I know I'm supposed to continue on about Everyman's Utopia but I wanted to share some good news. Hollywood ain't making as much money as they hoped they would. HA HA HA! Like y'all need more money.
You charge us $8.50 a ticket plus outrageous prices for snacks and drinks and then you expect us to give a crap that XXX: State of the Union only brought in $13.7 million when you predicted it would bring in $25 million? Get over yourself. If actors didn't demand millions of dollars per picture maybe we'd be able to go to the theatre more often. Then maybe you'd make more money. I personally only see MAYBE 3 or 4 pictures at the theatre a year. That's because every damn time I go I wind up spending $50 or $60 bucks. That's ridiculous.
According to Brandon Gray of boxofficemojo.com at least three summer films need to take in at least $250 million each to help Hollywood prevent declining ticket sales for three years in a row. $250 million for one movie. That's retarded. Tell me this. What does a Brad Pitt or Julia Roberts do to deserve $20 million dollars for acting in a movie? Personally, I'd be ecstatic to get $1 million per movie. If I did a dozen or so movies, I'd be set for life! I'd never have to work again. I'd cancel my SAG membership and get the hell out of Cali! But no. They make several movies at $10 to $20 million a pop and then think that they're so much more enlightened then we are. I'm not going to get started on actors and actresses and their big mouths again. They make me sick with their greed and holier than thou attitudes. I know, a lot of them do a lot of good things with their money but come on. Do you have any idea how much money a big star like George Clooney must have? It makes my head spin. Give me a fraction of his wealth and I would never have to work again. Take the rest and help out the less fortunate. It all boils down to the drastic imbalance of wealth in this nation. But it's a Catch 22. If you didn't have opportunities like that, it'd be called Communism. And nobody wants that.
In summary, I'm glad Hollywood isn't making as much as they'd like. Maybe it's time they rethought their business practices if they want to increase their profits.
Here's a novel thought from director Steven Soderbergh, the director of Traffic and Erin Brockovich. Simultaneously release a movie in the theatre, on DVD, pay-per-view AND satellite television. Personally, I might rent more movies if they came out at the same time as the movie theatre. When a movie comes out at the theatre I get real excited to see if but I know that I'll wait until it comes to Blockbuster. By the time it gets to Blockbuster, I've lost a lot of interest and may have forgotten about it all together. If it came out at Blockbuster at the same time I've been seeing all the ads on TV, I'd probably have my butt at the Blockbuster on opening day, along with many others I bet. Good thinking Soderbergh. Hope it works for you. While you're at it, follow the lead of the guy that directed the Spy Kids franchise, Il Mariachi, Desperado, Once Upon a Time in Mexico and others. I believe his name is Robert Rodriguez. He gets his actors to accept a lower payday in exchange for shortening the time they work on a film. He tells actors this...why should I pay you the same money as you'd make on a 6 month film when I'm only going to need you for 6 days or 6 weeks? Makes sense right? It sure did to Bruce Willis and a few others when he directed Sin City. Rodriguez did most of the work himself and saved a lot of money. Good for him!
