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Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

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Re: Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

#121

Post by justonceokay »

bilbo0s wrote: post #105
simonklitj wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, sure, but they’re both in the entertainment space.

I think I have to agree with HN User Blell here. I mean, the NFL, at root, is in the business of entertainment also, and it makes more than Hollywood as well all in. But why would Hollywood care?

It’s funny in tech it’s generally understood that that attention economy apps are in competition even though they ostensibly are not direct competitors. But when it comes to entertainment (the original attention economy) we don’t think of it in the same way.

Re: Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

#122

Post by jonas21 »

blell wrote: post #95
delichon wrote: post #70

The little dinosaurs are ignoring the great big elephants in the room: gaming. The article doesn't mention it. The market for video games in 2024 was around $225B, compared to movies at around $33B. Hollywood has worked very hard not to realize that their industry has become niche and have succeeded. My last week may be an indicator. I've watched zero TV or movies but have spent about 40 hours helping a small colony…

That’s because Hollywood makes movies, not videogames. You also spent a few hours driving but Hollywood hasn’t done anything about it because they are not in the business of making cars.

They are substitute goods. A common failure mode is not realizing this until it's too late.

Re: Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

#123

Post by closewith »

alephnerd wrote: post #102
blell wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. Those conglomerates also do TV. But Hollywood makes movies, and not talk shows. Many of those conglomerates also have internet access businesses. But Hollywood doesn’t lay fibre.

"Hollywood" is a metonym/catch-all term for the media industry just like how "Silicon Valley" is for the tech industry and "Wall Street" is for finance.

Silicon Valley is a not a catch-all term for tech?

Re: Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

#124

Post by jrowen »

awongh wrote: post #94
jrowen wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the issue is that content creation and distribution has already been fully democratized. How many hours do people spend watching videos shot by individuals on their phones in their apartments? Combined with streaming, there's just an overabundance of "good enough" content at everyone's fingertips. The moat that protected big-budget feature films is gone. You don't see a trailer for a movie and salivate and wa…

Like I said elsewhere, I think people still want to watch 1+ hour fiction stories that are compelling. This is a broad category that I think people still want that's differentiated from 30sec vertical video, and that should exist in the cultural conversation. It doesn't feel fully democratized because if it was, you'd see more indie things in this same format competing with "big budget" movies on the same playing fie…

> I think people still want to watch 1+ hour fiction stories that are compelling.

I mean, "want to" is one thing, but the numbers show what they end up doing. Instagram and TikTok, like video games as someone else mentioned, have taken a significant share of the "entertainment hours" budget. I feel like the impact of the low-to-no-budget content creator is undeniable (this traces back to ebaumsworld and early YouTube, it was just internet dorks then, now it's been industrialized. Gen Z probably wholeheartedly prefers this type of content).

My point was that content creation has been democratized -- unfunded individuals can now compete -- not that making traditional Hollywood-style movies has been. It's gone so far they've been phased out, the entire premise is largely untenable at this point. That specific sector was actually somewhat more democratized in the late stages of the heyday, when a Hollywood movie called Dude, Where's My Car was made, and indie films did flourish because the industry was healthy enough to support them.

Re: Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

#125

Post by closewith »

awongh wrote: post #10

The cultural relevance of movies, and American made movies isn't going anywhere anytime soon, but I think the economics of streaming is finally playing out in the loss of the geographical concentration of power in Hollywood and California. This is the endgame of the feedback loop of streamers causing industry consolidation... the direct connection of dollars people spend to sit in a theatre seat was slowly declining,…

The cultural relevance of all kinds of American media has been declining as the U.S. is not cool or aspirational anymore.

Re: Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

#126

Post by lanfeust6 »

Detrytus wrote: post #112
WarmWash wrote: post #96

My fiance mentioned we haven't gone to see a movie in theaters in years and it would be fun to go. I checked what was playing and: 2 tickets, 2 sodas, 1 popcorn. $86 dollars. Don't know if I'll ever go to a conventional movie theater again.

You can watch a movie without popcorn, you know. Not only cheaper but also healthier. This American obsession with popcorn always seemed weird to me.

Honestly the stench of theatre popcorn, and all the masticating around me, grosses me out. Fortunately it usually subsides.

Re: Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

#127

Post by sowbug »

Detrytus wrote: post #112
WarmWash wrote: post #96

My fiance mentioned we haven't gone to see a movie in theaters in years and it would be fun to go. I checked what was playing and: 2 tickets, 2 sodas, 1 popcorn. $86 dollars. Don't know if I'll ever go to a conventional movie theater again.

You can watch a movie without popcorn, you know. Not only cheaper but also healthier. This American obsession with popcorn always seemed weird to me.

Good point! At home you can watch a movie without being judged on your choice of snacks.

Re: Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

#128

Post by mpbart »

the__alchemist wrote: post #39

My 2c: They should stop concentrating on appealing to the broadest audience. Formulaic heros' journeys, franchises, predictable characters acted by the same narrow set of the the most-attractive people etc. Safety and mass-market appeal over creativity. For contrast: Books, non-AAA video games, and movies from smaller studios still produce high-quality, creative efforts I continue to be excited about. Big-budget movi…

There are some studios who do this already (A24 for example who have produced a number of relatively popular films). But agreed that the big studios have focused on sequels and formulaic content for the most part

Re: Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

#129

Post by lanfeust6 »

jonas21 wrote: post #122
blell wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s because Hollywood makes movies, not videogames. You also spent a few hours driving but Hollywood hasn’t done anything about it because they are not in the business of making cars.

They are substitute goods. A common failure mode is not realizing this until it's too late.

Yes, and yet by the counts, Westerners watch more televised content than ever.

If anything the substitute has been TV. Gaming is big, sure, but that doesn't appear to crowd out time reserved for watching media. I expect that the marathoner gamer who plays for hours daily is a comparatively smaller demographic.

Re: Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

#130

Post by lanfeust6 »

delichon wrote: post #70

The little dinosaurs are ignoring the great big elephants in the room: gaming. The article doesn't mention it. The market for video games in 2024 was around $225B, compared to movies at around $33B. Hollywood has worked very hard not to realize that their industry has become niche and have succeeded. My last week may be an indicator. I've watched zero TV or movies but have spent about 40 hours helping a small colony…

As I wrote elsewhere, I think TV is what is actually consuming cinema's lunch. The average hours spent watching TV have only gone up over the years, but the same is not true of film. Gaming as a "primary" hobby is also quite male-coded (women tend to play on their phones, but they spend by far the most amount of time watching trash tv and Bridgerton or whatever).
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