Film industry sources are reporting that major studios have resorted to pulling underperforming movies from theaters in what continues to be the worst year at the box office in decades.
It’s a bizarre season in Hollywood. Almost nothing is “working,” and the studios can’t afford to waste any more money hoping things will turn around. They’re pulling flops from theaters earlier than usual.
This weekend, for example, Warner Bros. is putting out a white flag on “Blade Runner” after three tough weeks. They’ve cut the number of theaters showing Denis Villeneuve’s beautiful film by 855. So far, “Blade Runner” has made just $66 million. Audiences have not clamored to it. And now, week by week, Warners will quietly take it away.
Warner’s isn’t alone. Universal is pulling Tom Cruise’s “American Made” from 539 locations after a month in release. The Doug Liman directed thriller has made just $43 million. Good reviews haven’t helped push Cruise fans to theaters. One problem was lack of promotion since Cruise wasn’t available. Also, audiences may have just soured on him after “The Mummy” and other flops. With both studios, it wasn’t for lack of trying.
The biggest decease (de-crease, but pun intended here) is for the revived “Flatliners.” With just $16 million in the till, Sony would be better off paying people to see this turkey. They’re retreating from 1,433 theaters this weekend, leaving “Flatliners” to breathe on its own. It will be completely dead by Sunday.
At this point it’s hard to say whether Hollywood’s woes are due to changing media consumption trends like cord cutting and streaming, the general decline in storytelling afflicting more and more films, or a preference cascade away from Tinseltown as normal people make the healthy decision not to give any more money to people who openly hate them.
Honestly, I don’t care. I’m just enjoying watching the hollowed-out skinsuit-wearing psychopaths that long ago took over Hollywood twitch and sizzle in their final agony.
Case in point:
PS Here’s an irony: The Weinstein Company’s “Wind River” is at $33 million. It cost around $15 million. Taylor Sheridan’s directing debut might have been an awards contender if certain things hadn’t happened.
The writer of that piece needs a dictionary. “Irony” is when a someone fleeing a burning house is killed by a blast from a fire hose. “Coincidence” is when a fugitive from a house fire is torched with a flamethrower. But when an arsonist is immolated in the inferno that he himself set, that’s called “cosmic justice”.
Hollywood has one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel. The only question now is “what comes next?” The forces of Western Civilization have a rare chance to take back ground from the barbarians, but they’ll need new IPs that can go toe-to-toe with Hollywood for entertainment value and financial backers in their corner.
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