Thoughts on Box Office

This article suggests that the summer box office take will be down 9% from last year. Now, that may be a lot of money, but I think last year was an up-year, so a 9% decline may not be that big a deal. Plus, even the article mentions that studio revenues are up because of DVD sales and other sources besides box office.

But the article hits the nail on the head (in the mouth of a studio executive): "We just need a few more good movies."

The big summer movies, even the "good" ones, generally lack originality. So many movies based on old tv shows (even shows that weren't that good . . . I mean, Bewitched as a movie? why?), remakes of classic movies, and mishmashes of old movies. Think The Island, which I didn't see, but which seems like a combo of Minority Report (a recent exception to the trend), Blade Runner, and Logan's Run, but with supermodel-hot leads. Why see this? I know this movie by heart, without seeing it. And don't get me started on Top Gun Meets 2001, er, Stealth.

DVD sales are also down. What's the explanation here? Well, anyone who pays attention to these things knows that there are new technologies coming out and that DVD is an obsolete technology. Personally, I'm not buying any more DVDs until the new Blueray stuff comes out. You can't expect consumers to keep buying obsolete disks when the next big thing is coming down the pike.

Anyway, no deep point to make here. Just general fatigue with the complaints of the movie industry.