[ad_1]
The Academy Awards were established in 1929 to promote the achievements of Hollywood to the outside world. At its peak, the broadcast attracted 55 million viewers. That number has been falling for years, and last year it hit an all-time low – 10.4 million viewers for a show with no hosts, no musical numbers, and no infrequent best picture winners on “Nomadland.” (The movie, which was released simultaneously in theaters and on Hulu, grossed just $3.7 million.)
Last year, even before awards season, Hollywood was planning to respond with a blitz all round. It has commissioned its biggest stars and most celebrated directors to remind consumers that, despite the myriad of streaming options, watching theater occupies an important place in the wider culture.
he didn’t work. The public remains largely reluctant to return to theaters with any regularity. Daniel Craig’s final comeback as James Bond, “No Time to Die,” has been delayed for over a year due to the pandemic and only made $160.7 million in the United States and Canada when it was finally released. That was $40 million less than the 2015 Bond movie “Spectre” and $144 million less than the highest-grossing 2012 movie “Skyfall” in the series.
Well-reviewed, auteur-oriented films that have traditionally had a large presence in the awards circuit, “Last Night in Soho” ($10.1 million), “Nightmare Street” ($8 million) and “Belfast” ($6.9 million), it barely made a ripple at the box office.
And despite Mr Spielberg’s adaptation “West Side Story” It scored 93 percent positive on Rotten Tomatoes, earning just $30 million at the local box office. (The original grossed $44 million in 1961, the equivalent of $409 million today.)
According to this a new studyBefore the pandemic, 49 percent of moviegoers no longer buy tickets. Eight percent say they will never return. These numbers are the death knell for mid-budget movies that rely on positive word of mouth and well-publicized rave reviews to get bosses in their seats.
Some believe the middle part of the movie business—the category of beleaguered movies that cost between $20 million and $60 million (like “Licorice Pizza” and “Nightmare Road”) and isn’t based on a comic book or other well-known intellectual property—is forever changeable. If viewing habits are permanently changed and award nominations and earnings are no longer a significant draw, it will be much more difficult for these films to be head-to-head. If audiences are only willing to go to the cinema to see the latest Spider-Man, it becomes difficult to convince them that they also need a movie like Kenneth Branagh’s black-and-white meditation on his childhood, Belfast. , in a crowded theater rather than living rooms.
[ad_2]
Source link