The Great Box Office Recession? -- Discussing the Up & Down Trends of the Box Office Market

[Captain Craig]

It's around 8.7 but the unofficial tally is around double that cause many have passed their 99 week unemployment check. So if you fall of the role your not counted but your still unemployed.Hopefully Americans will realize the Hopelessness that Change brought and get things changed back.

[AniNate]

Not to turn this into a political thread, but neither side is looking very Hopeful right nowMaybe with the clusterfuck this election cycle will assuredly be more people will be desperate to escape into a movie theater.

[kayumanggi]

:( :(

[kayumanggi]

2011 Movies: Brands, Budgets, & Bankability Still Don’t Explain Why Studios Are In Crisis

[BK007]

It's around 8.7 but the unofficial tally is around double that cause many have passed their 99 week unemployment check. So if you fall of the role your not counted but your still unemployed.Hopefully Americans will realize the Hopelessness that Change brought and get things changed back.

If you are implying Change is Obama, I'd just have to point at the Republicans who seem to oppose just for the sake of opposing. You want to know why your country is so screwed up? It's because you have one party filled with immovable and empty objects who don't seem to give a fuck about the country and in your system that means nothing gets done. The second, is your own people who refuse to deal with hardships that are fast and furious. The reason why this is so prolonged is because you keep trying to delay the inevitable. The faster you fall, the faster you will rise. Plus, like Greece, there's no reason why you don't deserve getting smacked in the face with your overspending and overleveraging habits.

2011 Movies: Brands, Budgets, & Bankability Still Don’t Explain Why Studios Are In Crisis

I suppose this is a good article, but the key issue here which studios don't see is scripting. A proper script ensures a higher chance of the movie actually being good and creates a long term financial boon to the studio and everyone involved. I mean, Cowboys & Aliens, was not just an awful movie because it had a brainless script, that'd be Transformers, but at least the latter delivers high octane thrills and action. C&A was completely downright generic, boring and uninspired for a movie about cowboys fighting aliens. Gold? Really? Action sequences which I could see if I flicked on the television. So who gives two shits if it's Indiana Jones fighting James Bond? It's not like that's a draw, one is a has been the other hasn't proven anything outside James Bond.I don't understand the rationale behind the shock at Universal's decision to dash At the Mountains of Madness and the Dark Tower. Ron Howard gave us the completely awful Da Vinci Code as his last blockbuster if I'm not mistaken, why put aside or guarantee so much up-front capital for a director who hasn't proven himself in the genre and including TV series as well, all without a proper damn script. Seriously scripts, and finished scripts is what I mean, are such an underrated item in this industry. Quantum of Solace, if anyone read, happened with Daniel Craig and Marc Foster (the director?) trying to script it. Jesus Christ. With ATMOM, Guillermo del Toro is completely unproven with financial success and you think it's wise to throw a $150m budget at him without taking into account marketing costs for an R-rated horror movie? Not when even successful crap like Paranormal Activity make that much? And when PA cost 1/50th of what ATMOM will cost. I'm not against such innovation but I assume there needs to be some guarantee which was probably not there. Studios after all do have to cover their own asses. I mean $270m for the Lone Ranger? You don't need to use so much money to make a movie especially when you have movies like District 9, Planet of the Apes and etc. costing not that much but looking pretty great. Sure, you can't make an extravaganza with that little, but it doesn't take triple the budget to make those. Johnny Depp is also a one-note actor. I like him, but all he does and can do is play quirky bastards. It's insane, a $270m budget, when Avatar supposedly cost $300m.

[kayumanggi]

Did America see this economic crisis coming?

[Captain Craig]

If you are implying Change is Obama, I'd just have to point at the Republicans who seem to oppose just for the sake of opposing. You want to know why your country is so screwed up? It's because you have one party filled with immovable and empty objects who don't seem to give a fuck about the country and in your system that means nothing gets done. The second, is your own people who refuse to deal with hardships that are fast and furious. The reason why this is so prolonged is because you keep trying to delay the inevitable. The faster you fall, the faster you will rise. Plus, like Greece, there's no reason why you don't deserve getting smacked in the face with your overspending and overleveraging habits.

You know what was opposing for the sake of opposing, the Democrats in 2005 led by Barney Frank who insisted that Fannie and Freddie Mac were in fine shape when the Bush admin was wanting to make changes cause, and to answer Kayumangii's question, they could see the crisis coming. The housing crisis has a large foothold in Fannie and Freddie that then spread to the banks in the private sector. You can find YouTube clips all day long of Barney Frank and his Democrat colleagues opposing changes the Republicans wanted to make.

The idea that the GOP "does't give a fuck" can only be believed by those who get most of their news from MSNBC and John Stewart. Speaking of "fast and furious" that is one clusterfuck under the Obama administration that cost actual lives. The Democrats have not passed a budget in nearly 1000 days. ONE THOUSAND DAYS, passing a budget is one of their MAIN roles. That alone helps to keep private industry on pins and needles. Obama likes to say he doesn't want to "kick the can down the road" when it sounds good and in his favor but they are kicking the same ole continuing resolution bills down the road to Feb '12 to rob Social Security and call it a....Tax Cut. What a joke.

The reasonS it's prolonged are many but the Democrats have prolonged it. Nothing, NOTHING they've done has helped.

Get back to me when you stop taking news from Maddow and John Stewart. Try not being a biased hack.

[AniNate]

Both parties were at fault with the financial crisis. I'm sure you could pick and choose a bunch of different YouTube clips to make either party look worse. Bottom line is so far there is no candidate that is going to single-handedly raise the morale of this country like Obama did in 2008. It really is the "lesser of two evils" this year.

[kayumanggi]

Can't Obama run again?

[Captain Craig]

I don't pretend the GOP is guiltless. But crap like "they don't give a fuck" is just a statement showing you either know nothing or are too biased to be intellectually objective and honest about the situation. Both Clinton and then Bush extending his program of forcing banks to give loans to people who can't afford it based on the idea it was discriminatory is the proverbial first dominoes in this situation.Obama didn't raise any morale, he gave people false hope with grandiose promises. When the "it's too good to be true" mantra should've been echoing in peoples ears. They now should see the error of their ways. I can't say I'm overly thrilled with the GOP choices however it's going to be better than having a Community Organizer with no business experience in charge. The US government is the biggest business there is and his lack of actual hands on knowledge and those he surround himself with are quite evident.All that trickles down into the Box Office recession in some part.

[DAR]

Can't Obama run again?

Honestly if he gets re-elected or the GOP candidate gets elected we're fucked either way. And that's the only political statement I will make.

[kayumanggi]

I'm not American but I still prefer Obama.

[Fake]

I don't care who is the president of United States.

[kayumanggi]

I care.

[Fake]

I care.

Why do you care?

[kayumanggi]

Because America is one of our biggest trading partners. There are also many Filipinos in America.

[Fake]

Because America is one of our biggest trading partners. There are also many Filipinos in America.

Does that affect you personally in any way?

[kayumanggi]

Of course. I have a relative in America who had three jobs before but only has one now. He couldn't send my grandma money anymore. Plus stock markets around the world are affected every time America plunges. It creates a domino effect.

[Hatebox]

Does that affect you personally in any way?

America is in decline but, as a Brit whose country's foreign policy is entangled with that of the US, it matters who is President of the country. Obama will probably get a second term, then whatever happens the Republicans will get it next time. And the pathetic charade of democracy continues (not that things are any better in Europe of course, oh no.) Edited January 2, 2012 by Hatebox

[Bitcher]

I agree, "democracy" in its Amerikwan edition is a load of bullshit. Love how they basically have legalized lobbing practices.