Quentin Tarantino has been outspoken about the state of the movie business. In a recent episode of the director’s Video Archives Podcast, the man who helped usher in the golden age of indie film with “Pulp Fiction” declared that it was “the worst era in Hollywood history” that the only been reached by other such lows as the 1950s and 80s.
“The good thing about being in a bad era of Hollywood cinema is (the films) don’t conform [are] those that stand out from the crowd,” he added.
And that may be. The problem is that this group of nonconformists may no longer have a commercial reason to exist, at least as theatrical propositions.
Take “She Said,” a solidly done look at the two New York Times journalists who helped expose Harvey Weinstein’s decades of sexual harassment and assault. The film garnered strong reviews and awards, but Universal Pictures’ release last weekend hit the ground running, opening for a dismal $2.2 million in 2,022 theaters. This is one of the worst results for a major studio release in history.
Part of the problem, observers say, is that the film’s searing look at an abuse of power may not have been what audiences were hoping to see when the headlines were — let’s be honest — pretty grim. From Ukraine to the economy, there’s plenty to get excited about.
“It’s hard to sell,” says Shawn Robbins, principal analyst at Boxoffice Pro. “People are looking for escapism right now. Even adult audiences are looking for something to take them away from reality.”
“She Said” has plenty of company when it comes to well-reviewed films that have collapsed on audience indifference. One by one, this year’s crop of Oscar contenders has flopped, or at best underperformed. There’s “Tár,” a drama about sexual harassment in the classical music world, which grossed $4.9 million in seven weeks after its release; Armageddon Time, a coming-of-age film that grossed just $1.8 million after a month in theaters; and “Triangle of Sadness,” a satirical look at the one percent that has crawled to gross $3.8 million since opening in mid-October. “The Banshees of Inisherin” and “Till” did slightly better, earning $7.1 million and $8.5 million, respectively, but their results didn’t exactly ignite the box office; Both will likely struggle to make a profit from their theatrical appearances.
“Across the board, it’s a scary time for prestige films,” said Jeff Bock, an analyst at Exhibitor Relations. “We may be witnessing a fundamental change in cinema. Ultimately, audiences decide what gets made, and right now viewers aren’t choosing to see these films in theaters.”
Privately, studio managers point to a number of culprits. They say this year’s film awards are too artful, too depressing, not enough A-list talent to convince crowds to show up. And they note that there have been success stories earlier in the year – notably ‘Elvis’, which was aimed at adults and grossed an impressive $286 million worldwide, and ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’, a multiverse head trip, the $103 grossed millions worldwide while being perceived as artistically bold. But these films didn’t have to compete with a plethora of other prestige fare that could further fracture an already shrinking viewer base that may be wary of hitting theaters during COVID.
“Many films are chasing audiences that may be a little reluctant to return to theaters,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore. “That might be a little overkill.”
It’s not all darkness and doom. “, a horror comedy set in the world of haute cuisine, debuted this weekend grossing a solid $9 million. But it benefited from being associated with a genre that does well at the box office (just look at recent horror hits like “Smile” and “Barbarian”) and had an audience that was younger. The majority of The Menu ticket buyers were under the age of 35, while the majority of She Said viewers were over 45.
There are several more films that will take on this harsh environment for prestigious fare. Among those hoping to defy the odds are Bones and All, a limited-edition cannibal romance starring Timothée Chalamet; The Fabelmans, Steven Spielberg’s semi-autobiographical exploration of his childhood; and “Babylon,” a sprawling exploration of the silent film era in Hollywood, featuring roles from Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie. The Fabelmans, for example, might be heartwarming enough to be a family must-see this holiday season, but even this film from one of entertainment’s most successful filmmakers is facing significant headwinds. “Bones and All” might be too idiosyncratic to draw crowds, while “Babylon” might suffer from the divisive reactions garnered at early screenings.
Film studios have always been risk-averse, but their appetite for big swings has only waned in recent years. First, streaming services like Netflix and Amazon came into play, providing a home for passionate projects from artists like Martin Scorsese and Alfonso Cuarón, and driving consumers to watch those films at home. Then a wave of corporate consolidation, fueled in part by traditional media companies’ urgent need to gear up for the streaming wars, has resulted in fewer independent studios producing theatrical releases. It’s also left her corporate parents with a ton of debt, making them more reluctant to greenlight the next historical drama or esoteric Bildungsroman when they need to clean up their accounts. All of this has coincided with a pandemic that has shut down theaters for nearly a year and still refuses to die, and record inflation and a looming recession that have left people with difficult choices about what to do with their dwindling available resources should do.
So unless movies like She Said do better at the box office, an entire sector of the motion picture business could be at risk. Something has to change quickly.