Open Forum Friday: Are Hollywood Blockbusters A Thing Of The Past?
Mr. George Lucas had some interesting things to say this week following the Oscars, commenting on the fact that art house and indie flicks took home the vast majority of the awards this year. Lucas believes that big budget blockbusters are on their way out, because it’s almost impossible for studios to make their money back on $200 million movies nowadays. “In the future, almost everything that gets shown in theaters will be indie movies. I predict that by 2025 the average movie will cost only $15 million.” Now some might say that he was just feeling a little bitter that his own $115 million movie got the shaft at the Oscars. But let us not forget that he is, technically speaking, an independent filmmaker and has vowed to get back to doing some smaller art house films of his own. Perhaps he does have a point. With box office numbers showing a steady decline, and smaller movies like Saw turning the biggest profits, maybe it’s only a matter of time before people give up on the bloated blockbusters of yore. What do you think? Are smaller movies the way of the future, or will the tried and true blockbuster format always be a staple of American cinema?
Comments (6)
I don’t think that Blockbusters are on the way out…what about big movies like X-Men, Spiderman or Pirates of the Caribbean. All three do very well in theatres. These big movies might get shafted at award shows (like Revenge of the Sith, which justly got shafted because it was awful) but I really don’t think that they are ever going to disappear. Blockbuster’s are dead? This coming from the guy who just started preproduction on Indiana Jones four?
Posted by Ruurd on March 10th, 2006True, there are also plenty of things that don’t really support his argument. If you look at the top grossing movies from last year most of them were blockbusters. But I’m wondering what movies actually had the biggest profit from last year. March of the Penguins must be up there.
Also, the Oscars aren’t exactly the major deciding factor for the kinds of movies that studios choose to produce.
On the other hand, blockbuster movies are getting more and more expensive to make and it’s a huge risk because if a movie sucks, word gets around really fast nowadays.
Posted by Sean on March 10th, 2006you know what, i’m going to go out on a limb and agree with him.
think over the summer how many overhyped ‘blockbusters’ like stealth and dukes of hazzard there were. they had a short term gain but dropped off the charts immediately. basically, unless they can pull it together quality wise (weve argued before,b ut i think this past summer was worse than usual for movies critically) word of mouth will keep people from seeing things they might have otherwise seen regardless of word of mouth in the 90s. i dont think an Independence Day or Twister would be near the blockbusters they were if they came out today…
i believe this not because of piracy, but becasue theres so much competition for the entertainment dollar, and movies are expensive and full of annoying ads. theres tonnes of reasons, this is probably something i’d expect John Campea to write 1000 pages on, but basically yeah – i think if people are seeing movies in the theater, mroe and more people will start wanting to see something good that they will remember or affect them. but it takes the studios to realize this and promote those movies before it will truly happen.
so for the time being, lucas will seem like the crazy person, because we dont respect the studios enough to get behind their indie films until they’re already hits through word of mouth, like Napoleon Dynamite.
Posted by Goon on March 10th, 2006All good points, but what is now the deciding factor when a movie deserves a sequel and when it doesn’t? Studios are now looking at if they make their profits back during the opening weekend, not in the long run.
Posted by ruurd on March 10th, 2006You’re right that studios love movies like Saw because its a small investment with a large return possiblity, but I still think people want to see movies that they can turn their brain off; breathe through their mouths; and watch, and big studios will take that gamble.
But if you look at the big picture, all the major studios own all these small ‘indpendant’ companies. What is released as a so called ‘indie film’ with an ‘indie director’ is still in someway related to a big production house.
Big explosions and special effects won’t be the selling power. It will be the celebrities involved. Even through word of mouth, people will add some celebrity name to it. Be it Will Ferrel, Jack Black or Quentin Tarentino.
Blockbuster, is a buzzword concocted by hollywood to stoke the publics desire to go see a movie. It can mean it was overbudget and they push these movies so they can make that money back.
You don’t need to spend MILLIONS of dollars to make a great movie. Unless you are reenacting a fantasy or historical setting type movie….IE “Gladiator” or “Lord Of The Rings” or “Star Wars”.
In general, beware of any movie that is grossly over hyped (cough, cough…HOSTEL…).
Posted by Bassmasta-Baychuk on March 11th, 2006Leave a Reply