I did some math over the weekend, movie math. Blockbuster bloodbath math. Some of these films received generally favorable reviews while others are considered some of the worst movies of the year (via Metacritic, Rotten Tomatoes). On the surface it certainly reads as an indictment of the tastes of the American movie going public, or is there something else at play here. Turbo’s budget was 150 million and it made 98 million, RIPD’s budget was 130 mil, it made 38 mil, The Lone Ranger’s budget was 225 mil, made 164 mil, White House Down’s budget was 150 mil, made 67 mil, Bullet to the Head’s budget was 55 mil, made 9 mil. Etc. Etc. Etc. You get the picture. If Hollywood keeps this up, they will withdraw to save their investors’ money. Any other business that did this would be foreclosed upon by now for sure. Imagine buying a house for 200,000, spending 10,000 on repairs, and then only selling it for 150,000. How long would you keep that up before you quit investing. Now more than ever, movies are costing enormous amounts of money and returning nothing. Low investment/high profit doesn’t need to mean you release bad low investment movies. One of the things that made the American New Wave of the late ’60s/early ’70s what it was was the fact that Hollywood executives were willing to invest modest amounts of money in unestablished directors like Scorsese, Altman and Towne. Not to mention, the future blockbuster-meisters Lucas and Spielberg, who started their careers late in the New Wave before accidentally inventing the modern summer blockbuster and inadvertently helping to kill the film scene that created them. This along with established “artistes” whose bankability had previously been debatable, like Coppola, Kubrick and Polanski. The execs weren’t faultless, but between the clueless ones who didn’t know what was happening but figured they could cash in on the “weird shit the kids are going to see like Easy Rider” and ballsier newcomers like Robert Evans, some of the best films in American cinema history managed to get funded, make money, and become part of the canon. I guess the point would be that the executives are just making bad decisions: they’re greenlighting bad low-budget movies for the same reasons they’re greenlighting bad blockbusters: they’re thinking purely in terms of demographics and surveys, and hardly anybody is keeping an eye open for worthwhile gambles. I’m not saying they shouldn’t consider the numbers at all—they’re running businesses, after all. But their predecessors seem to have had a better talent for not forgetting their commerce could also be art. Studios investing in new American New Wave directors wasn’t solely about artistic courage. I mean a little of it was, sure. But it mostly came about from the failure of the sword-and-sandal epics in the mid 60s and the disillusion of that changing audience. Not to mention the fact that producers and studio execs have changed A LOT since those days. Not just in how they approach their investments but the money-men themselves have died and been replaced. It’s not a static collection of consistency. Low investment movies means exactly that. Little investment in the script, the production, the actors…with a goal towards maximum payoff. Investing in a movie is always a gamble. It’s just a matter of gambling big or hedging your bets. And that’s mostly what they’re concerned about. Art comes utterly second to that and always has. I get it…no one wants to just throw their money away in something that isn’t a tax write off. Producers prefer a sure thing. Still, I think it’s time to diversify back into small to medium budgets, bring on the brand new IP’s and stop rewarding mediocrity. I think that’s Hollywood’s complete failing and the biggest thing they truly can’t comprehend and wrap their heads around. We want good movies that don’t suck and aren’t just being made based on a title, idea, character, etc. We want honestly good movies. The gimmicks and sequels and prequels are going to catch up with them and start failing to draw crowds. Great original stories always trump (arguably) shotty reboots. Well, not always, but they should. Then again I like to use my imagination and read and enjoy seeing things I’ve never seen before. I’m not the lowest common denominator that they are catering to. So from Hollywood’s perspective, “What the f*ck do I know? -Dagobot Get at me on twitter: @markdago Like me on THE Facebook: facebook.com/markdagoraps Download my latest EP for free: markdago.bandcamp.com Listen to MY podcast http://poppundits.libsyn.com/