And so the four-day Labor Day holiday is over and summer comes to an end in Hollywoodland. As the shadows stretch across the manicured lawns of the studio grounds, there will be plenty to think about. The blockbuster season that started in May with the enjoyable hit Iron Man 2 will most likely creep past summer 2009 for a new record.
But even if the predictions of Hollywood.com and similar box office analysts are correct and the combined revenues reach $4.4bn (£2.9bn) or thereabouts – beating summer 2009 by around 2.4% – the victory, for that is what it is to the numerically selective advocates of theatrical distribution, will be a hollow one.Summer blockbusters: a decline in standardsThere were good tentpole movies this season, but there were more bad ones and the abiding memory of summer 2010 will be of a decline in standards. It's a bit unfair to brand summer 2010 as the season when popcorn cinema reached new depths of unlikeability because Hollywood's output has contained a lot of rubbish for a long time now. Let's get back to the bit about standards. We're not talking about technical standards: Hollywood's effects gurus can render almost anything believable, so much so that I fear we are at risk of becoming blasé as visual wonders unfold before our eyes. It is the standard of storytelling that is in peril, and audiences aren't being fooled.
Box-office revenue v attendanceSay this to a studio executive and they will tell you that moviegoers have spoken. Just look at the box office grosses, they'll cry – the movies have generated more revenues than ever before. But this is a one-ply tissue of an argument, because as we all know, the inevitable march of inflation drives up ticket prices each year and in the case of summer 2010, many chains added surcharges to the cost of a 3D ticket, and there were quite a few of those exchanging hands. The most appropriate indicator we have of audience appreciation for Hollywood content (and I lump independent movies into this overarching label) is attendance. Over the past four months fewer people – 552 million according to projections – will have gone to see movies than they have done in any summer since 1997, when the figure was 540 million.
The competition from alternative entertainment
The threat of alternative entertainment looms large over the film industry. Studio chiefs are anxious to work out how to keep moviegoing relevant and win the hearts and minds of the average teenager. The competition is fierce and grows stronger by the day: video games, Facebook and the internet, graphic novels, and impressive original programming on TV and cable relayed through large-screen TVs. The answer could be more 3D or Imax cinemas, enhanced sound systems, tastier popcorn, or multiplex seats that swivel and shake in time with the movie. Or it could be better movies.
The threat of alternative entertainment looms large over the film industry. Studio chiefs are anxious to work out how to keep moviegoing relevant and win the hearts and minds of the average teenager. The competition is fierce and grows stronger by the day: video games, Facebook and the internet, graphic novels, and impressive original programming on TV and cable relayed through large-screen TVs. The answer could be more 3D or Imax cinemas, enhanced sound systems, tastier popcorn, or multiplex seats that swivel and shake in time with the movie. Or it could be better movies.
Last November when Activision released Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 the video game sold roughly 4.7m copies in North America and the UK on its first day and generated $310m. On its first day. No movie has come close to achieving this on its opening day in a wide launch encompassing say 60-80 countries, and few make this kind of number in their entire box office run. This may partly be down to underdeveloped cinema infrastructures in parts of the world, but I would suggest that mostly it comes down to dull, often repetitive material.
The rise of transmedia
And speaking of video games, studios still don't understand that, by and large, adaptations of their tentpole releases rarely satisfy. Of course some become hits, but simply getting your gaming division to use the same story structure and characters won't work when the story is lacking and competition in the games arena is so high. In this regard it's heartening to see interest in Hollywood coalescing around transmedia. This is the notion that a core intellectual property, say a "bible" or scrapbook of story notes and artist's impressions about a particular milieu or band of characters, can inspire narrative offshoots that do not mimic each other and work across multiple platforms. The game, movie and graphic novel will all explore elements of this world while remaining true to the overarching meta-narrative of the IP. Several companies have sprung up in the past 18 months dedicated to this form of content creation, and a number of established producers are looking at it. Let's see if it catches on with the studios.
And speaking of video games, studios still don't understand that, by and large, adaptations of their tentpole releases rarely satisfy. Of course some become hits, but simply getting your gaming division to use the same story structure and characters won't work when the story is lacking and competition in the games arena is so high. In this regard it's heartening to see interest in Hollywood coalescing around transmedia. This is the notion that a core intellectual property, say a "bible" or scrapbook of story notes and artist's impressions about a particular milieu or band of characters, can inspire narrative offshoots that do not mimic each other and work across multiple platforms. The game, movie and graphic novel will all explore elements of this world while remaining true to the overarching meta-narrative of the IP. Several companies have sprung up in the past 18 months dedicated to this form of content creation, and a number of established producers are looking at it. Let's see if it catches on with the studios.
Better narratives neededThe writing on commercial summer releases needs to improve. Studio development and production teams make themselves look and sound important, but too often the result is juvenile. They get it right sometimes (Iron Man 2, The Karate Kid, Toy Story 3, Inception – how many of those come from original screenplays?) but too often settle for tired storylines, hackneyed dialogue and vacuous characters hiding behind music video sensibilities and loud explosions.
It's all cyclical of course. Next summer promises much and may deliver some sparkle, but another creatively impoverished season won't be far behind. Meanwhile, hope springs eternal as we savour the traditionally more challenging fare of autumn and winter. The critics are already raving about Darren Aronofsky's Venice Golden Lion contender Black Swan, while there have been encouraging notices for Sofia Coppola's Somewhere and a promising review in Time magazine of Mark Romanek's Never Let Me Go. There will be more to come in the months ahead, and for now at least, movies could be worth the rising ticket price.
Source: (wateen.net)