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To suggest a cloud of gloom hovered above the recent CinemaCon convention in Vegas would be an understatement…
Granted domestic ticket income this past year at the nation’s theaters amounted to in excess of $10.5 billion. But a sizeable portion of that $10 billion was owing to increased ticket prices and hefty up charges for 3-D releases of which there were many in 2010.
The really telling story was the actual theater attendance last year in which 1.34 billion tickets were sold at North American theaters.
That’s DOWN 74 million from 2009!
In fact, movie attendance in the US in 2010 was the second-lowest in the past 15 years!
And the first quarter of 2011 has yet to reverse that downward trend!
National Association Of Theater Owners president John Fithian sees some light at the end of that tunnel.
"The first quarter of 2011 has been difficult," he told attendees. "Beginning in May, we expect those comps to improve substantially. The strength of the studio product….demands confidence in the industry’s immediate future. The movies drive our business….Check with me in July and ask how the movies are doing."
So what is N.A.T.O.’s CEO talking about?
A powerful line up of tentpole titles that potentially could turn Hollywood’s fortunes—and those of your neighborhood megaplex—around this summer!
Granted, many are sequels, but on paper the 2011 movie summer looks strong!
Here’s a preview of things to come:
* May 6—-THOR (Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Anthony Hopkins.)
* May 13—BRIDESMAIDS (Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph)
* May 20—PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES (Johnny Depp, Penelope Cruz)
* May 26—THE HANGOVER 2 (Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis)
* May 26—KUNG FUN PANDA 2 (Jack Black, Angelina Jolie)
* June 3—-X-MEN: FIRST CLASS (James McAvoy, January Jones, Kevin Bacon)
* June 10—SUPER 8 (…from J.J. Abrams and Steven Spielberg)
* June 17—GREEN LANTERN (Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively)
* June 24—CARS 2 (…from Pixar Animation)
* June 24—BAD TEACHER (Cameron Diaz, Jason Segel)
* July 1—–TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON (Shia LaBeouf, Josh Duhamel, Rosie Huntington-Whitley)
Those are just the highlights before the 4th of July with summer blockbusters like HARRY POTTER & THE DEATHLY HALLOWS Part 2 in 3-D, COWBOYS & ALIENS and the new CONAN THE BARBARIAN waiting in the wings.
Suffice it to say CinemaCon’s mood had improved mightily by the time we left Sin City!
Sounds terrible, seriously…
Super 8 might be alright.
Terrible.
Cars 2 The Summer Hit
Outside of Cars 2 I don’t see anything in the way of a hit on that list. The others I am sure some will do ok in theaters but I don’t see anything on that list that makes me want to make me run out and see it.
Sorry to be negative but Hollywood seems to be stuck in sequels and remakes. I read a lot of great books and wonder why those stories never make the screen.
Super Dave is right.
“Sorry to be negative but Hollywood seems to be stuck in sequels and remakes. I read a lot of great books and wonder why those stories never make the screen.”
Hollywood Lost its Waay
Chuck and Dave are right in many ways. In the 70’s,80’s and 90’s film makers were trusted to run the biz. Speilberg,Howard,Eastwood,so on…The big buget films took over in the late 2000’s and Hollywood doesn’t believe in making ‘regular’ films much, like today the Godfather doesn’t get made, too slow, not enough young stars, not enough action scenes. Hollywood has lost its 30 and up viewer almost completey. So films are dumbed down to a ninth grade level 95% of the time. Explosions over content.
TV has taken over along with netflix,cable HBO, pay per view, movies are not special anymore. They are in theateres for two or three weeks and gone. Why go they are on DVD or pay per view in 30 days. Why run to a movie theatre it will be on tv or online in a minute.
Today you almost need six to ten films to even have a name in the biz. Thats in leads. Nobody is discovered in just one or two films anymore, unless its comedy than maybe.
Sadly the youth of today was not brought up on going to films on the weekend or sneaking out on a weeknight to see “Clockwork Orange” high…those days are gone.
I have been one who has had to suffer for years on this issue out there. I wrote and sold several A films, but they were not silly enough for the Hollywoods dumbed down audience today. Its so upsetting. Now TV has the most quality programming, like TBS,HBO,TNT series that are simply long movies.
It is likely that most movie houses will start closing in a couple years and in ten, gone, like the drive-in barring some major change. Hollywood is broke, broke,broke….no studio has profits from film, not even Disney, it comes from TV and other areas…movies have to gross 2 and one half times what they cost for prints and ads and shooting, almost none do…I grew up believing in the movies, it is a big blow to me to think its kinda over, stars are now from “scandal” not work, to be a celebrity well Lindsy Lohan and jParis Hilton and Snooky mean more than Dinero at a party or talk show….its come to that….
Its about the writers Glaze
IMO, thats why HBO, Showtime etc. are the best.
Terrible movies, really.