Has Hollywood become too Dependent On Blockbuster films?

I find it interesting that while corporate Hollywood relies more and more on big blockbusters that the Academy (Oscars) have mostly went the other direction. For more than 20 years I have watched every film nominated for best picture. The last few years it has gotten harder and harder. I'm sure some of it has to do with my being older and more cantankerous but not all. I was really surprised that Get Out was nominated (of course it didn't win). It's not that I don't like quiet niche films. Two years ago I might have voted for Room (which almost no one saw). Even if waterboarded I would not have voted for The Shape of Water. It was quirky and weird and not half bad. It was not the best picture of the year/
 
Anthoney said:
I find it interesting that while corporate Hollywood relies more and more on big blockbusters that the Academy (Oscars) have mostly went the other direction. For more than 20 years I have watched every film nominated for best picture. The last few years it has gotten harder and harder. I'm sure some of it has to do with my being older and more cantankerous but not all. I was really surprised that Get Out was nominated (of course it didn't win). It's not that I don't like quiet niche films. Two years ago I might have voted for Room (which almost no one saw). Even if waterboarded I would not have voted for The Shape of Water. It was quirky and weird and not half bad. It was not the best picture of the year/
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Lord of the Rings which was popular and blockbuster won for best picture. Actually they were nominating the whole trilogy . This is first time a fantasy film won best picture .
 
There were rare years where a financially successful film also won Best Picture (Ben Hur, Titanic, LOTR). The Oscars are political and always were and winners were chosen to make a statement (I don't believe it was ever a truly free vote on BP). It just feels more obvious now.
So, it seems guaranteed Black Panther is going to get either Best Picture or Most Popular. Or both.

The elimination of mid budget films tends to heighten the contrast between Summer season and Oscar season films. Seems like they will eventually merge into one. Black Panther may demonstrate that process under way. However, it would be an error to assume that the winning of films with fantasy themes (Shape of Water or Black Panther) represents the mainstreaming of genre concepts--- since these works have a significant sociopolitical component which is of greater significance to the corporations than the popularity of fantasy (which has always enjoyed popular support from the public--the 20th century critical establishment merely distanced itself from including public tastes in their assessment of artworks).
I feel the domination of genre subjects in Hollywood now is in much the same spirit that they use popular songs from the 60s or 70s in advertising cars or running shoes.
 
Also Hammer, Amicus, Toho, Tigon, Charles Band (still around apparently). Plus various other European companies in Spain, Italy, Germany, France....
 
I enjoyed the Adventures of Captain Marvel serial (recommended by Baylor in fact) much more than recent superhero movies. It wasn't trying to be important or melodramatic-just tell a decent adventure story with super powered action (using all the FX they could muster on a low budget). The Phantom serial also starring Tom Tyler (and "Ace the Wonder Dog") was also good. If modern movies used that approach, superhero films would be much better. In a superhero movie I don't want a lot of scenes where the super characters are discussing UN treaties and their feelings about their parents. For pete's sake can we dial down the emo? lol
 
In all honesty, I can't think of one Netflix show or film I've watched that I've really liked. Most I never even finish. I've only just got Prime, but I haven't watched any of their in-house offerings yet.
 
Vince W said:
In all honesty, I can't think of one Netflix show or film I've watched that I've really liked. Most I never even finish. I've only just got Prime, but I haven't watched any of their in-house offerings yet.
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I have no enthusiasm for Netflix
 
BAYLOR said:
I don't have either.
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BAYLOR said:
I don't have either.
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prime's offerings are, on the whole, VERY poor. That being said there are some very good offering among the dross. NetFlix, on the other hand, does screen a lot of good stuff (there is dross there too, to be honest).

Having them though gives me my fill of 'b' movies (and some of them not in a good way!)
 
Amazon Prime has some good stuff in my view. From stuff they've pinched/bought from the BBC (Grand Tour and Ripper Street) to originals and others (Preacher, The Tick, Beyond the Borderlands, Black Sails).

There are also some interesting Russian films that they've got in fantasy/scifi/entertainment which are as good as a general Hollywood action flick ( so not outstanding but entertaining enough). One or two I've seen are let down really only by poor dubbing into English
 
Overread said:
Amazon Prime has some good stuff in my view. From stuff they've pinched/bought from the BBC (Grand Tour and Ripper Street) to originals and others (Preacher, The Tick, Beyond the Borderlands, Black Sails).

There are also some interesting Russian films that they've got in fantasy/scifi/entertainment which are as good as a general Hollywood action flick ( so not outstanding but entertaining enough). One or two I've seen are let down really only by poor dubbing into English
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Apple is going into television and film production too?
 
It's a depressing situation, but fun as it is to blame crass Hollywood executives, the rotten fact of the matter is that if the mass audience were still turning out for "Dr.Zhivago" or "Annie Hall" (which by the way, never even reached my local cinema when it was released) then those are the type of films that would still be made. Back in the late eighties, I was friends with a cinema manager who had to close down because the only films that drew audiences were the big holiday blockbusters, and the rest of the year the smaller films on offer simply didn't generate enough revenue to keep the business viable. Sorry to add to the general air of doom and gloom.
 
When The Point cinema opened in Milton Keynes, the first multiplex in the U.K., one of its ten screens was put aside for arthouse and classic films. This lasted a few months before it was replaced with the latest blockbuster.
 
Ian said:
It's a depressing situation, but fun as it is to blame crass Hollywood executives, the rotten fact of the matter is that if the mass audience were still turning out for "Dr.Zhivago" or "Annie Hall" (which by the way, never even reached my local cinema when it was released) then those are the type of films that would still be made. Back in the late eighties, I was friends with a cinema manager who had to close down because the only films that drew audiences were the big holiday blockbusters, and the rest of the year the smaller films on offer simply didn't generate enough revenue to keep the business viable. Sorry to add to the general air of doom and gloom.
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Welcome to Chrons Ian. :)
 
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