Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis • Hacker News Board

Re: Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

#471

Post by thefounder » Mon, Mar 16, 2026, 7:10 AM UTC

raw_anon_1111 wrote: post #67

thefounder wrote: post #6

The main issue was the content the movie industry produced which looked like a lot like some AI slop. I think the DEI lecturing was another nail in the coffin. Unless that changes and they magically add something new to the cinema experience I think they will keep diving into irrelevance because now everybody can produce AI slop.

Yes they should never had a Black lady playing an orange alien from Tamarin on the Titan TV series. It just wasn’t realistic. We should just have all White males leading movies

Why can’t we have original stories(I.e Sinners, Black Panther, White Lotus) and instead try to make White Snow black or whatever and paint people racist? I get that people want to make these stories more inclusive but the characters are just too powerful to change them and not expect a backlash.

People prefer new characters or “staying true to the original story/character” instead of lazy remixes.

Or you can create your own remix with AI now. Feed the movie and make the characters as you want. The result may seem a bit weird(i.e like a Snow White being a fat black gay male) for a fan of the movie/character but for you as an activist it will check the marks you are looking for. Just don’t invoke racism if people won’t like your AI slop.

Re: Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

#472

Post by shiroiuma » Mon, Mar 16, 2026, 7:11 AM UTC

alsetmusic wrote: post #379

tyjen wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The last movie we attended people were incredibly disruptive throughout the film, to the point that it was difficult to focus on the film. Some people enjoy screaming, laughing, and talking as part of the experience, but it's apparently been normalized beyond my tolerance threshold. Add in the cost and overall movie quality decrease of Hollywood productions, and it's difficult to justify. Presently, we watch foreign…

This is why I strongly endorse buying a projector if the space allows for one. Changed the home experience. I thought I might be making a mistake when I bought my first (720p) years ago but I'd never go back to a traditional television.

I completely disagree. This advice made sense 20 years ago, but today an 85" (or smaller even) OLED screen will easily outperform any projector.

The problem with projectors is that they can't display black: they're shining light through a filter, so they can't produce a true black, and the contrast ratio isn't that great. For best effect, you need an extremely dark room. With an OLED screen, black is absolutely black, because black pixels simply aren't lit up at all, and you get better contrast ratio than a projector. As a bonus, you can even watch it with the lights on.

Re: Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

#473

Post by shiroiuma » Mon, Mar 16, 2026, 7:18 AM UTC

treis wrote: post #374

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.

This isn't why Hollywood is dying. Hollywood is dying because it's cheaper to make movies elsewhere. We're (probably) still going to have movies for a long time. In the same way that we still have cars long after Detroit "died".

Yep, there's lot of great movies and series coming out of other places, like UK, Europe, Japan, Korea, and many more. And a lot of stuff people think is "Hollywood" is actually being made in Canada.

Re: Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

#474

Post by niemandhier » Mon, Mar 16, 2026, 7:20 AM UTC

Hollywood moved into the “exploitation” phase of its optimisation problem: Sequels, prequels, spinoffs, remakes.

If a movie costs O(Billion) to make, you need to be sure to at least earn back 1.x times the investment, the only way to do this is to play it safe.

Re: Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

#475

Post by shiroiuma » Mon, Mar 16, 2026, 7:27 AM UTC

mycocola wrote: post #133

jonas21 wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

No, they're not the same, but the amount of time people have for entertainment is generally fixed. In the old days, they spent it reading books or socializing or doing a hobby like playing music or painting. Then radios were invented and people spent some time doing that. Then movies were invented and people spent some of their time going to those. With each new type of entertainment, people spent less time per-capita on the previous forms of entertainment (generally; radio was probably a bit unique because it can be done simultaneously as other activities such as driving, but in the old days it was a family activity).

Video games are doing the same thing. You can't watch a movie (easily) if you're playing a video game.

Re: Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

#476

Post by Auracle » Mon, Mar 16, 2026, 7:34 AM UTC

shiroiuma wrote: post #472

alsetmusic wrote: post #379

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is why I strongly endorse buying a projector if the space allows for one. Changed the home experience. I thought I might be making a mistake when I bought my first (720p) years ago but I'd never go back to a traditional television.

I completely disagree. This advice made sense 20 years ago, but today an 85" (or smaller even) OLED screen will easily outperform any projector. The problem with projectors is that they can't display black: they're shining light through a filter, so they can't produce a true black, and the contrast ratio isn't that great. For best effect, you need an extremely dark room. With an OLED screen, black is absolutely black…

A 120” or whatever screen is still massively larger than an 85” OLED. Yeah, the picture quality isn’t as good but it’s also more like a theater, so you get that nostalgia factor.

Obviously it depends on your projector/screen choice but it’ll probably be cheaper, too. The portability is also nice.

Re: Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

#477

Post by shiroiuma » Mon, Mar 16, 2026, 7:51 AM UTC

jrowen wrote: post #190

closewith wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Can you comment further on this? As an American it's kind of hard to see that. Is this just kind of a temporary reaction to the Trump administration or a larger trend? What is taking its place? Are there more localized media pockets (e.g. is there a significant German-language Instagram influencer world)? Geographically which areas are you talking about?

People no longer look up to America like they did 40-50 years ago. It's been a slow decline, really starting I think in the early 2000s with GWB's "war on terror" and stupid invasion of Iraq, and the election of Trump accelerated it, and the re-election of Trump has really put the final nails in the coffin. Instead of a force for good that sometimes screwed up as America was formerly viewed, it's viewed as an empire in rapid decline with a toxic culture. It's not perceived quite as badly as Russia, but it's getting there.

Re: Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

#478

Post by shiroiuma » Mon, Mar 16, 2026, 7:54 AM UTC

the_af wrote: post #78

mentalgear wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would distinguish: they could make them for their own entertainment, but should not market them. But come to think about it, how much non-AI slop is out there that has become popular from entities with no or mediocre talent in it: generic Hollywood blockbusters, supplements, yellow papers, influencers ... all slop that became popular not due to its quality but secondary resources in form of marketing, placement and…

Yes, I thought of this too: the industry was full of slop way before AI. We spoke of "Netflix's algorithm", but even before Netflix blockbuster movies were done with a cookie cutter. Transformers (to pick one example) existed way before this brand of AI. Movies like it are perfect candidates to be prompted and built by an AI, since they were almost there anyway. I can't help but think this "AI empowerment" will make…

Well, I guess one nice thing about that last part is that we'd be able to just enjoy AI "actors" as they are, instead of being conflicted because in real life, they're not cult promoters, rapists/groomers, etc. Moviemakers wouldn't have to worry that their star isn't going to suddenly be embroiled in some scandal, requiring them to hire another actor and re-shoot all their scenes quickly.

Re: Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

#479

Post by tomcam » Mon, Mar 16, 2026, 8:17 AM UTC

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.

Fine. You get to miss the novel pleasures of filthy floors, constant use of bright cell phones, and vigorous conversations during the movie

Re: Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

#480

Post by ant6n » Mon, Mar 16, 2026, 8:30 AM UTC

pwthornton wrote: post #389

alsetmusic wrote: post #379

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is why I strongly endorse buying a projector if the space allows for one. Changed the home experience. I thought I might be making a mistake when I bought my first (720p) years ago but I'd never go back to a traditional television.

Idk, a giant OLED is a pretty great experience, and the visual quality of them beats a good chunk of professional cinemas.

Projecting a 100 inch picture on a wall costs a fraction of OLED at the same size.