What the hell happened to the theatre-going experience in the ’00s? How did theatres go from places that showed movies, to places that babysat teenagers?
Here’s a snapshot.
On one weekend in May 2007, Columbia Pictures was pleased to announce that Spider-Man 3 was opening in a record 4,252 across North America.
That’s theatres, not screens. There were more than 11,000 screens playing Spidey. What could ever break that record?
Well, Spider-Man 3, of course. The following weekend, Columbia announced it was expanding its release of Spider-Man 3 to 4,324 theatres.
That mind-boggling record stood for.... (drumroll) ... one week. Pirates Of the Caribbean: At World’s End, opened in 4,362 theatres. Add in Shrek The Third (4,172 theatres), and that was about 30,000 screens in North America showing three mediocre movies.
At the same time, only six movies could boast of being released in as many as 500 theatres.
The next summer, it was more of the same. Hollywood dictated that there was naught to see but Indiana Jones, Iron Man, Tropic Thunder, The Incredible Hulk and The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. Even the brightly-coloured turd that was Speed Racer briefly monopolized many thousands of screens.
In 2009, if you took away 2012, Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, The Hangover, Up, Star Trek, Ice Age: Dawn Of The Dinosaurs and X-Men Origins: Wolverine, there wasn’t much for you in most cities this year.
So what happened? How did a free-market system that was supposed to create unlimited choice leave us with six or eight movies to choose from at any time, in most cities? It created a cultural apartheid in theatres, most noticeable at the Academy Awards, where the combined grosses of all the Best Picture nominees are dwarfed by that of any of the popcorn movies mentioned above.
In a desperate move for relevance, in 2010 the Academy is expanding Best Picture to 10 films, presumably allowing some popcorn movies to make the list (mostly likely The Hangover or Star Trek).
In the biggest cities in Canada, there are invariably one or two art-house theatres where you can see acclaimed films whose trailers don’t begin with the words “In a world...” These are often down-at-their-heels venues, poorly heated in the winter and poorly cooled in the summer, with audiences in the half-dozens.
And the megaplexes? Look at the movies above. How many are aimed at non-comic-book-reading adults? Many are terrific amusement-park rides. But if you occasionally want to sit and feed your head with thoughts, rather than explosions, you’re a buzzkill.
The irony is that the movie business got too successful to encourage choice. After Titanic, the world’s most expensive movie, became the world’s highest-grossing (a title it still holds at $1.8 billion), studios demanded bigger payoffs, which demanded bigger investments, which put more non-creative fingers in the creative pie. Too much was at stake to take a chance on something as ephemeral as creativity. Franchises were the future.
And since the teenagers are there already, why waste time on actual entertainment for adults?
After all, that’s what home entertainment is for.
TOP 10 MOVIES: DOCUMENTARIES
1. The Corporation
2. The Cove
3. Capitalism: A Love Atory
4. Yes Men Save The World
5. Anvil: The Story Of Anvil
6. Grizzly Man
7. March Of The Penguins
8. Manufactured Landscapes
9. Food, Inc.
10. Capturing The Friedmans
TOP 10 MOVIES: COMEDIES
1. The Hangover
2. Juno
3. Little Miss Sunshine
4. O Brother Where Art Thou?
5. The Royal Tenenbaums
6. Best In Show
7. Borat
8. High Fidelity
9. Bad Santa
10. Knocked Up
TOP 10 MOVIES: NEW TALENT
1. Shia LaBeouf
2. Heath Ledger
3. Scarlett Johansson
4. Penelope Cruz
5. Christian Bale
6. Hugh Jackman
7. Viggo Mortenson
8. Javier Bardem
9. Keira Knightley
10. Joaquin Phoenix
