Tag Archives: Hollywood

Worst Box Office slump in a decade

Worst Box Office slump in a decade as Hollywood loses golden touch

Analysts blame a surfeit of sequels and remakes

Hollywood has suffered its worst weekend at the American box office since the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 terror attacks, with analysts blaming a surfeit of sequels and remakes for deterring audiences.

Initial estimates suggested the entire gross takings for cinemas in North America would be around $US65 million ($A62.8 million) last weekend, down 20 per cent from the same period a year ago.

In September 2001, takings on one weekend fell to just $US59.7 million ($A57.7 million).
The results were so bad that the best-performing movie in America, measured in terms of revenue per screen, was Raiders of the Lost Ark, first released in 1981. It was shown on re-release on 267 screens last weekend and took in $US1.7 million ($A1.6 million), at an average $US6460 ($A6244) per screen.

No single film grossed more than $US10 million over the weekend. The nearest was The Possession, a horror story with no big stars, that took just $US9.5 million ($A9.18 million).
The Words, which stars Bradley Cooper, was savaged by critics and disappointed at the box office.

Other major releases also disappointed. The Words, starring Bradley Cooper, one of Hollywood’s most in-demand leading men, was savaged by critics as “boring” and “turgid”, while The Cold Light of Day, an action film starring the British actor Henry Cavill, Bruce Willis and Sigourney Weaver, also flopped badly after costing $US20 million ($A19.3 million) to make. It was described by The New York Times as a “catastrophe worth noting only for the presence of its name cast.” The Labour Day weekend, which has just passed, is traditionally slow for cinemas, but this year attendances sank to levels which shocked studio executives.

It capped a disappointing season for Hollywood, which had expected its biggest ever summer. In a still troubled economy, executives were reluctant to take risks on original concepts and relied heavily on a series of big-budget action films and superhero sequels.
The result was the lowest summer movie attendance in 20 years. The number of tickets sold fell to 532 million, down 4 per cent from summer 2011.

Two films that were successful – The Avengers and The Dark Knight Rises, a Batman film – accounted for almost a quarter of the entire box office return in North America. Before the summer even began, the Disney studio had been forced to incur a $US200 million ($A193 million) writedown over its science-fiction flop, John Carter, in March.

Paul Dergarabedian, a box office analyst at Hollywood.com, said: “It is pretty scary when the top movie comes in at only $9.5 million. On paper, the summer of 2012 looked like a clear record-breaker. But the audience is what makes and breaks the summer, and they didn’t come out in the numbers we expected for a lot of these films.”

Factors contributing to the slump included the Olympics on TV. The mass shooting in which 12 people were killed at a screening of The Dark Knight Rises in Colorado in July also put people off. But neither factor was believed to have had a major impact on attendance.

Nick Allen, Los Angeles – Telegraph – September 11, 2012

The New Hollywood System

The New Hollywood System: Breaking Down the Current Definition of a
Movie Star

With $10 million the new $20 million, franchises trumping talent and international
appeal more important than ever, THR examines who’s on top, who’s pulling the
strings and who’s on deck.

Call it the $10 million kiss. That’s how much Kristen Stewart stands to lose if
Universal decides not to go ahead with a sequel to Snow White and the Huntsman,
which has earned $389 million globally — and the actress’ now-infamous tryst with
director Rupert Sanders may be a large factor.

Stewart is one of the few rising stars to have reached the $10 million mark. (At press
time, Jennifer Lawrence was close to getting roughly $10 million for The Hunger
Games follow-up, Catching Fire; while Snow White’s Huntsman, Chris Hemsworth,
boosted by his roles in Marvel’s Thor and The Avengers, also will earn $10 million if
the Snow White sequel goes ahead.) But Stewart’s precariousness at the top —
despite the global punch of the Twilight franchise, which brought her $25 million as
well as healthy backend deals for the series’ final two films — shows how vulnerable
she is, like most of those on Hollywood’s new A-list.

The era is long past when a star like Tom Cruise could launch a career with Risky
Business and Top Gun, then stay in the stratosphere for decades. None of the new
stars gets the once-standard “20-against-20” deal — that is, $20 million upfront and
20 percent of the studio’s take from exhibitors, after they make that $20 million
back. Today, stars are seen as disposable, or at least interchangeable. As one top
studio executive ruminates, “What major star has emerged in the past five years?”

Aside from Channing Tatum — who weathered a bunch of flops before scoring
with The Vow, 21 Jump Street and Magic Mike — the answer just might be none.

Rather than an A-list, it might be better to think of a “hot list,” in the words of one
mega-agent: “That’s what it is — the guys you hope will last because nobody’s shown
they can do that just yet.”

Continue reading The New Hollywood System