Where have the blockbusters gone?

[gunhilltrain]

Haven't seen it either - I'm condemned to children's releases with my daughter. The Little Mermaid was a touch too long, but better than the online hate it's been subjected to. And Halle Bailey is delightful.

It's not a movie, but that reminds me of 1993 or so when I had to watch a lot of Barney, the Dinosaur.

 

[gunhilltrain]

I just watched Jaws (for a second time) last week. Been doing a Spielberg thing, started with War of the Worlds. Not very true to the book (set in London and Surrey from memory) but maybe Cruise’s least Cruise-like role.

Em

War of the Worlds was pretty good, but I still have problems imagining Cruise as a dockworker in Bayonne. (Some of it was filmed there.) I like the realistic destruction of the Bayonne Bridge (a model, or was it CGI?). When I saw the bridge again I had a moment of dissonance. "Hey, it's still there."

 

[CyranoJ]

I can’t imagine getting excited to see any of those sequels but obviously a lot of people did. I must’ve missed the buzz.

Mileage varies for individual, personal interest in any movie, sequel or otherwise, but that has nothing to do with whether or not they're blockbusters or generally-anticipated. The appeal of the "Fast & Furious" movies is genuinely inscrutable to me, but they're clearly successful blockbusters.

 

[EmilyMiller]

War of the Worlds was pretty good, but I still have problems imagining Cruise as a dockworker in Bayonne. (Some of it was filmed there.) I like the realistic destruction of the Bayonne Bridge (a model, or was it CGI?). When I saw the bridge again I had a moment of dissonance. "Hey, it's still there."

I think practical effects can still look less plastic. I like a few of the classic 80s / 90s sci-fi movies (as might be apparent from some of my stories) and they pull you out of the plot less. IMO of course.

Exhibit A: Raiders (not sci-fi, I know) vs Crystal Skull

Em

 

[SimonDoom]

It's not a movie, but that reminds me of 1993 or so when I had to watch a lot of Barney, the Dinosaur.

Barney the Dinosaur -- an absolutely convincing argument for the Chicxulub meteor impact.

 

[HordHolm]

I think practical effects can still look less plastic. I like a few of the classic 80s / 90s sci-fi movies (as might be apparent from some of my stories) and they pull you out of the plot less. IMO of course.

Exhibit A: Raiders (not sci-fi, I know) vs Crystal Skull

Em

I'd second this, see Alien/Aliens as a great example.

 

[alohadave]

The amount of new “movies” that Hallmark churns out is pretty amazing. Eventually they’ll have made everything else possible and will buy the rights to the lesbian incest Hallmark story I posted last Christmas. It’s only a matter of time …

They only make 2-3 plots and just change the character names and the locations. They follow a rigid format. From what I've heard, they only film for 3 weeks.

 

[alohadave]

Titanic wasn't a summer movie, but still a blockbuster and it won 11 Oscars on 14 nominations.

That movie was in theaters for 6 months. Most movies only last a few weeks in their first run, even the big movies. That should tell you how popular it was.

 

[alohadave]

Thank you. I have heard of it, but I'm so out of it that I had to look it up again.

"A middle-aged Chinese immigrant is swept up into an insane adventure in which she alone can save existence by exploring other universes and connecting with the lives she could have led."

Well, did you like it?

I loved it. It's very metaphysical though (or as one youtuber described it: metamodernist).

At the most reduced, it's a mother reconnecting with her daughter across multiple dimensions.

 

[Cali_Love]

Everything Everywhere All At Once was brilliant. Get's better on subsequent viewings because it's a complex web. On the first watch it's about the action and suspense of how it's going to end, in subsequent viewings you get a whole lot of fun "aha" moments.

Wish I could write something that good. Not a chance.

 

[SimonDoom]

I think there's a real danger of 'it was better in the past-ism' though. Titanic wasn't a summer movie, but still a blockbuster and it won 11 Oscars on 14 nominations. And look how well LOTR did both commercially and critically. And then we could turn to the Batman franchise, which has scored well in both categories in recent years. Or Pirates of the Caribbean. We may be at a low point right now, but I'm fairly certain that either a) we're jaded and younger folk don't see it the way we do and/or, b) if we come back in a year or two there will be a new direction that is enthusing folk.

