Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Hollywood studios say they’re quitting Netflix – the truth is more complicated

al.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

121–130 of 188 posts

Re: Hollywood studios say they’re quitting Netflix – the truth is more complicated

#121

Post by simonh »

oliwarner wrote: post #97
CJefferson wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm disappointed, but not suprised, to see this post so high. Despite all the ways of watching films at home, cinema is having its most successful years ever, so clearly many people are enjoying the films Hollywood is putting out.

I'm disappointed, but not surprised in your measurement of success. Many tout record box office takings as clear success but I rather think that really reflects on inflation (both real and artificial). Look at admissions over time. I only have UK numbers to hand [1] but despite an increasing population, we're still at barely a tenth of our 1950 numbers. MPAA stats [2] seem to show the US in decline over the last few…

From the data in your link [1] Cinema attendance looks very healthy, and in fact in 2018 was at it's highest level since 1971 and is more than tripple it's low point in 1984. That much better than I was expecting and frankly in my eyes kills the 'Cinema is dying' meme stone dead. I don't understand how you can be looking at the same table and coming to such a different conclusion.

Re: Hollywood studios say they’re quitting Netflix – the truth is more complicated

#122

Post by romanovcode »

philliphaydon wrote: post #93
mlthoughts2018 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

HBO seems to still be producing very good dramas. Prime has had one or two offbeat gems recently. I think there’s still a strong market for it, but Netflix is clearly pursuing something else.

What's good on HBO? I used a VPN to subscribe to HBO and Hulu and ended up canceling it because I ended up watching more Netflix than those services...

I think the newest on HBO is Chernobyl which is pretty good IMO.

Re: Hollywood studios say they’re quitting Netflix – the truth is more complicated

#123

Post by oblio »

oliwarner wrote: post #108
oblio wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He he. Your argument is that cinema is dead because it's not as popular as it was in the 50's, before TV, video games, home cinemas, and the internet? Even the fact that the numbers are comparable in 2019 says about cinema's staying power ;)

I'm not saying cinema's dead, rather that headlines of "RECORD BOX OFFICE RETURN" that drive the genre of comment I was replying to are bullshit.

They're not. Inflation adjusted, Endgame's about to beat Avatar. Only Gone with the Wind is ahead. There's tons more money out there now.

Re: Hollywood studios say they’re quitting Netflix – the truth is more complicated

#124

Post by paganel »

romanovcode wrote: post #107
esoterica wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you implying that Disney movies (lol Star Wars 2929384) are less recycled than other studios' movies?

Also the garbage comic book BS they put up every 6 months. Noooo not recycled garbage at all. /s

I wish that Hollywood still made movies for the the 30+ non-geek audience of which I am a part of, I almost literally fell asleep during the last Avengers movie. There are some gems here and there (the last two Peele movies) but they are getting really far and few between.

Re: Hollywood studios say they’re quitting Netflix – the truth is more complicated

#125

Post by crankylinuxuser »

blahblahblogger wrote: post #102
CJefferson wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm disappointed, but not suprised, to see this post so high. Despite all the ways of watching films at home, cinema is having its most successful years ever, so clearly many people are enjoying the films Hollywood is putting out.

> cinema is having its most successful years ever, so clearly many people are enjoying the films Hollywood is putting out. Is that really true or is it just films like "Avengers" who make Hollywood's balance sheet look better than ever? I'm not entirely convinced that the film industry can survive without giant blockbusters like that. You might say that there's always been blockbusters, but although I don't have any…

Some people I know in film have told me the following:

A lot of films that would have US pull no longer get made. That's because the US is at most 300m people, and there's billions more that aren't reached. Whereas any movie made now needs to have international trends. So you end up with comic books made as movies and tv shows. They have been tested in print, work with other cultures, and make money hand over fist.

Tl;dr. Making movies for a country is last century. New movies need to capitalize on international sales.

Re: Hollywood studios say they’re quitting Netflix – the truth is more complicated

#126

Post by cageface »

mlthoughts2018 wrote: post #28

Of all the streaming services, Netflix is the one I’m most likely to cancel soon. The quality of Netflix original content is dismal. They have jumped the shark. Used to invest in serious drama, now it’s all lowest common denominator crap hidden behind a huge marketing budget to capture zeitgeisty hype. I just watched the first episode of When They See Us today: total crap. Ridiculous over-acting, awful writing that f…

I used to feel like $10/month was a ridiculously good deal for Netflix. Now I feel like it’s barely worth it. I’d probably just cancel it if it wasn’t the only service that’s easily accessible outside the US.

