping it going for now, but the little guy is learning to change their medium. Netflix is but one avenue, and YouTube is starting to evolve into more creative content as well.
You ask 'Are people scared that their time and money might be "wasted" on something that might expand their horizons a tiny little bit?' and what I really think you are asking is 'Why don't people support the stuff I like?'
People's minds and perspectives are being opened in video format, it's just evolving with the post-internet world like everyone else. And that, of course, is to say nothing of the many other avenues people can take in to open their minds. Books, music, live theater, video games, learning a language, cooking, social activities, etc.
I'm not sure non-franchise films were what was really holding back society from falling into the abyss. (Insert current political climate joke here.)
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