By David Poland poland@moviecitynews.com
New York Magazine Film Section Brings In the Specialist
It looks like a good week for film coverage in New York Magazine: David Edelstein offers typically thoughtful yet fevered praise of United 93 (“It’s a frantic paralysis”); Logan Hill cogently previews Tribeca (as teased here last week); and producer Lynda Obst–NYM’s unofficial West Coast film bureau chief–offers a fresh diagnosis of what is eating away at movie audiences.
Not that you need a genuine industry authority to tell you that lavishly bejeweled turds like Cinderella Man ain’t gonna save Hollywood:
So we can’t put a bad blockbuster over anymore, as in the golden era of 2002, when The Scorpion King could open at $36 million, or Blade II at $33 million. And we have to kill our singular addiction to teenage boys. We need to diversify the meaning of “our audience.” We have a few audiences. Baby-boomers have a movie habit and an IV hooked up to pop culture (look at Inside Man or The Interpreter). You would have thought that Something’s Gotta Give proved that older women were worth making movies for, but one strike with In Her Shoes and we’re out. Young girls, reliable last year, have been rationalized off the screen (their tastes this year considered to be entirely driven by boys).
Obst continues on to sort-of state the obvious posit, “It’s the movie, stupid. Not the marketing. (Though marketers shouldn’t gloat yet, ’cause they can still kill a good picture.)” Can they ever. At any rate, her analysis is worth a look, if only for the refreshing admission that the “good old days” of mass-produced sequels and unquestioned theatrical superiority are waning–if not behind us.
UPDATE: An astute reader sends this observation: “Obst trashes the idea that videogame adaptations geared toward teen boys have a long shelflife. Then what’s number 1 at (the) box office the day it hits stands? Silent Hill. Can’t win for losin’.”
