AJC.com > Opinion > Woman to Woman > Archives > 2006 > January > 19 > Entry
Should Hollywood’s box office losses be a wake-up call to produce more family-friendly movies?
Shaunti Feldhahn, a right-leaning columnist, writes the commentary this week and Diane Glass, a left-leaning columnist, responds.
Shaunti Feldhahn, a right-leaning columnist, writes the commentary this week and Diane Glass, a left-leaning columnist, responds.
Rebuttal
Film genres aren’t hurting theater attendance. Consumer expectations are morphing the market.
Attendance may be down at the theater but business is booming for DVD sales, an industry some analysts say has a 50 to 75 percent U.S. market penetration. Then there are the online DVD delivery services raking in the profits: Netflix generated 506 million dollars in sales revenue for 2004, with an annual growth rate of 86 percent. Soon we’ll be using IPTV, the latest entertainment revolution, which allows consumers to download programming through an IP connection and play it on their TV. And this year, plans are afoot to launch “films” in the theater, on television and as DVD releases — all at the same time.
People are watching films. They’re just doing it in the comfort of their own homes, away from cellphones, the inconsiderate and grossly overpriced 3 dollar bottles of water (not to mention my personal pet peeve – the parent who brings their child to a R-rated film because someone couldn’t or wouldn’t find a babysitter).
Consumers are buying DVDs, renting DVDs, watching films on cable, on their computers, and even on their iPods. Technological advances have changed consumer demand for services providing digital access to programming on their schedule, not the schedules and carefully-planned lineups meted out by Hollywood executives.
If God or god-fearing folk were really responsible for Hollywood’s declining revenue, the conservative right could rejoice, self-satisfied, atop high moral ground. And although it may seem like sweet revenge for the conservative set for self-congratulatory Hollywood types to get their comeuppance with droopy sales, the fact is: industry changes are responsible for lower sales at theaters, not the rebellion of folks in Iowa. And for the record: Family-friendly doesn’t have to mean bland and devoid of any controversy. Family-friendly can also mean life-changing and mind-expanding.
Morality is sometimes subjective. No one corners the market on morality. Movies like Brokeback Mountain or TransAmerica may seem objectionable and morally reprehensible to dubious movie experts like the “MovieGuide”. But for others, these films are moral triumphs, not cause for moral outrage.
Commentary
By Shaunti Feldhahn
Hollywood studio executives are engaging in some rare soul-searching these days, pondering why 2005 was such a stinker year for the movie industry. There were some major hits (Star Wars III: $380 million, Narnia: $260 million) but attendance was down 7 percent — the worst year since 1997. A seven percent drop may not seem like much, but in a business that plans for annual increases, it gives real cause for reflection.
Because moviemakers tend to be very disconnected from the mainstream Americans who see their wares, I hope their reflection leads to the right fix. Recent industry articles have quoted studio executives whose “fixes” include rushing out their own raunchy R-rated comedies after The Wedding Crashers’ success, or who bemoan the decline of live-action big-budget fare and say, well, maybe if we make more independent films …
But if moviemakers would just randomly pick twenty names out of the Des Moines phone book and ask why they are going to fewer movies, I’ll bet they would hear almost nothing about genre or budget. Instead, they would get an earful about good messages, delivered in simple good taste. It doesn’t matter whether a film is a 10-explosion movie or a 10-hanky movie, doesn’t matter whether it features comedy, cartoons or cops. The one common thread that characterizes most high-grossing films is that whatever the story, the message is good and family-friendly. Not a family movie, mind you, just family-friendly. Something you wouldn’t be embarrassed by if your kid or your grandparents caught you watching.
This isn’t just my opinion. The numbers prove it every year. One family movie review house, Movieguide, has shown that every year, movies with high “moral content” – whatever the story or genre – make about six times more than films with very “immoral, negative content.” In 2004 those two categories grossed $107 million vs. $16 million. Hard to argue with. A completely different group, the Dove Foundation, found in a fifteen year study that, “The average R-rated movie made $7 million, while the average G-rated film made $79 million.”
Doing movies in good taste isn’t old-fashioned; it’s profitable. If our struggling studios can grasp that one fact, they won’t be worried about so much red ink.