Honestly do you feel like Hollywood movies are dying?

[Silver7]

I've just been seeing people all over the internet say that most Hollywood movies suck, they don't make movies the same way they used to.

What are your thoughts?

[kitschensyngk]

Anyone who says that they don't make good movies or music or TV shows anymore has probably never looked very hard.

There is still a lot of good content out there. The problem is it doesn't get promoted as much as whatever's mainstream at the moment, so you kinda have to do some digging.

[RedLenai]

Every few years there is always someone that's going to claim they don't make X the same way they used to.
Those who search, find.
Those who try can enjoy, dislike or get their own hands to work

Try to enjoy things on your own instead of listening to what people all over the internet say.

I have heard the same discourse over and over again no matter the subject.
From "They don't make movies like before" like "They don't raise kids like before".
It reminds me of the classical "People don't want to work", is not like nowadays people don't want to, its always been a complain of those constipated with nostalgia and romanticism.

[GothickangelStudios]

I still prefer black and whites or classics to most of todays modern TV and Movie content. I'm finiky I like interesting angles, a good soundtrack, the way lightning is done, characters that are realisitc (as in either are relatable or have depth to them not bland or scream at me) and make sense. But everyone has their preference for that one. A plot that matches the content, so the writing is good. I love my super hero and action movies but lately keep falling asleep to them. Its one of my favourite genres. There is nothing to pull me in and make me feel like I'm part of their world. It all feels so dead to me.
Im the same with Anime. Some is good to pass the time and some of it pulls you in so much you cry, laugh and feel there with the character.

[NickRowler]

I don't think the issue is modern movies, it's more that large studios dump huge amounts of money into films with $200m+ budgets and expect to make triple that back. Like it's so wild that a film can make $150m and people call it a failure. That's a huge amount of money. If the they lost money on their film with that big of an opening, the issues isn't people not seeing the film, it's the budget. And no it's not inflation. Minions 2 had a budget of $75m, Mario was $100m, yet Elemental was $200m.

I also think pandering to fandoms also causes issues. I think people become a little too emotionally attracted to these film studios when at the end of the day, Disney and WB just wants to make money. People whining that they are the "true" audience/fan that the new films are betraying, no you aren't. There is nothing wrong with watching and enjoying films but I also really wish people won't take everything Hollywood does so personally.

I think there will always be high and lows of eras of cinima. I mean, when I was in high school, the movies in theaters were obnoxious romcoms, awful parody movies, and weird live action remakes of vintage cartoons. And yeah, a lot of them sucked.

[Nugtown]

Kinda true. I'm not in the camp that every film now is terrible, there have been some very good movies kind of recently and the two that come to me first are Parasite and The Lighthouse. Even when traditionally movies based on video games have been supremely terrible, we've seen a turn around where they're ok to pretty good, so I can say that confidently.

The major issue is that theatres themselves are in their death throes, and if you don't think it affects the movie industry you need to step back since the majority of films make their budget back through the theatres. Even though we have streaming services, they only encompass a fraction of total sales. It's the modern direct to video.

Personally speaking I'm pretty done with the theatre experience. Sitting through 30 minutes of AD time (not just pre roll trailers) made me furious. It was my first trip to the theatre in probably 5 or 6 years. It reminded me of when I went back to an old restaurant from my childhood to find the menu plastered with local advertising and being served bad food. To no one's surprise, it closed down a couple years after.

So i'll tell ya, I don't know what this means for the future of movies produced in America, but the outlook isn't great i'll put it that way.

[river121693]

I agree that mainstream hollywood film has gotten worse--but its never been that great in thee first place. The further receent drop is due to them chasing franchises and putting too much money in blockbuster projects, demanding a lot of creative control and not allowing creative visions following the success of marvel.

There are plenty of great movies outside of Hollywood-- check out smaller production studios, large film festival listings, or go to any indie film festivals and there are plenty of gems. They won't be as high production or flashy as hollywood film, but a lot of time are more interesting.

Also I can name plenty of good mainstream films. Juts saw Joy Ride yesterday and it was a blast

[Silver7]

You know, your response really says a lot to me. Thank you

[Innocynce]

YES they're dying. Because they don't have ideas anymore; they just solely pander. Not even the people they landed too like what they're doing: there's quite few YouTube videos with various people telling them to "STOP!!!!"

[thepenmonster]

Movies have always been shit. Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein wasn't exactly heady stuff. We only remember the ones that stand the test of time.

tl;dr- Sturgeon's Law has always been correct. You're just more aware of the shit now.

[Katzalcoatl]

Like Nick mentioned the problems are mainly budgets. Most movies before had a small budget. Now they have huge budgets but instead of doing things to meet with expectations of said budget they somehow reduce the quality of the CGI. For example Mario had better effects than some avengers movies and that's saying a lot considering the budgets.

