Movie theater attendance getting bad reviews

By Michael Picarellapic@theacorn.com

Sources indicate that current movie theater ticket revenues are down about 5 percent from last year and that actual attendance is down about 9 percent. Filmmakers, moviegoers and non-moviegoers, especially here in Southern California where the entertainment industry is so important, have different opinions as to the reason why.

In the 1950s and early ’60s, television was deemed a threat the movie industry. Hollywood fought back with more color film, widescreen Cinerama, 3-D and some theaters even pumped in smells that accompanied the visual images onscreen. But audiences today don’t feel the new technologies are enough to boost sagging attendance. Many blame the low box office count on poor movie content.

“I think people are getting bored with the movies that are coming out right now,” said Brandon Nicholas, an Agoura Hills independent filmmaker. “Every other movie is a remake. Hollywood is remaking movies that are already good . . . It’s really frustrating that there isn’t anything new coming out. It feels like there are no more original ideas and everyone has given up on writing new and original stories. Very rarely is there a movie where I walk out and say, ‘Wow, that was good.’”

Oak Park native Marc Clebanoff, also an independent filmmaker and a regular moviegoer, agrees with Nicholas.

“I think people are honestly becoming bored with all the remakes, rehashes, reinventions, sequels and prequels,” Clebanoff said. “I went to see ‘War of the Worlds,’ a remake in itself, and saw trailers for ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,’ ‘Dukes of Hazzard,’ ‘Fantastic Four’ and ‘The Bad News Bears.’ Show us something new already.”

Clebanoff also attributes some the low theater attendance to the predominance of DVD technology and outrageous increases in movie ticket prices.

“First and foremost, the speed in which films go to DVD provides viewers with the ability to rent or buy a film within weeks of its theatrical release, as opposed to the months it took prior to DVDs,” Clebanoff said. “Second, with the options that consumers have now in terms of home theaters, it’s understandable why many people would rather stay at home. Someone who paid four figures for a home entertainment system is a lot less likely to go out and pay to watch a film in a theater.”

Nicholas said, “I was at Costco in Pasadena and they were actually selling movie theater seats. It’s become so easy to create the theater experience at home.”

Several area residents said they go to fewer movies because tickets are so expensive.

“The prices of movies have skyrocketed in recent years,” Clebanoff said. “I remember being able to see a matinee for $5. Today, if I take my girlfriend to dinner and a movie, I had better be prepared to spend upwards of $75. It’s become an investment.”

Newbury Park actor and frequent moviegoer Brian Napolitan said he doesn’t like it that movies cost so much, but will still go because he likes to get out of the house and he enjoys the theater experience. He, like others, is disappointed with the content of recent movies. Napolitan thinks Hollywood doesn’t take chances anymore.

Famed filmmaker John Landis pushed the boundaries of filmmaking during his career. In 1981, he made a movie called “An American Werewolf in London,” which blended the comedy and horror genres. According to several articles published at the time, the studio system and critics said the two genres couldn’t be mixed and the movie wouldn’t work.

Since the success of “American Werewolf,” most horror motion pictures of today incorporate comedy in a similar fashion.

In several past interviews, Landis has said that today’s Hollywood has taken respect away from scripts and directors and focused more on tried-and-true formulas. Today’s movies made by the majors are much more conservative and uninteresting, he said.

In the 2003 documentary “A Decade Under the Influence” about the films of the 1970s, filmmakers of the time talked about their rebellion against Hollywood’s formulaic movie making. In the film, actor Jon Voight said the 1970s were a great time for filmmakers and moviegoers.

“No one is saying anything. Let’s say something,” Voight said of the attitude of independent filmmakers at the time. “Let’s make stories about what is. There’s so much going on. What are we feeling?”

In the same documentary, “Taxi Driver” director Martin Scorsese said, “This world was new and open and anything was possible.”

Those who spoke in “A Decade Under the Influence” said the movies “Star Wars” and “Jaws” gave birth to a new type of movie studio system that made marketing the No. 1 priority in the making of a film. The content in mainstream filmmaking has slowly been suffering since, some interviewees said.

In “A Decade Under the Influence,” “The Godfather” director Francis Ford Coppola said Hollywood has turned the “Big M” that once stood for “movies” into a “Big M” that now stands for “money.”

“The best way that (Hollywood) could come up with no risk was to make a movie in exactly the mold of the last one that had been successful,” Coppola said.

Calabasas City Councilmember James Bozajian, who enjoys going to the movies, said that he thinks theater attendance is down because modern films have a tendency to be unreflective of “mainstream” American culture and values.

“Too often, the real-life experiences and expectations of large segments of the potential movie-going public are at odds with the characters and themes depicted,” Bozajian said. “If these two problems were properly addressed by the film industry, I suspect that you might see box office sales improve somewhat.”

Some of the major movie theaters in the area, including Mann theaters in Westlake Village and Thousand Oaks, and the Edwards theater in Simi Valley, couldn’t give box office numbers for this year and last year for a comparison. Others didn’t call back. The Mann corporate office didn’t return phone calls with requests for the same information.

Andrew Gualtidri, manager of the Regency Westlake Village Twin theaters on Lakeview Canyon Road in Westlake Village, did comment on his theater’s current and past box office climate.

“If the product is good, the people will come,” Gualtidri said. The Twin plays independent movies, art films and foreign films and has actually received better attendance this year than last.

“We usually play movies with more substance and less explosions,” Gualtidri said.

“I’m pretty sure Hollywood hasn’t run out of story ideas yet,” Clebanoff said. “Even if they’re bad stories, at least we’ll see something new—I know I’d be a lot more willing to shell out $10 for a movie. Most of the stuff that comes out, though, I automatically come to the same conclusion: ‘I’ll wait for the DVD.’”