Dream Wired
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Celebrity
  • DramaAlert
  • Gossip
  • Movie
  • TV
  • Music
  • Comics
  • Shop
  • Home
  • Celebrity
  • DramaAlert
  • Gossip
  • Movie
  • TV
  • Music
  • Comics
  • Shop
No Result
View All Result
Dream Wired
No Result
View All Result
Home Movie

What the Hell Do People Want Out of Movies?

rmtsa by rmtsa
May 7, 2024
in Movie
0
What the Hell Do People Want Out of Movies?
74
SHARES
1.2k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter


You might also like

Debra Messing Honored at Israel Film Festival Luncheon

Dark Comedy Short Film TRAGEDIUM is FARGO Meets INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS — GeekTyrant

The Most Uncomfortable Cringe Comedy Movies Ever

No, really, I want to know: What the hell do audiences want out of movies?

That is the question on my mind this week as I look at the box-office numbers for The Fall Guy, the new action comedy that also serves as the unofficial kickoff of summer movie season. Variety says the film “fell just short of expectations with $28.5 million” at the weekend box office in North America. Compared to those expectations, the numbers aren’t disastrous — The Fall Guy was only projected to earn about $30 million — but it also cost $140 million to make. So the news is not great.

A consultant quoted in Variety’s piece characterized The Fall Guy’s opening weekend as “fair” and said it “is going to need a long run” in theaters to turn a profit. And maybe that’s what it will have; The Fall Guy is the sort of crowdpleaser that tends to hang around theaters for a while. (It got a very solid A- CinemaScore from paying customers last weekend.) I have no doubt that over time The Fall Guy will turn into one of those movies that everyone has seen and likes, and many people pretend they were fans of right from the start, even though they only caught it on streaming way after the fact.

READ MORE: Read Our Full Review of The Fall Guy

But The Fall Guy really shouldn’t need to desperately eke out a meager profit on the strength of its word-of-mouth. This isn’t some abstruse art film or an ambiguous exploration of the meaning of life; it’s a big, fun, funny, exciting, romantic action movie. It’s got sharp dialogue, strong chemistry between the stars (actual movie stars!), a fun mystery, magnetic lead performances, and terrific stunt work.

While The Fall Guy’s not perfect (and I personally would not have invested $140 million of my money in it), it is the sort of film I think you could take almost anyone to assured they would have at least a solidly good time. It’s almost the platonic ideal of what Hollywood executives describe as a “four-quadrant movie,” i.e. a film that should appeal to men and women over and under the age of 25. I could see my parents enjoying The Fall Guy, and if my kids were maybe two years older I would absolutely take them to see it too; it’s action-packed but not excessively bloody or violent. The sparks flying off the screen between Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt could give electric shocks to the viewers in the theater’s first couple rows, but there’s not much profanity and barely any sexual innuendo.

So … what else do people want?

Anytime I meet someone new and they learn what I do for a living, I expect to hear one of two things: A request for a movie recommendation, or a question that’s really more of a complaint — something along the lines or “Why are there so many sequels?” or “When is Hollywood going to stop making superhero films?” or “Where are the movies for grownups?” or sometimes just “Why don’t they make movies like they used to?” (“Don’t shoot the messenger” is not a phrase that moviegoers tend to put a lot of stock in.)

That’s what I find so baffling — and even somewhat disheartening — about The Fall Guy’s struggles. Here you have exactly the sort of movie that people claim to want to see; the sort of thing they don’t make very often any more, with beautiful movie stars flirting and bantering and getting into all sorts of amusing scrapes. It’s not bleak or depressing. It doesn’t make you work too hard, but it also doesn’t insult your intelligence. It’s not a sequel or a reboot and it requires no homework; yes, The Fall Guy is loosely based on an old TV show, but you don’t need to know anything about it to enjoy the film. (I should know; I have never seen an episode of The Fall Guy in my life.)

