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Reel Inequality: Charting the Vanishing Middle Class of Movies

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Re: Reel Inequality: Charting the Vanishing Middle Class of Movies

#21

Post by AnimalMuppet »

g9yuayon wrote: post #8
mjr00 wrote: post #5

2023 had a lot of big-budget bombs. Ant-Man, Indiana Jones, Mission Impossible, Transformers, The Flash, Fast X, Blue Beetle, Elemental, Shazam!, and the Marvels all underperformed somewhere on the scale from "disappointment" to "disaster". On the other hand, aside from the massive big-budget hits of Barbie and Mario, there were also a number of mid-budget films that did very well: John Wick 4, Sound of Freedom, Five…

> 2023 had a lot of big-budget bombs. Ant-Man, Indiana Jones, Mission Impossible, Transformers, The Flash, Fast X, Blue Beetle, Elemental, Shazam!, and the Marvels all underperformed somewhere on the scale from "disappointment" to "disaster". And rightly so. The so-called special effects in those superhero movies are really getting exhausting. What's the point of having superpower yet battling like a peasant in medie…

If you have superpowers, you are more powerful than almost all weapons. So you fight with you as the weapon, because it's the most powerful you have.

Also: I presume you meant duel. Using a duet to elect your leaders has a certain charm to it...

Re: Reel Inequality: Charting the Vanishing Middle Class of Movies

#22

Post by jerf »

justrealist wrote: post #7
mjr00 wrote: post #5

2023 had a lot of big-budget bombs. Ant-Man, Indiana Jones, Mission Impossible, Transformers, The Flash, Fast X, Blue Beetle, Elemental, Shazam!, and the Marvels all underperformed somewhere on the scale from "disappointment" to "disaster". On the other hand, aside from the massive big-budget hits of Barbie and Mario, there were also a number of mid-budget films that did very well: John Wick 4, Sound of Freedom, Five…

To be more precise, those mid-budget films all did well relative to their budgets. Marvels still made far more money, but the budget was so bloated that Marvel took a loss.

Five Nights at Freddy's: $286,595,570

The Marvels: $197,035,186

That's how badly Marvel movies are bombing now. FNaF actually straight-up beat Marvel, and by a very comfortable margin.

There is no minimizing this. This is disastrous for Disney.

Re: Reel Inequality: Charting the Vanishing Middle Class of Movies

#23

Post by EA-3167 »

EarthLaunch wrote: post #20
EA-3167 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you haven't already read Mother of Learning you really should, you would absolutely adore it.

And Torth series. No punches pulled on the logical outcomes of superintelligence and powers.

!!! This is a new one for me, but it's definitely up my alley. Thanks!

Re: Reel Inequality: Charting the Vanishing Middle Class of Movies

#24

Post by Frotag »

EA-3167 wrote: post #15
g9yuayon wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 2023 had a lot of big-budget bombs. Ant-Man, Indiana Jones, Mission Impossible, Transformers, The Flash, Fast X, Blue Beetle, Elemental, Shazam!, and the Marvels all underperformed somewhere on the scale from "disappointment" to "disaster". And rightly so. The so-called special effects in those superhero movies are really getting exhausting. What's the point of having superpower yet battling like a peasant in medie…

If you haven't already read Mother of Learning you really should, you would absolutely adore it.

Some people call this genre rational fiction. Personally I really liked Harry Potter: Methods of Rationality. The MC was super narcissistic and nitpicky, a true engineer. For example he was often looking for ways to create perpetual motion machines / infinite energy with magic.

Re: Reel Inequality: Charting the Vanishing Middle Class of Movies

#25

Post by glimshe »

mjr00 wrote: post #5

2023 had a lot of big-budget bombs. Ant-Man, Indiana Jones, Mission Impossible, Transformers, The Flash, Fast X, Blue Beetle, Elemental, Shazam!, and the Marvels all underperformed somewhere on the scale from "disappointment" to "disaster". On the other hand, aside from the massive big-budget hits of Barbie and Mario, there were also a number of mid-budget films that did very well: John Wick 4, Sound of Freedom, Five…

You forgot "Napoleon", one of the worst movies of the year.