Re: Hollywood studios say they’re quitting Netflix – the truth is more complicated

#127

Post by oliwarner »

oblio wrote: post #123
oliwarner wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not saying cinema's dead, rather that headlines of "RECORD BOX OFFICE RETURN" that drive the genre of comment I was replying to are bullshit.

They're not. Inflation adjusted, Endgame's about to beat Avatar. Only Gone with the Wind is ahead. There's tons more money out there now.

Those aren't the numbers I see [1]. For domestic US, Endgame is in 18th place.

Why not worldwide? Even the US numbers are rickety. There are multiple ways to account for inflation, multiple ways of record counting for sales, trying to factor in re-showings, etc. Adding on multiple currencies and economies is a power of extra complexity.

> There's tons more money out there now

Yes. Money. My whole thing here has been about weighing success by monetary takings. It doesn't necessarily track. The price of a ticket has far outstripped what retail indexed inflation. Tickets, after inflation, are eighteen times more expensive than their 1950s counterparts. You only a eighteenth of the 1950s audience to gross the same.

But while we're talking about bullshit headlines, looking up Endgame renders some gems [2]. Things like "Fastest to $1bn" aren't just historically incomparable because of inflation but because distribution has changed significantly. Movies in the US used to have months of lead-time ahead of the global market. There still is for many languages. Modern studios recognise the waste and damage in this. Endgame was globally available (to over half the population) within 4 days. "Highest Opening Weekend" grossses also have the same problem.

1: https://www.boxofficemojo.com/alltime/adjusted.htm?adjust_yr... 2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_box_office_records_set...

Re: Hollywood studios say they’re quitting Netflix – the truth is more complicated

#128

Post by odiroot »

netwanderer3 wrote: post #74

Nobody has mentioned the real problem is that most Hollywood movies these days are recycled garbage. People are probably going to switch from Netflix over to Disney+ once it is launched. Once Netflix is gone, Disney+ would then jack up its price to $40/month. I think we have all seen this movie too many times before.

I'm disappointed with both Hollywood and Netflix.

First is just unending deluge of comic book movies. Second is pretty much 90% self-produced TV series.

Re: Hollywood studios say they’re quitting Netflix – the truth is more complicated

#129

Post by Cthulhu_ »

oliwarner wrote: post #97
CJefferson wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm disappointed, but not suprised, to see this post so high. Despite all the ways of watching films at home, cinema is having its most successful years ever, so clearly many people are enjoying the films Hollywood is putting out.

I'm disappointed, but not surprised in your measurement of success. Many tout record box office takings as clear success but I rather think that really reflects on inflation (both real and artificial). Look at admissions over time. I only have UK numbers to hand [1] but despite an increasing population, we're still at barely a tenth of our 1950 numbers. MPAA stats [2] seem to show the US in decline over the last few…

A big (huge) driver is the Asian markets, with China having allowed more foreign movies in - and a huge upsurge of cinemas being built there. A lot of (blockbuster) movies are actively made nowadays with the huge Chinese market in mind, and / or are being co-produced and / or funded by Chinese companies.

(There's some common tropes in that category; PG-12, if that rating, has to feature at least one major Chinese city and one or two Chinese actors, and the Chinese are never the bad guys. These things also apply to the Americans. Basically, the two propaganda machines combined.)

Re: Hollywood studios say they’re quitting Netflix – the truth is more complicated

#130

Post by Cthulhu_ »

crankylinuxuser wrote: post #125
blahblahblogger wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> cinema is having its most successful years ever, so clearly many people are enjoying the films Hollywood is putting out. Is that really true or is it just films like "Avengers" who make Hollywood's balance sheet look better than ever? I'm not entirely convinced that the film industry can survive without giant blockbusters like that. You might say that there's always been blockbusters, but although I don't have any…

Some people I know in film have told me the following: A lot of films that would have US pull no longer get made. That's because the US is at most 300m people, and there's billions more that aren't reached. Whereas any movie made now needs to have international trends. So you end up with comic books made as movies and tv shows. They have been tested in print, work with other cultures, and make money hand over fist. T…

Poignant example is the World of Warcraft movie; it bombed in the US, but it was super popular in China.

This is also why Netflix will probably not die; for me personally, 90% of their original content is a bit shit, however I am also very aware that a lot of people enjoy that 90% I don't, e.g. my parents. And then there's the huge international market, each country, each region has its own preferences.

What I'm saying is there will be people that enjoy some content and keep their subscription for that show. Netflix doesn't need to optimize for one demographic.

Post reply on HN