DISPOSABLE THRILLS ARE RECYCLED IDEAS TO BLAME FOR THIS SUMMER'S DISAPPOINTING BOX-OFFICE HAUL?Byline: Bob Strauss Film Writer After nearly three decades dominating American movie culture, the thrill of the thrill ride is running out of power. Box-office analysts are bemoaning the performance of this summer's crop of action movies - which, though more lavishly and expensively produced than ever, follow the same formulas that Hollywood has successfully been recycling for years. Some say there is just a glut glut pronounced as rut, slut Vox populi An excess of a service or skilled labor in a particular area. See Physician glut. of them on the market. ``Over the past two months, there's been a different action film almost every weekend, and I think consumers are getting a little sick of that,'' notes Gitesh Pandya, editor of the Web site boxofficeguru.com. But we could be seeing more than just a current phenomenon. After all, how many explosions, slo-mo shootouts and car chases did they expect us to consume through the course of our movie-going lives? ``Basically, the summer has evolved into this movie equivalent of the roller-coaster ride at the amusement park amusement park, a commercially operated park offering various forms of entertainment, such as arcade games, carousels, roller coasters, and performers, as well as food, drink, and souvenirs. ,'' notes Leonard Klady, industry analyst for the Web site www.moviecitynews.com. ``But most people who go to amusement parks This page contains a list of amusement parks by
Over a quarter of a century, in fact. It was in the late 1970s that ``Jaws'' and ``Star Wars'' made high-tech escapism es·cap·ism n. The tendency to escape from daily reality or routine by indulging in daydreaming, fantasy, or entertainment. replace the artsier, socially engaged cinema of the counterculture coun·ter·cul·ture n. A culture, especially of young people, with values or lifestyles in opposition to those of the established culture. coun generation (which itself began to dominate Hollywood a decade earlier as audiences abandoned the commercially doddering dod·der·ing adj. Infirm, feeble, and often senile. Adj. 1. doddering - mentally or physically infirm with age; "his mother was doddering and frail" doddery, gaga, senile , classic Hollywood studio approach that had ruled since the start of the sound era). From that time until now, the formula of ever-improving special effects special effects, in motion pictures, cinematographic techniques that create illusions in the audience's minds as well as the illusions created using these techniques. laid upon increasingly disposable pulp-fiction story lines has proved generally reliable for rising summer movie grosses. Until this year. Filmmakers and their heavily invested studio bosses have tried their darnedest darned·est or darnd·est n. The most possible: I did my darnedest to finish on time. to pump us up with over-the-top action, state-of- the-art special effects, popular stars and tried-and-true franchise entries, but audiences are shrugging. The larger context The disheartening dis·heart·en tr.v. dis·heart·ened, dis·heart·en·ing, dis·heart·ens To shake or destroy the courage or resolution of; dispirit. See Synonyms at discourage. situation (a headline in Monday's Variety report on the holiday box-office read ``Even $72 million 'T3' haul can't stop summer malaise'') is obviously influenced by specifics about the films themselves and the current marketplace in which they're being released. Throw a rock at any show-biz pundit An expert or knowledgeable person. From "pandit" in Hindi. See guru. and they'll tell you there are too many sequels, too many sunny days, too many people out of work, too much hype or not enough. But while each theory may have some validity, this seasonal slip may just as plausibly be an early indication of a bigger, more long-term trend. The year 2003's overall haul since the start of May through the July 4 weekend is down 4 percent from 2002's. The five-day Fourth of July Fourth of July, Independence Day, or July Fourth, U.S. holiday, commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. Celebration of it began during the American Revolution. holiday frame itself was off a significant 15 percent from a year earlier. And while the session's top performer, ``Terminator 3,'' enjoyed the second-best opening ever for an R-rated film (``Matrix Reloaded'' took the top spot two months ago - more on that watershed expectation-dasher later), it was notably less than ``Men in Black II's'' $87 million over Independence Day, 2002 (or, for that matter, ``Independence Day's'' $96 million from the July 4, 1996 period). This followed a disappointing June that saw a record opening for ``The Hulk'' smashed by poor audience reaction and a vertiginous ver·tig·i·nous adj. 1. Affected by vertigo; dizzy. 