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Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

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Re: Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

#131

Post by shimman »

ThrowawayR2 wrote: post #110
sbarre wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As much as I support unions and labour rights, the last SAG-AFTRA strike mostly just helped the big studios realize they could do more with less. Hollywood is a factory town at the end of the day, and we all know what happened to most factory towns in America. This one is just getting there a few decades after the others.

Ironic that pro-unionization people on HN frequently use SAG as an example of what a software industry union could look like. Ignoring that that's absurd (no other engineering union I know of works like that), just as the parent highlights, unions won't make a difference when the economics of an industry no longer make sense and that is what is happening to software right now.

Don't really see anyone doing this, more like the pro-union arguments I see on HN are mostly about getting paid for on-call, wanting a worker elected member to the board, and having leadership actually held accountable for their decisions.

Getting paid for being on-call seems straight forward to me.

Re: Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

#133

Post by mycocola »

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.

They're entertainment, yes, but really not the same. I'll look for a specific game to play, I'll look for a specific movie to watch, and I won't play a game when I want to watch a movie.

Re: Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

#134

Post by bdz »

I watch a film every single day since Covid. There are great films everywhere every year. I'm not american but the sooner you ignore the american cultural imperialism is the better (or at least the films that don't premiere at competition festivals). There is a whole world outside of America.

Re: Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

#135

Post by miki123211 »

iammjm wrote: post #22

Actors being this wealthy and famous has always been a mystery to me. Oh so you are a good looking person that recites other people's words for money while faking emotions? And you can take as many takes as you can and your fuckups will be corrected in post-production anyway? Well I guess the work you do totally merits the hundreds of millions of dollars you've amassed. Like even kicking a ball or whatever makes more…

Actors have a kind of legally-enforced monopoly. They're not employees you hire, they're products you buy.

If you want to make a movie staring Nicole Kidman, you have to pay whatever Nicole Kidman wants you to pay. You're legally forbidden from hiring an "off-brand" person and making her look indistinguishable from Kidman.

If you want to hire a Scala programmer, there's plenty of easily-replaceable people willing and able to do that job. No single person dictates how much money Scala programmers make.

Famous actors are basically a category that they're the only member of, and so they can set their prices. You can switch to a different category )(just as you can switch from Scala to Typescript) if one becomes too expensive, but that too carries some expense.

Franchises have a similar problem. If all your friends are watching Game of Thrones, you too want to watch Game of Thrones, even if there are other shows which are just as good. This means the Makers of GoT can dictate GoT prices, because the government gives them a legal monopoly on GoT distribution.

Re: Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

#136

Post by telesilla »

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…

I don't game at all but watch at least one movie a day as my relaxing time: criterion collection, mubi etc. I go to an indie cinema about once a month, often to see older movies as much as new ones. The cinema is rarely full but they have a good café and affordable subscriptions and I'm guessing some municipal funding, they won't ever run out of films to show. Though the day A24 goes out of business will be my sad day.

Re: Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

#137

Post by dominotw »

derwiki wrote: post #85
dominotw wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

thats so much cheaper for a family of 4 for 3 hrs compared to other options. what are the other cheaper options? going to free parks and museums? i am sure going to free museum will be a big hit with the kids :]

Even not free parks. Our Zoo and Cal Academy memberships amortize down to $50/trip for 4.

yes we have those too but you can go there only so many times.

Re: Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

#138

Post by DareTheDev »

drstewart wrote: post #116
Detrytus wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Do Europeans know you can watch soccer without drinking beer? It's cheaper and healthier. Absolutely bizarre obsession you lot have with it.

Europeans don’t watch soccer. They watch football.

Re: Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

#139

Post by gzread »

the_af wrote: post #59
awongh wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the end people have limited number of hours to watch content, and only a few things bubble up to the popular attention. What I meant is that I don't see truly indie-produced feature films reach the zeitgeist anymore. I don't mean AI slop, but the next gen of creative tools that will allow people to make cool and creative and compelling stuff without the backing of 100's of millions of dollars. It seems like movies…

> What I meant is that I don't see truly indie-produced feature films reach the zeitgeist anymore. Maybe they shouldn't. Maybe word of mouth from among those in your circle of friends that have good taste is enough. I'm not sure that blockbuster cinema reaching millions is tenable, or a good thing. As for "watching content"... yuck, I hate the word "content".

Saw this link posted elsewhere on HN: https://fgiesen.wordpress.com/2025/07/06/content-creator/

Summary: it's okay to talk about "content" if you're a "content plumber" like some kind of backend video engineer or sysadmin, someone whose job is to help the bits get to the viewers and doesn't need to care what the bits represent. It's not okay if you're a director, actor or viewer, someone who's actually interacting with the the specific piece of content.

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