Eric Quinn

I mean...I'm saying they don't want it. The box office numbers show that people just want to see the same rehashed stuff. Original stuff is still largely tanking outside of Oppenheimer and Sound of Freedom, which had big external factors affecting their box office. And like I know people will say "SEE BARBIE AND MARIO ARE POPULAR PEOPLE WANT ORIGINAL STUFF" but like...the only reason they were popular was because they are already established franchises and brands people are attached to. Like nobody would see either of those movies if they were wholly original things not based on toys or games they played when they were 8.

"People want originality and are sick of franchises!" Literally all but two of the top 10 this year are sequels/remakes/nostalgic toy commercials. lmao sure okay.

Would be really fun to have an action comedy that wasn't just Diet John Wick starring Ryan Reynolds.

I mean Divergent and Maze Runner still made pretty pennies in their heydays and were successful. Not Hunger Games-level, but that's like saying Daredevil wasn't a hit because Spider-Man grossed more money.

My case is basically this. I'm mainly using Hunger Games, but you can also apply to this to your Divergents and Maze Runners. YA dystopia is in a bizarre no man’s land in the world of 2023, because there's no real hook or appeal. It doesn’t work as an escapist blockbuster, because its focus on a dystopian hellscape and evil governments hits too close to home when fascism and right-wing hysteria is all over the place. These kinds of stories involve the world being devastated by evil governments taking control and manipulating people and controlling the masses or climate change causing total devastation or some other bad third thing. That is happening right now. So making a fun action blockbuster out of such depressing world events doesn't really resonate when everything is miserable and bad, corrupt politicans and governments are all over the place. The YA dystopia boom largely happened around the time of the Obama years, when it seemed like things were progressing and "Yes We Can" was everywhere. And sure, Star Wars or Avatar do the same story, but at least the space battles and otherworldly locations in their settings can help you divorce yourself from their real world parallels. At least you want to live in those worlds, swing a lightsaber, or become a sexy blue cat person. Nobody wants to live in The Hunger Games' world. So if you want to enjoy this as a turn your brain off, "wouldn't it be cool if I was there" movie, it's kinda hard to do that. But at the same time, Hunger Games is also largely simplistic in its politics and writing, being aimed at teenagers, that it fails to emotionally resonate with the current political situation, which is a lot more nuanced than what these movies achieve. I rewatched the movies over the past few days, and I largely liked them fine. But even if you do like them, it's hard to say they are really Fahrenheit 451-level material or really tackle anything all that in depth about dystopia and how it relates to the real world. Handmaid’s Tale is a stupid show, but its concept is seeped into the current issues within feminism that it helps make it feel like an "important" or "powerful" watch and still feels weirdly grounded enough where it feels like this is a scenario where it could happen. So it’s too sad to watch as an escapist turn your brain off blockbuster, but also too goofy and simple as a "this is the moment" piece of filmmaking. Therefore, you end up with a franchise that has nothing to offer in the current political climate and has no reason to exist. It's like how 24 or The West Wing are products of their time and feel dated today. That's not a bad thing, and it's easy to get enjoyment out of "of their time" media even if you're years past something. But it does mean that their audience is a lot more limited compared to a few years ago and it's not as easy to reboot it for a new generation, unless you really give it a modern spin. And at least judging by the trailers, I don't think Songbirds really did that, though maybe the movie itself is a different story. So yeah...that's what I'm getting at. I also cribbed some of this from a great YouTube video essay about the rise and fall of 2010s YA, which I largely agree with, and I think anybody into this stuff should give a watch.

I said this before, but Hunger Games as a concept and aesthetic felt instantly dated in a post-Trump/Bolsonaro world, so having something that has no stars and is pretty seeped in the 2010s and hasn’t really maintained as much relevance compared to other franchises that dropped around that time…posting solidly respectable numbers…yeah, I legit think it’s fine. No coping at all here, at least for me.

But it's not Thanksgiving yet. 🤔

lol are all the big movies this holiday going to have 50s/60s on Rotten Tomatoes?

Pwease @charlie Jatinder we need you. 🥺

Get out of my house.

@WrathOfHan @TalismanRing please take me. 🥺

Maybe Secret Wars will be worth it after all. 🤔

YA isn't a "dead genre" per se, but I do think there is something to be said about this kind of YA dystopia, evil government thing feeling pretty laughably dated and "dead" these days. So yeah, this not being a total embarrassment at the box office is quite commendable.

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https://deadline.com/2023/11/box-office-hunger-games-songbirds-and-snakes-1235616095/

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Quorum Updates Napoleon T-6: 40.38% Wish T-6: 53.18% Eileen T-22: 13.82% Ferrari T-39: 25.01% Furiosa T-190: 17.41% The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes T-1: 58.41% Awareness Final Awareness: 100% chance of 10M, 91% chance of 20M, 69% chance of 30M, 30% chance of 40M, 26% chance of 50M, 17% chance of 60M Tentpole Awareness: 100% chance of 30M, 67% chance of 40M, 33% chance of 50M Thanksgiving T-1: 47.88% Awareness Final Awareness: 85% chance of 10M, 56% chance of 20M, 32% chance of 30M, 20% chance of 40M Horror Awareness: 100% chance of 10M, 71% chance of 20M, 29% chance of 40M Trolls Band Together T-1: 58.11% Awareness Final Awareness: 100% chance of 10M, 91% chance of 20M, 69% chance of 30M, 30% chance of 40M, 26% chance of 50M, 17% chance of 60M Animation/Family Awareness: 100% chance of 20M Next Goal Wins T-1: 22.35% Awareness Final Awareness: 15% chance of 10M Low Awareness: 11% chance of 10M Migration T-36: 26.68% Awareness T-30 Awareness: 54% chance of 10M, 19% chance of 20M, 4% chance of 40M Animation/Family Awareness: 50% chance of 20M

*holiday season. November and December.