Another problem hollywood has is that the big studios don't get how much money other countries like China represent. What I mean is that big studios started earning lots of money before covid 19 with movies on countries like China. The new movies however have been badly recieved by chinese media but hollywood still expects to make that same amount of money.

This didn't happen only with China it happened with many other countries. Hollywood is producing movies that interest more the local population rather than the international population but they keep using the same budget as if the international population would still pay for that.

I wouldn't say hollywood is dying but their budgets have not been realistic as of late. Many movies can be a huge success locally but internationally it can be a big flop and sometimes the local earnings are not enough to cover the movie budget (not always).

[NickRowler]

Another problem hollywood has is that the big studios don't get how much money other countries like China represent.

I think Hollywood is super aware of how successful a film is in China yet they seem to approach it from a very outsider perspective on it. Some companies don't want to take positive risks because they are worried of losing the Chinese market. But then their movie gets banned anyways, so it felt like it was all this bending over backwards for nothing.

I think one of the requirements for China is having a prominent Chinese actor in the film. It has helped with having more representation yet you also realize that most studios only do it for marketing in China, which sort of sucks for the actors.

[simonitropunk]

The problem in modern Hollywood is that the "fun" is almost gone. Personally, I love stupid 80's/90's over-the-top action movies and they were super fun back then and many of the effects are practical with little to no CGI whatsoever. Like Terminator 2 that was released in 1991 and the effects still hold up even better than nowadays... when you see a truck in flames falling, that's AN ACTUAL TRUCK IN FLAMES FALLING!! No CGI. It makes the scenes more impactful. With limitation comes creativity.

Now, let's take a cheesy movie from the 90's like heck... Power Rangers or the Ninja Turtles... yes, they were stupid but hell of fun movies... they're not Shakespeare and they aren't meant to be.

Flash forward nowadays, when they do Power Rangers or Ninja Turtles... the fun and cheesiness are gone with more gritty, dark, bleak, CGI filled and almost soulless. No fun!! These movies should be silly and fun and not meant to be an Oscar-bait.

I don't mind serious movies like my all-time favorite movie ever is Dark City and boy, does it feel wonderous when you watch it. The atmosphere and the story sucks you in and you almost feel you are living in this world.

I mean, I was excited for the Barbie movie but I heard things about it that turned me off. Not gonna spoil them but yeah...

Top Gun: Maverick from last year was fantastic... the story was really good and the action/sfx are done so well that you feel like you're living in the moment when movies were fun to watch.

And yeah, that's the magic word... "fun". Even the old Scream movies, while stupid, they were fun. That's why I've gravitated towards Anime because I'm finding the fun over there moreso than a bloated budgeted movie.

I enjoyed the Super Mario movie, a lot, and I don't think it's dead yet.

One element, we almost have no NEW franchises... Hollywood still latches on products from the 80's, 90's early 2000's like Terminator, Ghostbusters, Ninja Turtles, Star Wars, Rambo, Indiana Jones and so on... Do you see any new franchise being created in 2023 that would last 40 years from now? Maybe? The test of time will tell... so, that's another factor, in my opinion.

[BoomerZ]

There are way more problems with China than them just wanting representation. They take a large cut of the film, you can't show things that piss them off (no Taiwan patch for Maverick.), and they are deeply racist to black people. (hence why they covered up Black Panther's face on the poster and Ariel was tiny on the Disney Little Mermaid poster.)

When it comes to Hollywood making movies of known IPs, shitting on your fans that will see it 3-5 times (and buy all your merch) while courting people that may see it once is dumb. Calling Fandom "toxic" instead of "paying loyal costumers" is crazy. Hiring people that don't even like the property and just want a job is equally crazy. There was writers on the IDW panel for Star Trek this weekend Comicon that said they have never watched Star Trek. WHY WOULD YOU HIRE THEM!!!! The reason is they find most of the comic/sci fi stuff stupid and it's just a job to them. That's why you get "it's just a silly movie about space wizards with laser swords." They don't understand and don't care that people have feelings for these movies. You can only do this so long before the audience is jaded.

[aqua03]

I think the biggest problem is that studios keep dumping bigger and bigger budgets into bigger and bigger franchise films combined with bigger and bigger ticket prices that it's kind of crossed over into "Too much" for a lot of people lately and every film that gets a majority of the push tend to all feel rather "samey" if that makes sense. Big budget franchise faction sci-fi-ish flick, legacy sequel to a film that didn't need it, needlessly edgy action flick for Redditors, Needlessly edgy yet weirdly toothless horror film for the TikTokers, etc.

A lot of people are just kinda yearning for something smaller and "Different" it seems. Probably that's why Barbie and Oppenhiemer got so popular because they were big mainstream movies that seemed "Different". Artsy moody historcial epics and weird retro meta romcoms aren't really that much of a "thing" most big studios put much faith into nowadays if that makes sense.

