As Hollywood laments the failure of “tentpole” blockbuster movies,
the studios conveniently overlook the obvious.
It’s summer here in the U.S. and with it the traditional season for the blockbuster film, also known at the tentpole. “Jaws” started the trend in the 70’s and Hollywood has been hooked ever since. The thinking is that if you can score a big hit with a huge budget film, that can serve as the tentpole that provides the cash flow for the studio for the year.
It’s interesting to me that “Jaws” is credited with starting the trend since that film was so plagued with mechanical problems it forced Steven Spielberg to completely re-think the production. Ultimately he ended up with a classic film in part because he had to scale back on the special effects and scale up on interpretive storytelling. That is, use the audience imagination to fill in what they can’t see. That ultimately made the movie going experience even better.
Fast forward to 2013 and Hollywood is now lamenting tentpole failures with the poster child being “The Lone Ranger.” $250 million to make and on opening day was outperformed by “Despicable Me 2” $34 million to $9.7 million. After two days the score was $59.5 million to $19.5 million.
What happened? It appears the answer is quite simply, “Where’s the Story?” Hollywood does literally have a formula for making a blockbuster and it seems that formula essentially is: Big Stars + Huge Budget + Ridiculous Stunts/CG/Action = $$$$$$$$$$$$$. Story? “Well here’s all the action/CG/Ridiculous Stunts we’re doing, just have a writer fill in the gaps between them, the audience will love it!” For a portion of the audience, sure they’re love anything that is super cool. But if you want to make up $250 million just to break even, well you’re gonna need a lot more than some super cool scenes.
Consider what we’re spending to see a movie today. Today at the Regal Cinemas Mall of Georgia in my area. $9.50 Matinee | $11.75 standard | $15.75 3D | $16.75 RPX 3D | $18.25 IMAX 3D. At AMC Lowe’s 1538 Third Ave NYC, it’s $13.75 standard and $17.75 3D. Average ticket price when “Jaws” came out in 1975? $2.05. I’m not sure we can find anything at the concession stand today for $2.05.
Until fairly recently, the movies were a cheap escape and if the movie wasn’t that great, well at least you were out of the house for a few hours. Now take a date to an evening show and you’re out up to $40 just to get in. Take a family of 2 adults 2 kids and you’re pushing $50-$60 just to get in. It’s cheaper to stay home, watch a film on Netflix/Hulu/HBO/OnDemand and make your own popcorn. Now if the movie isn’t that great, you’re out real money for a wasted night out. Personally I refuse to spend money in a theater on a “so-so” movie, we’ll wait for it to come on HBO.
So if Hollywood wants us in the theaters, they’re going to have to earn it because the public is not going to shell out money for crappy stories. They’re going to have to try something completely radical. Put the story first. I think John Lasseter (Pixar/Disney) said it best: “Tools don’t make a great film, it’s the people using the tools who make a great film.” In other words, it’s the people creating the story that matter most, not the most incredible computer to make the most incredible effect.
The biggest budget in the world can’t make up for bad storytelling. The $250 million for “The Lone Ranger” could have made ten $25 million films. Heck most indie films are made for less than $10 million, so now you’ve got 25 films. The law of averages says you’ve got a better chance to score with 25 shots than you do with one. It’s going to take a real watershed change in Hollywood to put the story first, but when we see the perfect marriage of story, cast and director the blockbuster the audience responds and the blockbuster just naturally happens. Seems pretty straightforward to me since that’s how we run my companies, but then I live 3000 miles away from the “magic of Hollywood” so I probably don’t properly understand the movie making logic.
Final note: as of July 28th, Despicable Me 2 has grossed over $650 million worldwide on a budget of $76 million. As for The Lone Ranger? Well there’s always 2015…..