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Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

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Re: Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

#491

Post by g947o »

longislandguido wrote: post #212
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.

Most if not all the ticket price goes directly into the studio's pockets. So the theatres stay alive by selling concessions. I'd wager everyone here complaining about prices would also wax poetic about how theatres don't "pay a living wage" to the kids scooping popcorn and would immediately drive home in their $100k Rivians or Teslas so they can give a one star review on Yelp or complain on Reddit about the bathrooms…

Well, the system either needs to change, or it will die. As simple as that. Probably the latter.

Re: Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

#492

Post by g947o »

Auracle wrote: post #476
shiroiuma wrote: post #472

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Different people value different things.

If I watch a movie by myself, I would choose my $500 27" 4k monitor connected to proper speakers/headphone over a $300 55" TV without external soundbar any day. Most people probably will choose the opposite, which I totally understand.

Re: Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

#493

Post by ikr678 »

echelon wrote: post #44
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…

- Theatrical releases are how movies make most of their money, not giving them away for free on streaming. Box office margins are huge, but renting licenses to streamers is limited and fungible with all the other mountains of content they license. - Box office optimizes for novelty, streamers optimize for "don't churn" - very different criteria for investment. - Disney cannibalized the box office with Marvel Star War…

What Hollywood considers most attractive (blinding white veneers, botox, fillers, blephs, steroid use etc) is not necessarily what the rest of the world finds attractive, and for some audiences can be distracting and immersion breaking.

Re: Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

#494

Post by throwaway91827 »

simianwords wrote: post #358
rimbo789 wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Influential? Yes. Was that influence for the betterment of humanity? I’m not sure. Beyond the slop many of the classics were deeply racist and built on immoral exploitation. Yes all those artists did great work but they did it in terrible conditions for where near enough pay. Take apocalypse now: a great piece of art. Was it worth the pain and suffering of its production? Absolutely not.

> I’m not sure. Beyond the slop many of the classics were deeply racist and built on immoral exploitation. Yes all those artists did great work but they did it in terrible conditions for where near enough pay. This is so naive, I can't even begin to tell you how wrong you are. Hollywood is the first window into the western way of life for many third worlders. And if you knew how the third world really is, they are mu…

Just trying to understand your point here- so non-westerners are primitive and irrational, unlike the West, led by Donald Trump, champion of rational, elevated discourse?

Re: Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

#495

Post by krn1p4n1c »

dylan604 wrote: post #292
bloomingeek wrote: post #284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sort of off topic, but almost the same can be said for music concerts. During slower or softer songs, people can be heard talking and laughing loudly. I get it, they paid their money, same as us, but we didn't pay to hear them.

A couple of years ago, I went to see Echo & The Bunnymen open for Violent Femmes. I had seen the Femmes multiple times, but was really excited to see Echo. These two old biddies that sat in front of us talked the entire show. In between bands, one of them dropped their purse without noticing. I picked it up and offered in exchange for the purse if they wouldn't mind talking through the next act. They were shocked at…

You never would’ve had this problem at a Mötorhead concert.

Re: Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

#496

Post by simianwords »

throwaway91827 wrote: post #494
simianwords wrote: post #358

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I’m not sure. Beyond the slop many of the classics were deeply racist and built on immoral exploitation. Yes all those artists did great work but they did it in terrible conditions for where near enough pay. This is so naive, I can't even begin to tell you how wrong you are. Hollywood is the first window into the western way of life for many third worlders. And if you knew how the third world really is, they are mu…

Just trying to understand your point here- so non-westerners are primitive and irrational, unlike the West, led by Donald Trump, champion of rational, elevated discourse?

yes that's my point. Trump is an aberration.

Re: Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

#497

Post by sbarre »

bradchris wrote: post #461
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.

Well, Hollywood is not the end all be all of Los Angeles (though that is the image Hollywood projects out onto the world). It’s not even Los Angeles’ biggest industry. Everything from China enters through the Port of Los Angeles, which is the biggest in the United States. In fact, the top two busiest ports in the USA are both Los Angeles and Long Beach (which directly borders Los Angeles). This is just one example, b…

I never said Hollywood == Los Angeles.

I meant Hollywood as the collection of all of the film/TV people and industry that are geographically located in that area.

This was never about the city itself. Nor was it in comparison to, or competition with, San Francisco, but I guess projectors are inexpensive on Amazon these days.

Sorry that I touched a nerve there.

Re: Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

#498

Post by embedding-shape »

jasonlotito wrote: post #220
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.

$20 for the tickets. $20 for 2x soda and popcorn, but they've always been on the expensive side compared to tickets. Tickets are a bit more for IMAX. Less than an hour outside Philly. The theater is recently renovated too and has nice recliner seats, and everyone has their own armrest.

Seems crazy to me, always had to (presumed) view that cinema was cheap in the US, otherwise how is the business so big there?

In Spain I went to regular cinema this Sunday, 8 EUR per ticket per person, + ~10 EUR per person for snacks, so ~20 EUR per person for me and my wife.

Also got tickets to see Project Hail Mary at IMAX, 2 tickets for the premiere, and I paid 29.80 EUR for two tickets, thought it was expensive, but seems we're luckier than I thought :)

Re: Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis

#499

Post by embedding-shape »

xp84 wrote: post #46
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…

I think it’s the finance people. They have decided every creative movie made represents resources and time that can’t be used for a “sure-thing” franchise schlock movie.

"Data-driven" decisions seems to drive out any sort of creativity, seems to happen in all industries where metrics and numbers become more important that someone's vision. Same in software too really.
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