Re: Reel Inequality: Charting the Vanishing Middle Class of Movies

#26

Post by arglebargle123 »

snoopsnopp wrote: post #2

I feel like consumer choice has kinda gone too far with movies, people never cross genres because they never have to go along with something they don’t like.

You should see the book requests posted to communities like r/printsf now. We have genre readers that have evolved into "I only read material containing this exact set of tropes" it's straight up weird.

Re: Reel Inequality: Charting the Vanishing Middle Class of Movies

#27

Post by causality0 »

g9yuayon wrote: post #8
mjr00 wrote: post #5

2023 had a lot of big-budget bombs. Ant-Man, Indiana Jones, Mission Impossible, Transformers, The Flash, Fast X, Blue Beetle, Elemental, Shazam!, and the Marvels all underperformed somewhere on the scale from "disappointment" to "disaster". On the other hand, aside from the massive big-budget hits of Barbie and Mario, there were also a number of mid-budget films that did very well: John Wick 4, Sound of Freedom, Five…

> 2023 had a lot of big-budget bombs. Ant-Man, Indiana Jones, Mission Impossible, Transformers, The Flash, Fast X, Blue Beetle, Elemental, Shazam!, and the Marvels all underperformed somewhere on the scale from "disappointment" to "disaster". And rightly so. The so-called special effects in those superhero movies are really getting exhausting. What's the point of having superpower yet battling like a peasant in medie…

For me it's not the bad plot decisions, it's the tone. Every movie has the same "feel" to it. It's a milder version of the "algorithm optimized" tone of eighty percent of YouTube videos. Almost like every movie is being made by the same person. I think the reason I loved Dune is that it didn't feel fucking identical to everything else I watched in the last ten years.

Re: Reel Inequality: Charting the Vanishing Middle Class of Movies

#28

Post by g9yuayon »

AnimalMuppet wrote: post #21
g9yuayon wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 2023 had a lot of big-budget bombs. Ant-Man, Indiana Jones, Mission Impossible, Transformers, The Flash, Fast X, Blue Beetle, Elemental, Shazam!, and the Marvels all underperformed somewhere on the scale from "disappointment" to "disaster". And rightly so. The so-called special effects in those superhero movies are really getting exhausting. What's the point of having superpower yet battling like a peasant in medie…

If you have superpowers, you are more powerful than almost all weapons. So you fight with you as the weapon, because it's the most powerful you have. Also: I presume you meant duel. Using a duet to elect your leaders has a certain charm to it...

Thanks, it should be duel. Updated accordingly. I kinda think that quantitive change in energy output will lead to qualitative change in the form of fighting. In addition, it's hard for me to relate to fist fighting among superheroes. If I were to enjoy fist fight, Legend of Fist by Jet Li is a much better alternative.

Re: Reel Inequality: Charting the Vanishing Middle Class of Movies

#29

Post by g9yuayon »

causality0 wrote: post #27
g9yuayon wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 2023 had a lot of big-budget bombs. Ant-Man, Indiana Jones, Mission Impossible, Transformers, The Flash, Fast X, Blue Beetle, Elemental, Shazam!, and the Marvels all underperformed somewhere on the scale from "disappointment" to "disaster". And rightly so. The so-called special effects in those superhero movies are really getting exhausting. What's the point of having superpower yet battling like a peasant in medie…

For me it's not the bad plot decisions, it's the tone. Every movie has the same "feel" to it. It's a milder version of the "algorithm optimized" tone of eighty percent of YouTube videos. Almost like every movie is being made by the same person. I think the reason I loved Dune is that it didn't feel fucking identical to everything else I watched in the last ten years.

> For me it's not the bad plot decisions, it's the tone. Every movie has the same "feel" to it. It's a milder version of the "algorithm optimized" tone of eighty percent of YouTube videos. Almost like every movie is being made by the same person.

This too!

Re: Reel Inequality: Charting the Vanishing Middle Class of Movies

#30

Post by AlbertCory »

I don't think that "inequality" is even a thing when it comes to movies. Who said that all movies should be equal? Some watercolor "art" sells for $15 at an art-and-wine street fair while other pieces have five figure prices (or, of course, much more).

Secondly, as others have pointed out, the mid-budget movies are now on streaming or cable channels.

But yes, special effects extravaganzas are going to die out, just like Westerns and musicals did. Until they get revived.

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