Has Hollywood Lost It?

I was reading that ten years ago, you could walk into a studio and pitch an idea and if it was good, an executive would tell you to get it written (either yourself or find a writer), they'd buy it and figure out how much it would cost to make, etc.

Apparently now you need a "bankable" actor to have signed on to even get in the door, then you need to find a writer (or do it yourself), though nowadays, studios mainly want adaptations (from best selling books).

If the last year for movies shows us anything, its that originality and creativity arent worth as much as they once were. The past year, only 3 movies were released that werent sequels or adapted from books.

Anyone else miss the golden age of movies?

Anyone else miss the golden age of movies?Allicrombie

[QUOTE="Allicrombie"]Anyone else miss the golden age of movies?super_mario_128

The reality is that most movies are terrible, and you only realize just how bad they are when they get older. This is why MST3K and Rifftrax have had a never-ending supply of material to rip on. Most of what comes out of Hollywood is complete crap.

I was reading that ten years ago, you could walk into a studio and pitch an idea and if it was good, an executive would tell you to get it written (either yourself or find a writer), they'd buy it and figure out how much it would cost to make, etc.

Apparently now you need a "bankable" actor to have signed on to even get in the door, then you need to find a writer (or do it yourself), though nowadays, studios mainly want adaptations (from best selling books).

If the last year for movies shows us anything, its that originality and creativity arent worth as much as they once were. The past year, only 3 movies were released that werent sequels or adapted from books.

Anyone else miss the golden age of movies?

Allicrombie

[QUOTE="super_mario_128"][QUOTE="Allicrombie"]Anyone else miss the golden age of movies?cmdrmonkey45

The reality is that most movies are terrible, and you only realize just how bad they are when they get older. This is why MST3K and Rifftrax have had a never-ending supply of material to rip on. Most of what comes out of Hollywood is complete crap.

[QUOTE="Allicrombie"]

I was reading that ten years ago, you could walk into a studio and pitch an idea and if it was good, an executive would tell you to get it written (either yourself or find a writer), they'd buy it and figure out how much it would cost to make, etc.

Apparently now you need a "bankable" actor to have signed on to even get in the door, then you need to find a writer (or do it yourself), though nowadays, studios mainly want adaptations (from best selling books).

If the last year for movies shows us anything, its that originality and creativity arent worth as much as they once were. The past year, only 3 movies were released that werent sequels or adapted from books.

Anyone else miss the golden age of movies?

lightleggy

They've spent themselves into a wall: they have this idea that they have to spend so much money in order for it to be the kind of thing people see, but if it doesn't put people into seats the way Avatar did, then it's considered a flop.

Sorta like the game industry now... it's either big budget + high sales, a movie-based cash-in, or low budget + niche market. Never anything in-between. I maybe go to movies once every other month now, and it doesn't help that ticket/concession prices keep going up.

Also, "The Social Network" was based off of "The Accidental Billionaires." :P

The problem for the film industry is really the same as the videogame industry from where I'm sitting, where they're just dumping too much money into their projects. It they stopped spending tens of millions of dollars on every movie they made, they wouldn't need to make them so safe and marketable. They're just too over-inflated now that one or two flops can ruin a company. Until this changes, they have to be as safe as they can to survive.

They've spent themselves into a wall: they have this idea that they have to spend so much money in order for it to be the kind of thing people see, but if it doesn't put people into seats the way Avatar did, then it's considered a flop.

Sorta like the game industry now... it's either big budget + high sales, a movie-based cash-in, or low budget + niche market. Never anything in-between. I maybe go to movies once every other month now, and it doesn't help that ticket/concession prices keep going up.

Also, "The Social Network" was based off of "The Accidental Billionaires." :P

MAILER_DAEMON

I wish they would make more movies like

Shogun Assassin

The last Dragon

Forest Gump

I am tired of biopics and big budget BS.The last movie I watched and like was Star Trek 09

The past year, only 3 movies were released that werent sequels or adapted from books.Allicrombie

The past year, only 3 movies were released that werent sequels or adapted from books.

Allicrombie

I am skeptical of this statement.

The difference between the movies now and "The Golden Age" is technology.

Hollywood didn't have all this tech back then and relied on creativity and originality to make a great movie.

Now with all this tech CGI is used more than ever before so the "originality" is replaced by visuals.