2. Tending to produce vertigo. vertiginous adjective Related to vertigo, dizzy 70-percent second-weekend box-office drop; ``Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle'' open to less than its antecedent's North American North American named after North America. North American blastomycosis see North American blastomycosis. North American cattle tick see boophilusannulatus. debut gross, in a commercial environment where more had become the recent norm for franchise sequels; and the utter wipeout of the Harrison Ford cop comedy ``Hollywood Homicide'' and sequels to the ``Rugrats'' cartoon and ``Dumb and Dumber'' comedy all in one week. New movies, old tricks Dumbing down, Hollywood's most beloved approach, has failed to pay off as it usually does; otherwise, ``Full Throttle'' would be a hit and ``2 Fast 2 Furious'' would outgross its slightly more sensible predecessor. But raising the bar has proven equally ineffective. Whatever its faults, ``The Hulk'' tried hard to be the most intelligent Marvel Comics movie yet, while ``Matrix Reloaded'' laid on the philosophical mumbo jumbo mum·bo jum·bo or mum·bo-jum·bo n. pl. mum·bo jum·bos 1. Unintelligible or incomprehensible language; gibberish. 2. Language or ritualistic activity intended to confuse. 3. with a trowel. Both angered viewers of assorted brow heights, even though ``Reloaded'' was hyped, and with good reason, as the franchise picture that would revitalize the action spectacle with cooler images and smarter ideas than the current cycle had ever produced. ``A lot of fans were hoping for so much more because the first 'Matrix' was so groundbreaking,'' notes www.boxofficeguru.com's Pandya. ``This one is pretty much the same effects done wider, and so a lot of the word of mouth was bad after that.'' That not only cost ``Reloaded'' its hereditary box-office crown (the sci- fi superproduction was surpassed by the fish cartoon ``Finding Nemo'' last weekend) but cast a skeptical pall over the season's later - and obviously not as high-aiming - entries. And with two new, untried action properties -``Pirates of the Caribbean'' and ``The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen'' - duking it out this week, to be followed in succession by costly but hardly clamored-for sophomore outings with the Bad Boys and Tomb Raider Lara Croft, summer's second half isn't exactly bursting with renewed hope. ``During the summer, every weekend you get one or two new titles, and they'll get the multiplexes' big auditoriums - and your movie from the previous weekend will get pushed to the smaller auditorium,'' frets superproducer Jerry Bruckheimer, who has ``Pirates'' and ``Bad Boys II'' entering the breach. ``So right away, you've got a 25 percent drop-off because you don't have the seats anymore, even if you're selling out. ``Now, what happens is, if you open a movie on Friday night, they put you into the big house and it's half full, Saturday night you're dumped into the smaller house - and 'Finding Nemo' is put into the big house.'' Timing is everything Not that any of this is going to make for a recognizable sea change over the next couple of years. Because of how long it takes to develop, finance and market them, big movies take at least that long to reflect changes in the culture and marketplace. Plus, even if Americans aren't turning out in the expected droves for them, ``Full Throttle'' and ``Reloaded'' are doing bang-up business overseas. But it might be instructive to look at which films have worked in the first half of this summer. Beside ``Nemo,'' of course, the handful that have parlayed a high degree of viewer satisfaction into respectable numbers from week to week include ``X2: X-Men United,'' the first action attraction out of the gate; Eddie Murphy's kidflick ``Daddy Day Care''; Jim Carrey's comedy ``Bruce Almighty''; and the little caper caper, common name for members of the Capparidaceae, a family of tropical plants found chiefly in the Old World and closely related to the family Cruciferae (mustard family). that could, ``The Italian Job.'' While these five share few obvious qualities other than early-season May release dates, deeper scrutiny indicates that at least four of them may have something that the summer disappointments lack: