MIGHT HOLLYWOOD NOW BE REAPING WHAT IT SOWS?

The word is out, that many these days are not taking advantage of the product put out by those in tinsel town. Why should it come as that much of a surprise to anyone, except of course, those who comprise the Hollywood elite who continue to take such pleasure in slandering our country on nearly a daily basis, that folks are now choosing not to waste their hard earned money going to see their movies? Now I’m sure they choose to rationalize things much differently and in a way that would in no way portray them as being culpable in the fact that Hollywood's holidays are off to a dreadful start. The fact is that fewer people went to the movies during the last two weekends than during the box-office hush that followed the Sept. 11 attacks 10 years ago. And ya know, I just can’t bring myself to feel sorry for any of these narcissistic movie people. I do feel that there is a certain amount of justice now being served here, proven by the fact that domestic revenues tumbling to a 2011 low of about $77 million this past weekend, when the star-filled, holiday-themed romance "New Year's Eve" debuted at No. 1 with an anemic $13.7 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.



Those that should know, say it was the worst weekend in more than three years, since the weekend after Labor Day in 2008, when revenues amounted to $67.6 million, and nothing could make me happier. And it comes after an $81 million total a week earlier that had been this year's previous low. "It's unbelievable how bad it is," said Hollywood.com analyst Paul Dergarabedian. Only an estimated 19.8 million people went to the movies the last two weekends. The two lowest-grossing back-to-back weekends of the last decade came amid the nation's shock after the 2001 terrorist attacks, when one of the last things on people's minds was catching a film. Only 22.3 million people went to the movies those weekends right after Sept. 11 - 2.5 million more than over the last two weekends. While a couple of bad weekends don't make a trend, domestic revenues have been lagging throughout 2011, a year in which many studio executives expected to do record business. Revenues this year are at $9.57 billion, about 4 percent below last year's, according to Hollywood.com. Revenues this past weekend are down 17 percent compared to the same period last year, when business totaled $91.8 million.


Next weekend begins Hollywood's big end-of-year blockbuster frenzy, with the debuts of many movies that are already being described as potential blockbusters. We shall see. Studio bosses generally try to use bad movies as an excuse for bad weekends. Yet while critics trashed "New Year's Eve" and "The Sitter," a lineup of well-reviewed, seemingly must-see family films that include "The Muppets," "Arthur Christmas" and "Hugo" so far have done only a modest business at best. Those in Hollywood have always insisted that they offer “inexpensive” entertainment when compared to concerts, sports events and other costlier options. But many moviegoers, including myself, complain about escalating ticket prices, particularly the extra few dollars it costs to see 3-D films, and they now have more entertainment alternatives than ever with their portable devices and big-screen home theaters. "I still want to think that our business is product driven, but we're about to find out, because we've got some major films coming," said Chris Aronson, head of distribution at 20th Century Fox. He adds, "There's a lot of good stuff coming, and I think audiences are going to be primed." Again, we’ll see.


There is today, I think, a vast disconnect between those who make the movies and most of us who go to watch movies. It gets so tiresome listening to loudmouths like George Clooney, Matt Damon, Sean Penn, Tom Hanks and the like, who feel that they are somehow entitled to go about the slamming of our country. And yet, those of us who love our country are still expected to cover the cost of going to watch these “talented” hypocrites. For myself, my wife and my daughter to go to the movies, it’s a $60 night out, and it today’s economy that’s kind of hard to justify. And it’s not just actors, but directors like Steven Spielberg as well, who go around lauding the accomplishments of such dictators as Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez. These losers perceive themselves as being “artists” and, as such, uniquely qualified to criticize. They see themselves as being on a much higher plain than we who are only mere mortals. The entertainment value that once drew us all into movie theaters has decreased over time with it now having been nearly completely lost. Oft times it seems as if those who are making movies today are intent on trying to lecture to us or to provide us with some important or valuable lesson. There always seems to have to be some hidden message contained. Honestly, going to the movies just isn’t fun anymore, and therefore not worth the cost.