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2017: The Year That Horror Saved Hollywood (qz.com)
A reader shares a report: If there's a silver lining in any of that for America's film industry, it's that the horror genre is still plugging merrily along, seemingly immune to the financial troubles that have befallen most studios. As the rest of Hollywood flounders in 2017, horror is in the midst of its highest-grossing year ever. On the backs of huge hits like It and Get Out, the horror genre has combined for a record $733.5 million in the US this year, according to box office data compiled by the New York Times (paywall). The year has proven that horror films are more than just cheaply made movies for niche audiences and can still cross into the mainstream to become bona fide successes. Ticket sales during the 2017 summer movie season, billed by Variety as "The Summer of Hell," were down nearly 11% from last year due to a series of epic flops, namely King Arthur: Legend of the Sword and The Dark Tower. Arguably the only saving grace was It, the adaptation of the novel of the same name by Stephen King that became the highest-grossing horror film of all time in September (not adjusted for inflation). Today, it has made a very fitting $666.6 million (seriously) worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo. Following a solid first half of 2017 with Dunkirk and Wonder Woman, It helped Warner Bros. rebound from the disastrous King Arthur and the disappointing Blade Runner 2049 -- to say nothing of this month's box office catastrophe, Geostorm.
I was considering going to Blade Runner with my wife. However it had been so long since I had last seen the first one I thought it would be nice to see it again before seeing the new one. So I checked the usual retailers - in my case Best Buy, Target, WalMart - and couldn't get it there as it was not available. I can't stream it on NetFlix either. I checked Barnes and Noble as well, no dice. I checked Amazon; they couldn't guarantee it either (only available through third parties).
Disney did the same thing with Tron when they released the new one a few years ago. If you shut out the fans who want to see it, you'll end up getting less money for the new product. In my case I just simply gave up and figured it's not that important. I can go spend my money on something else.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
Modern movies all fit a very tight formula, which is admittedly very powerful and compelling, but it prevents certain types of creativity from shining. Atop that, movie studios refuse to take risks on new material, instead making adaptations, reboots, remakes, and encores. This further limits what a movie can do.
This is an arena that televisions series have stolen from movies; most episodes are designed to fit that tight formula while advancing a larger arc (better yet, multiple larger arcs!) while a few can break the mold with minimal risk to audience retention (for example, instead of the plot twist being half to three-quarters through, it can be elsewhere, or even a build-up for a larger surprise in the next episode).
Horror movies are rarely heavy in sophistication. They just go in for emotional investment so they can lead you to a series of surprises, some of which will startle you and others that might haunt you. This adapts to that oversimplified formula very very well. Additionally, horror has its own tight formulae, so audiences get what they expect and are only disappointed when there wasn't the anticipated level of startles, eeriness, or innuendo. There's no risk to the hook being problematic since it's pretty much always shown in full force in the movie's trailer.
(Also note that It is a remake (and an adaptation), though Get Out is not.)
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Yeah, sexual harassment and rape are big news topics now that the Clintons’ political viability no longer needs to be protected.