All the films you are referring to are, by movie standards, old. The last Nolan Batman movie was from 2012, 11 years ago. The others are older still. Titanic came out in 1997. LOTR came out in 2001 (the first of the trilogy). POTC came out in 2003. It's a fact that a bigger and bigger chunk of the summer market in particular is made up of franchise retreads.

Not everything is terrible. I thought Black Panther was fun. Mad Max:Fury Road was fun, and pretty good. Top Gun:Maverick was great entertainment and also well done. But back in the day, in the 1970s, there was no equivalent of the endless number of Fast and Furious movies or Marvel superhero movies that we see today. It's so tedious and repetitive. I thought the Star Wars franchise felt totally exhausted in the last trilogy. They couldn't come up with an original story or, once they had a story, stick with it across director changes.

Good movies are still being made. But more than ever there's a divide between "good" movies and "popular" movies. That divide didn't exist in the same way before the mid-70s, when the institution of the "summer blockbuster" was established.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Mileage varies for individual, personal interest in any movie, sequel or otherwise, but that has nothing to do with whether or not they're blockbusters or generally-anticipated. The appeal of the "Fast & Furious" movies is genuinely inscrutable to me, but they're clearly successful blockbusters.

I have a theory of why car chases are so popular in movies, including chases with lots of crashes. (I assume The Fast and The Furious movies have some crashes.) Perhaps it sublimates are anxieties about driving automobiles, on which most of us are utterly dependent to go anywhere outside of the house. With chases, we can watch the protagonists go through endless maneuvers and accidents that would kill or main most people, but they mostly survive them (with a few exceptions) virtually unharmed.

Watch the long chase on YouTube for The Seven-Ups, which goes for miles through New York and New Jersey. It's completely improbable, but it doesn't appear that anybody sustains a serious injury through the entire event. It also has "Chekhov's Fruit Stand." If there a store with fruit displayed outside, somebody is going to drive a car through the display.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Barney the Dinosaur -- an absolutely convincing argument for the Chicxulub meteor impact.

Not if you are two years old.

 

[Emilymcplugger]

Disney and Marvel are killing the cinema experience by drowning out smaller films.

Last year I enjoyed quite a few smaller films at the cinema but it’s harder and harder to catch them before they go. I wanted to see RENFIELD at the pictures earlier this year only to find that it had gone after a week.

A week!

I think another issue with streaming is that the films that streaming services are at the lower end of budgets are, to be Frank…shit! In the past lower budget films were not hampered by such restrictions but thrived off them…The Silence of the Lambs, Hot Fuzz, John Wick, Get Out and perhaps the best recent example…Everything, everywhere all at once, lots of invention in spite of limitations, however the more the industry had become samey and sterile so d the films become a product built for consumption like a burger, with a new recipe of the same thing every few years, the Spidey Big Mac, now this year the Spidey McTasty, etc. it’s why FREE GUY felt like a breath of fresh air when it came out.

This summer I am looking forward to MIR and also Oppenheimer but that’s all. It’s a pretty dismal affair this year.

 

[SimonDoom]

I just saw Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part 1. If you're looking for a summer blockbuster, I recommend it. If you like the previous installments of this franchise, you will probably like this one. If not, probably not. For my money it's the best ongoing franchise in the movie business. Tom Cruise is ideal in the role, even though he's now over 60 (but doesn't look it) and the supporting cast is excellent. One of the very appealing things about the last three movies in the franchise, including this one, is the strength of the female characters. There's none of the tired James Bond-and-his-women silliness. The plot and action sequences, of course, are completely preposterous, as always, but superbly executed.

 

[MillieDynamite]

I think practical effects can still look less plastic. I like a few of the classic 80s / 90s sci-fi movies (as might be apparent from some of my stories) and they pull you out of the plot less. IMO of course.

Exhibit A: Raiders (not sci-fi, I know) vs Crystal Skull

Em

Models of plastic or aluminum work better for spaceships than digital models.

 

[Seadog777]

I'm not going back and reading this whole fucking thing

Streaming killed the "video stores", and the truth is, that it's a god damn shame too.

Friday or Saturday Night was "family movie night".

Kids learned a lot of life lessons in those Blockbuster stores.

How to compromise, how to fight, how to argue, that your mother will bust your ass ANYWHERE, etc, etc.

 

[lovecraft68]

What killed the movies was covid which they never recovered from because three years later people still don't want to leave their house, but now out of laziness.