They've spent themselves into a wall: they have this idea that they have to spend so much money in order for it to be the kind of thing people see, but if it doesn't put people into seats the way Avatar did, then it's considered a flop.

Sorta like the game industry now... it's either big budget + high sales, a movie-based cash-in, or low budget + niche market. Never anything in-between. I maybe go to movies once every other month now, and it doesn't help that ticket/concession prices keep going up.

Also, "The Social Network" was based off of "The Accidental Billionaires." :P

MAILER_DAEMON

So I could write a story and have it made into a movie, the epic space battles! I need a time machine.

[QUOTE="lightleggy"][QUOTE="Allicrombie"]

I was reading that ten years ago, you could walk into a studio and pitch an idea and if it was good, an executive would tell you to get it written (either yourself or find a writer), they'd buy it and figure out how much it would cost to make, etc.

Apparently now you need a "bankable" actor to have signed on to even get in the door, then you need to find a writer (or do it yourself), though nowadays, studios mainly want adaptations (from best selling books).

If the last year for movies shows us anything, its that originality and creativity arent worth as much as they once were. The past year, only 3 movies were released that werent sequels or adapted from books.

Anyone else miss the golden age of movies?

Allicrombie

I'm kind of on the mindset that people will support the industry with their own money by the choices they make. Movies are notoriously subjectively rated and that's why we see a lot of bad films in the market.

That being said, sometimes its fine just to watch a crappy movie for the heck of it. I was talking about this with my friends the other day. "Happy Gilmore," even with its flaws, was genuinely funny in some aspects. I asked my friends if they had seen the movie "Punch Drunk Love" and they looked at me with confused looks. Sandler can act seriously, but the simple fact of the matter is that audiences are programmed to like something else and even if he does his absolute best, all the effort will fall on deaf ears and blind eyes simply because people are ingrained with the idea that Sandler is perfect in his own comedies.

This is attributable to just about every actor and movie in the business. Some people (myself included) go out of their way to find better movies to watch. I've personally been burned far too many times to not research a movie for 5 seconds before losing 10$ on it. I want to know beforehand whether or not the movies I watch are worth a damn.

Most movie companies are banking on the fact that most people don't give a crap and will shell out the money for anything they put out. Well, I think they're actually starting to realize that that's not working anymore. People have $3000 HD TVs nowadays. Why would I put down 10$ for a movie when I can get it a few months down the line from a Redbox for a dollar? Or just stream it from Netflix?

The movie industry, in my opinion, is going to keep doing what it's been doing until it stops working. The same goes for car companies, video game companies, computer companies, etc. You can choose to educate yourself on the object of interest or you can buy into the hype and attractive press. I choose not to.

I was reading that ten years ago, you could walk into a studio and pitch an idea and if it was good, an executive would tell you to get it written (either yourself or find a writer), they'd buy it and figure out how much it would cost to make, etc.

Allicrombie

Can you name some movies that were made that way? It would be interesting to see what was actually a result of this.

I think you will find few people in the business that would wish for the "golden age" of Hollywood to return with all the actors under a studio contract system limiting what movies they can star in and who they can work with. But that aside your claims are while not entirely false are not entirely true as many films are constantly greenlit without the support of big actors attached to them. In fact we are in the midst of a golden age of independent film making as since the digital medium and internet have become fully entrenched in out society, it is now possible for the average joe to create a professional looking indie feature with only some actors and a decent digital camera costing only up to a few thousand dollars.

But that aside these kinds of complaints are similar to people decrying the woeful state of music whilst only gazing at the Top 10 charts are what's being played on VH1. There's plenty of enriching cinema and music out there and now more than ever before in history it's so easy to find, obtain, and experience. You just have to try.

I usually turn to foreign films when I'm looking for something unique and thought provoking. The rate at which Hollywood movies exhibit these attributes is extremely low.

Maybe things really are decling, however at the same time, kids in the 2030s-20400s will never watch our embarassing crap like "Big Momma's House 3" or "Season of the Witch" (both of which fit the "bankable star" model), they'll see stuff like "Inception" and the Lord of the Ring Movies and wonder why there are so few movies like that out. My underlying point being only our classics are saved for future generations. Sure, I mean don't get me wrong, movies like E.T., The Godfather, Indiana Jones, the Original Star Wars were awesome. But we only remember those movies because they were some of the best cranked out in a whole a generation.