It’s got zero superheroes; and it mostly exists to make fun of modern superhero movies and especially the puffed-up actors who think that because they play superheroes they are themselves bulletproof in real life. Ryan Gosling’s Colt Seavers, on the other hand, is anything but invulnerable. Over the course of the film, we watch as he gets dropped from enormous heights, rolls cars, and gets beaten up by countless bad guys. He sometimes fights back, but he’s not really trying to “beat” anybody; he’s just trying to survive.

I try not to get to wrapped up in the box office results of any movie. It’s a losing game, and it ultimately has nothing to do with my personal enjoyment of a film. A movie is a lot more than what it earned on its opening weekend. If a film breaks box-office records, that doesn’t make it good or bad; that just makes it successful. The opposite is true as well. Plenty of movies even better than The Fall Guy flopped much harder than it did in its opening weekend. In the end, a movie this entertaining will find an audience one way, or another. I

But for some reason, The Fall Guy failing to live up to experts’ already low expectations bummed me out a lot. This is not a “difficult” movie. This is what people tell me they want in a movie. And they didn’t go see it. If something like The Fall Guy can’t bring people out to the theater, what can?

ScreenCrush logo

Huge Hits That Initially Flopped in Theaters

These movies prove that sometimes word-of-mouth hype or a couple decades of reclamation can turn a flop into a runaway hit.



Source link

Tags: HELLMOVIESPeople
Share30Tweet19
rmtsa

rmtsa

Recommended For You

Debra Messing Honored at Israel Film Festival Luncheon

by rmtsa
June 8, 2025
0
Debra Messing Honored at Israel Film Festival Luncheon

Members of the Jewish film community gathered at the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills on June 6 for a luncheon in advance of the 2025 Israel Film Festival....

Read more

Dark Comedy Short Film TRAGEDIUM is FARGO Meets INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS — GeekTyrant

by rmtsa
June 8, 2025
0
Dark Comedy Short Film TRAGEDIUM is FARGO Meets INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS — GeekTyrant

Here’s a fun short film for you to watch today, a dark comedy titled TRAGEDIUM, which is described as being “like Fargo meets body snatchers, but with a...

Read more

The Most Uncomfortable Cringe Comedy Movies Ever

by rmtsa
June 8, 2025
0
The Most Uncomfortable Cringe Comedy Movies Ever

Comedy means joy, usually. When we go to the theater to see a funny movie, we expect hysterical laughter, goofy situational humor, the endorphin surge of a well-placed...

Read more

The Beginning After the End Episode 11 Release Date, Time, Where to Watch

by rmtsa
June 8, 2025
0
The Beginning After the End Episode 11 Release Date, Time, Where to Watch

The Beginning After the End episode 11 release date and time is right around the corner. The previous episode, “The King’s Defiance,” showcased Vincent hosting an auction, which...

Read more

American Psycho Director Mary Harron Surprised Movie Still Relevant

by rmtsa
June 8, 2025
0
American Psycho Director Mary Harron Surprised Movie Still Relevant

American Psycho director Mary Harron admitted that the cult classic film is just as relevant today as it was when it was released in 2000 while celebrating its...

Read more
Next Post
Freedom To Learn Coalition Declares National Day Of Action

Freedom To Learn Coalition Declares National Day Of Action

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Browse by Category

  • Celebrity
  • Comics
  • DramaAlert
  • Gossip
  • Movie
  • Music
  • TV
  • Uncategorized

CATEGORIES

  • Celebrity
  • Comics
  • DramaAlert
  • Gossip
  • Movie
  • Music
  • TV
  • Uncategorized
No Result
View All Result

Recent News

  • Newsom Wants Troop Control From Trump, LAPD Puts City On Alert Over Protests
  • Debra Messing Honored at Israel Film Festival Luncheon
  • Porsha Williams on Why She Was Harder on Drew Than Dennis

Copyright © 2023 DramaWired.
DramaWired is a content aggregator and not responsible for the content of external sites.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Celebrity
  • DramaAlert
  • Gossip
  • Movie
  • TV
  • Music
  • Comics
  • Shop

Copyright © 2023 DramaWired.
DramaWired is a content aggregator and not responsible for the content of external sites.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In