Toxic movie critics like to say 'such and such bombed" etc, but they don't like to add that because movies are coming to streaming so much faster and some at one point had dual releases at movies and home(This is why ScoJo and others are suing) in other words, its not that the movies all suck, its people aren't going out there. There's only been a small group of big money makers the last three years with Spiderman being one, Maverick another....mostly everything else dies in a week.

 

[MillieDynamite]

I just saw Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part 1. If you're looking for a summer blockbuster, I recommend it. If you like the previous installments of this franchise, you will probably like this one. If not, probably not. For my money it's the best ongoing franchise in the movie business. Tom Cruise is ideal in the role, even though he's now over 60 (but doesn't look it) and the supporting cast is excellent. One of the very appealing things about the last three movies in the franchise, including this one, is the strength of the female characters. There's none of the tired James Bond-and-his-women silliness. The plot and action sequences, of course, are completely preposterous, as always, but superbly executed.

Shortest movie in the franchise, "Mr. Hunt, your mission, should you decide to accept it, recover the McGuffen and save the day. As always, should you or any of your IM Force be caught or killed, the Secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions. This message will self-destruct in five seconds." As the message explodes Hunt replies, "I'm out of here. Disavow that, explode this, same ole shit every time. No, nada, nevermore." End credits role.

Now that's a movie.

 

[Seadog777]

What killed the movies was covid which they never recovered from because three years later people still don't want to leave their house, but now out of laziness.

Toxic movie critics like to say 'such and such bombed" etc, but they don't like to add that because movies are coming to streaming so much faster and some at one point had dual releases at movies and home(This is why ScoJo and others are suing) in other words, its not that the movies all suck, its people aren't going out there. There's only been a small group of big money makers the last three years with Spiderman being one, Maverick another....mostly everything else dies in a week.

That's partially true.

The other part is that the movies they are making.....DO FUCKING SUCK!!!

 

[lovecraft68]

That's partially true.

The other part is that the movies they are making.....DO FUCKING SUCK!!!

Many do, and its because they just can't leave anything alone. There was no way in hell Indy five would be anything but crap. the guy's too old. Hollywood is creatively bankrupt, everything is a sequel, remake, reboot and people have reached the beyond tired of super hero movies point.

I stick to older stuff and mostly horror.

 

[Seadog777]

Many do, and its because they just can't leave anything alone. There was no way in hell Indy five would be anything but crap. the guy's too old. Hollywood is creatively bankrupt, everything is a sequel, remake, reboot and people have reached the beyond tired of super hero movies point.

I stick to older stuff and mostly horror.

Yeah, this new Indiana Jones just looks like shit in the trailer.
Then you add the fact that almost every fucking commercial is promoting it.
Applebees' has a special that if you spend $35 in their resturant, you get a free ticket to the movie.

Superheroes are overplayed now.

Like you, I stick to older movies, but I've never been a big fan of the horror genre.

 

[SimonDoom]

Yeah, this new Indiana Jones just looks like shit in the trailer.
Then you add the fact that almost every fucking commercial is promoting it.
Applebees' has a special that if you spend $35 in their resturant, you get a free ticket to the movie.

Superheroes are overplayed now.

Like you, I stick to older movies, but I've never been a big fan of the horror genre.

It's money. It costs so much to make movies now, and if they don't make a ton of money in their first weekend they're probably going to bomb. Producers rely on formulas rather than good scripts. The writing tends to be pretty poor.

I'm looking forward to Oppenheimer, which will be out in a week. It looks like it may be a rare summer movie that combines quality with box office success.

 

[Seadog777]

It's money. It costs so much to make movies now, and if they don't make a ton of money in their first weekend they're probably going to bomb. Producers rely on formulas rather than good scripts. The writing tends to be pretty poor.

I'm looking forward to Oppenheimer, which will be out in a week. It looks like it may be a rare summer movie that combines quality with box office success.

I just watched the trailer for the 1st time, just now.
It does look like it could be a blockbuster movie.
I'll be curious to see how truthful they are, and how much creative licensing they used.
Matt Damon looks fucking ridiculous with that god damn mustache!!!

 

[Emilymcplugger]

Models of plastic or aluminum work better for spaceships than digital models.

It’s because they have actual mass. Often CGI characters even now feel too light. They lack mass and it’s very hard to fake. When I think of amazing CGI characters that work as massive I tend to think of the Big Orc in fellowship of the ring and Kong in the recent Kong movies. But they are the exception not the rule.