What if we made sucky movies more expensive? That should increase profits!
Back in January, we reported that the movie industry is planning a bit of budgetary right-sizing (as cool, hip business process re-engineering consultants called mass layoffs back in the 1990’s). We’ll see how that goes. For this summer, the slate is full with really expensive movies:
[C]onsider the outlook for studio chiefs in summer ‘06: The most expensive sequels and franchise movies in history are colliding on successive weekends from May through July.
Hence, though everyone (including the studio chiefs) acknowledges that the business model is broken, the movies of summer ‘06 have to produce record numbers or heads will roll. Last summer the insiders could complain that movie attendance was sagging. No excuses this year.
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To be sure, the product lined up on the runway bespeaks glitz and glamour. So much so that the clashes on several weekends will be downright Darwinian. “Mission: Impossible 3″ gets little breathing room before “Poseidon” floats by, to be imminently followed by “The Da Vinci Code,” “Over the Hedge” from DreamWorks and then Fox’s “X-Men 3.” The July 4 melee begins with “Superman Returns” and ends with “Pirates of the Caribbean II.” And so it goes all summer.
Rolling out the comedies is no laugh either. On June 2 Paramount’s “Nacho Libre” bumps into Universal’s “The Break-Up” with Vince VaughnVince Vaughn, and “Cars” is speeding up their driveway.
Some high-profile casualties inevitably will result from this combat — the production chiefs fully understand this. Given the extraordinary costs ($150 million and up) of summer blockbusters, they know that a major flameout will impinge on the bottom line of their parent companies. They also comprehend the implications of the “Kong” conundrum: Rich talent deals have triggered big paydays for the talent, leaving only distribution fees for the studios.
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While the studios fully acknowledge they’re making too many films — and too many expensive films — the number of these movies going head-to-head this summer will reach record proportions. Though everyone concedes costs have gone through the roof, the roof will be raised once again.
Will the onslaught of big-budget movies turn around ticket-sales and boost box-office recepits? Here’s the thing, though, looking back at last year’s crop of summer movies, I just don’t see a lack of expensive movies. What I do see is a lack of interesting or entertaining movies that compelled me to trek to the theater.