Coincidentally, I've actually been to the theaters more times this year than i have in the past few years and most of those were either special events for old films or smaller films that flew under the mainstream.

[kalmia]

Do I think that movies are getting worse? Yes and and no. I think it’s important to look at movies and be able to separate their success in terms of financial gain and overall enjoyment, though sometimes the two go hand in hand. There has been some real stinkers lately. For example, I just watched Insidious: The Red Door and It was such a snooze fest that I (a horror fanatic and big enjoyer of the 1st two in the franchise) regret even going to the movie despite the fact that I enjoy the movie theater experience (not the prices though). Transformers: Rise of the Beasts was also hot garbage (but i think could have been considered fun garbage to some extent) and I couldn’t take it seriously due to the bad cgi and just terrible plot even though it’s one of my favorite guilty pleasure franchises. Dreamworks Ruby Gilman flopped incredibly hard and Disneys Elementals didn’t do too hot either.
But, there has been some good movies lately too! “Puss in Boots - The Last Wish” literally topped charts and made nearly 5x its budget and for good reason, the movie was good. The Super Mario Bros Movie did pretty fricken good as well, despite with critics say and my own opinions on it. Blumhouse’s Five Nights at Freddy’s Movie is almost guaranteed to be a success when it comes out due to the insanity of the fan base and their dedication despite whether or not it will be good. Similar can be said for the Barbie movie and Oppenheimer.

Honestly, I’m not sure what exactly causes what movies to fall into these two categories of success or flop, but the ones that are good are really good and the ones that are bad are usually pretty bad. There’s a fine line of quality between many movies coming out recently. One thing I can say that usually determines financial success in Hollywood movies is the advertising. The ads for both of these categories were incredibly different. I didn’t see a single ad for Ruby Gilman and maybe like two or three for Insidious. Meanwhile, every other commercial I see on youtube is the Barbie movie. Of course it’s going to do better financially, they’re actually advertising the dang product unlike a majority of the first movies mentioned. I saw TONS of ads for Puss in Boots as well, and they were good too! Not to Mention the online memes and trends that were spawned from the movie which obviously helped put it out there more too. But a lot of the advertising issues stems from the fact that it costs even more money.

In terms of quality, I think the feeling of movies getting worse can be an issue on both the production and consumer side of things. I’m sick of seeing just reboots and sequels and prequels and remakes and the same movies over and over again. Where’s the originality? Why in the world would we need a Frozen 4 or a fifth Insidious??? The reason why some movies are so good is because they tell a good story in a timely manner and then it’s done. I don’t want to see a Zootopia 2 when the first one is perfectly fine standing on its own. The problem is that the prices for making movies has gone up so exponentially that producers just stick to what they know has a guaranteed fan base and is certain to bring in at least some money. That’s why we keep getting sequels and remakes even though they’re all garbage and boring. They follow the same story beats and then water down our favorite stories (like all the disney live actions cough cough) and try to pander to the audience as if that’s what we want to see because we enjoyed the original. Why would they want to risk spending 100 mill on a new original story that might completely flop when they know they can make at least SOME money remaking or rebooting a franchise or movie they know already has some fans that will watch?

On the consumer side of things, I think part of our issue is that we’ve just seen too many freaking movies. I remember watching a show and thinking “i’ve seen this exact plot but in like 4 other completely unrelated movies”. It’s just boring. Nothing feels original anymore because it isnt and everything feels soulless because it is. You can only create so many plots without repeating them. And if it works, don’t break it. Most movies are just the plots of another movie with different characters, different settings, and maybe a slight change of pace or order. Everything is becoming so pandered and unfulfilling because it’s the same things we’ve seen over and over again.

I always joke with my friends after watching terrible movies that the studio should just hire us or even a 10 year old and we could come up with better plots and ideas than they could. And as silly as I feel when saying that, sometimes I really believe it . I mean, there’s huge strikes going on in Hollywood because they’re trying to replace their writers with AI as if some movies already don’t feel soulless enough, and it’s purely just for budget reasons. I think that’s the complete opposite direction that film making needs to go in. They don’t care about stories or writing or whatever, they care about how much money they make and they always have. But now, I think it’s just starting to become more repetitive.

[Ordinaryaverageguy]

I suspect it feels that way because so much of the Hollywood productions seem to be remakes of older films or obvious retreads of well-worn ideas or "the return of"/"moviename XVII". I'm sure there's good stuff but I feel like the big advertising budgets are pushing the weaker efforts.

[Lensing]

Dead in what way?
It´s a commercial industry and that means it´s allive as long as it generates the $$$

It´s impossible to have an objective discussion about what´s good or bad and
what "sucks". I´m bored by mass media movies, music, tv since I was a teenager in the 80s
and started looking for alternatives. Sometimes interesting (to me) movie ideas or good music
comes through but it´s mostly repititve crap. That´s just my opinion of course, someone
else digs movies that I find boring and thinks I just have a very trashy taste