I think the problem with movies these days is that they are trying too hard to "give us what we want." There's no originality. They're playing it safe. Big name stars, expensive special effects, lots of sequels to previous movies or TV shows. They are even making sequels to movies and TV shows that were never much good to begin with. When there is something fresh and original, it does well. Then every studio tries to turn out a movie just like it, and it rarely works.

Check out the Oscar selections for this past year. All of the movies that are up for "best picture" -- ALL of them -- are "message movies". With niche appeal at best.

The Oscars are a good indicator of what Hollywood thinks is important. But the Box Office is pretty much the only empirical indicator of what the public actually thinks is important.

Sure, you've always got B-movies to factor into the equation. Hollywood used to churn out 1000's of also-ran B-movies back during the Hollywood Golden Age. Those old B-movies didn't typically do very well at the box office, either.

But there is an absolutely crucial difference between then and now. Back then, the major movies -- the movies that Hollywood pushed at the Oscars, et al -- fell in line with public tastes. Even the old B-movies did this. By contrast, the current crop of "pushed" movies run contrary to generally accepted public tastes.

BTW -- in a way, this point represents topic drift -- but it isn't topic drift in regards to the central debate of this thread.

Do you sell what actually sells, or do you prefer to go for your own ideas about what ought to sell? Message edited on: 02/08/2006 14:08

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