an at least peripheral connection to Americans' current real-life concerns. Without layering on more seriousness than a comic book comic book Bound collection of comic strips, usually in chronological sequence, typically telling a single story or a series of different stories. The first true comic books were marketed in 1933 as giveaway advertising premiums. concept can support, ``X2'' offers a not-so-subtle metaphor for the war on terrorism Terrorist acts and the threat of Terrorism have occupied the various law enforcement agencies in the U.S. government for many years. The Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, as amended by the usa patriot act - and rather than the unstoppable Hulk, Terminator and Angels, it presents us with heroes who can be hurt and killed like soldiers really are. Without forgetting to be a cartoon delight for all ages, ``Nemo'' addresses everybody's fear of losing a loved one to powerful forces from far across the sea - and the gargantuan gar·gan·tu·an adj. Of immense size, volume, or capacity; gigantic. See Synonyms at enormous. gargantuan Adjective huge or enormous [after Gargantua, a giant in Rabelais' efforts we'd undertake to protect them. Doltish dolt n. A stupid person; a dunce. [Middle English dulte, from past participle of dullen, to dull, from dul, dull; see dull. as it is, ``Daddy Day Care'' is an up-to-the-minute tale of laid-off breadwinners struggling to make a buck, dignity be damned. And ``Bruce'' asks who, in these times of ongoing war and economic uncertainty, doesn't want to be reassured that God is not only benevolent but will go to any lengths to make us laugh our troubles away? While it's a safe bet that social realism Social Realism Trend in U.S. art, originating c. 1930, toward treating themes of social protest—poverty, political corruption, labour-management conflict—in a naturalistic manner. will not become Hollywood's next big wave, as time and money become more precious commodities for most Americans, it may well be that they'll want more than just pure unreality from their movies. Life is getting more unavoidably dramatic, making fantasy escapism less compelling as a result. Entertain us, yes, and dazzle if you still can. But do so in a way that relates to our anxious experience better than leaping green monsters and girls who can fly as readily as they giggle. Bob Strauss, (818) 713-3670 bob.strauss(at)dailynews.com The Hulk (PG-13) Weeks at No. 1: 1 Weeks out: 3 Opening weekend total: $62.1 million Second weekend drop-off: 70% Total box office: $117 million Nutritional value: Yeah, we like the more serious, Marvel Comics take on superheroes Superheroes are fictional heroes who possess abilities beyond those of normal human beings. Superheroes may also refer to:
Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle Full Throttle can refer to:
Weeks at No. 1: 1 Weeks out: 2 Opening weekend total: $37.6 million Second weekend drop-off: 63% Total box office: $67 million Nutritional value: Incoherent idiocy IDIOCY, med. jur. That condition of mind, in which the reflective, or all or a part of the affective powers, are either entirely wanting, or are manifested to the least possible extent. 2. Idiocy generally depends upon organic defects. has its place in carefree summer entertainment, but that shouldn't be all that's there. Finding Nemo (G) Weeks at No. 1: 2 Weeks out: 6 Opening weekend total: $70.2 million Second weekend drop-off: 34% Total box office: $275 million Nutritional value: Beautiful visuals, great story, funny and exciting; and some still wonder why it's the year's biggest hit. The Matrix Reloaded (R) Weeks at No. 1: 1 Weeks out: 8 Opening weekend total: $91.7 million Second weekend drop-off: 60% Total box office: $271 million Nutritional value: Pretension Pretension See also Hypocrisy. Prey (See QUARRY.) Pride (See BOASTFULNESS, EGOTISM, VANITY.) Absolon vain, officious parish clerk. [Br. Lit. overwhelmed fun factor of year's most anticipated movie. X2: X-MEN UNITED (PG-13) Weeks at No. 1: 2 Weeks out: 9 Opening weekend total: $85.5 million Second weekend drop-off: 53% Total box office: $213 million Nutritional value: Only summer sequel considered better than the original. CAPTION(S): 6 photos Photo: (1 -- cover -- color) See 'em dump 'em The traditional blockbuster formula goes stale Illustration Jennifer Blatz/Staff Designer (2) The Hulk (3) Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (4) Finding Nemo (5) The Matri Reloaded (6) X2: X-MEN UNITED |
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