Tag: box office

The Movie “Cats” Coughs Up a Hairball.

On By kingsjesterIn Entertainment, PoliticsLeave a comment

Cats-Movie-Terrifying

I am glad that I did not decide to become a Movie Critic.

I would probably be in therapy by now.

FoxBusiness.com reports that

Universal Pictures is distributing an updated version of the critically maligned film “Cats” to theaters, according to a memo obtained by The Hollywood Reporter.

THR reports that director Tom Hooper pushed for the new version which the memo says has “some improved visual effects.”

The film pulled in a dismal $6.5 million at the box office on opening weekend, while receiving a C+ rating on the moviegoer-surveying website CinemaScore.

The film cost $100 million to make, and features the likes of James Cordon, Idris Elba, Jennifer Hudson and Judi Dench.

The film, which heavily utilized CGI effects, was barely finished by the Dec. 17 world premiere, according to Hooper himself.

Judging from these critics featured in a story by The Hollywood Reporter, perhaps they should not have finished the movie.

The Hollywood Reporter’s David Rooney describes the visual appearance of the feline characters — who were going to be animated at one stage during the film’s development — as off-putting, verging on creepy. He also comments that their proportions are inconsistent in relation to certain environments, noting, “Sometimes they go from appearing minuscule to giant-size within the same scene.” Rooney goes on to call the film “virtually plotless,” comparing it to a “Ziegfeld Follies-type revue with a series of thinly connected specialty numbers rather than a narrative that invites much involvement.” Overall, the critic found the film “exhausting,” despite a cast, including “class acts [Judi] Dench and [Ian] McKellen,” who worked hard with the material.

Richard Lawson writes in Vanity Fair that after seeing the film, he had more questions than answers. “It’s an existential quandary, this 110-minute journey into a computer graphic phantasmagoria, revolting and briefly alluring, a true grotesque that sings, in fits and starts, a faint siren song,” says the critic. He adds that he left the premiere “ready to toss an easy critical bomb at it and be done with old 2019.” Lawson goes on to acknowledge that he doesn’t want to downright hate the film, referencing its talented cast and crew while noting, “It’s an ugly stray who smells bad and should not be invited into your home, certainly. And yet it is its own kind of living creature, worthy of at least some basic compassion.”

Slant Magazine’s Jake Cole writes that Hooper’s adaptation “gets straight to the heart of the material, which is basically two hours of stray cats introducing themselves.” He further notes that the film runs at such a dizzying speed that “it’s as if the original Broadway cast recording were being played at 1.5x speed and the visuals were paced to match.” The critic also references the peculiar song sequencing, erratic sound mixing and camera moves that never linger on a scene long enough to take in any real action. He concludes, “Not even the showstopping “Memory” has any soul, despite Hudson’s spirited rendition as the fallen, downtrodden Grizabella, thanks to the clumsy manner in which Hooper rushes through every movement.”

In the Los Angeles Times, Justin Chang references the thin plot of the film, labeling it “Lew Meowserables.” He further acknowledges, “And there is, to be sure, some representational value to be gleaned from these cats and their singing suicidal Olympics. Given how often the movies tend to stereotype felines as smug, pampered homebodies, there are certainly worse characters one could spend time with, though I am hard-pressed at the moment to think of many worse movies.” Chang goes on to call the film “both a horror and an endurance test, a dispatch from some neon-drenched netherworld where the ghastly is inextricable from the tedious. Every so often it does paws — ahem, pause — to rise to the level of a self-aware hoot.”

I actually saw the play “Cats” in a touring production in the Memphis Orpheum Theatre several decades ago, when it was “the thing” to go see, according to my ex.

As a musician, I actually enjoyed “The Phantom of the Opera” more.

But, I digress.

It always amazes me what the Liberals in charge of the Entertainment Industry in Hollywood believe that movie goers want to leave the comfort of their homes to come to a crowded movie theatre to see.

It is not just the fact that “Cats” is competing with the latest film in the “Star Wars” Franchise that is the cause of its horrendous box office.

Look at the words of the Hollywood Critics, all Liberals themselves:

“vitually plotless”

“exhausting”

“an ugly stray who smells bad” (I like this one.)

“Lew Meowserables”

“both a horror and an endurance test” (reminiscent of the House Impeachment, huh?)

Speaking of the House Impeachment (How did you like that segueway?)

The attitude of the Hollywood Executives, Producers, Directors, and writers who put out junk like this reminds me of the attitude of Pelosi and the rest of the Democrats who believed that average Americans would buy what they were selling if they could just prove to us how brilliant they were for subjecting us to it.

Here’s some bad news for “The Smartest People in the Room” in both D.C. and Hollywood:

Average Americans are taught from childhood to recognize when someone’s trying to get them to buy a bunch of garbage wrapped up in a pretty bow.

Both “Cats” The Movie and Pelosi’s Democratic House Impeachment of President Trump belong in a litter box.

Until He Comes,

KJ

Movie Attendance Lowest in 24 Years. How Hollywood Has Bitten the Hand Which Fed Them.

On By kingsjesterIn Entertainment, Politics1 Comment

 

empty-theater

“…It’s not so much the individual hypocrisy that concerns me as the collective hypocrisy being displayed by an elite that cannot seem to grasp the basic biblical and common sense principle – what you sow, you reap.” – David Robertson, “Weinstein, Spacey and the Hypocrisy of the Current Moral Panic”, ChristianPost.com

According to TheWrap.com,

The National Alliance of Theater Owners (NATO) announced Wednesday that the national ticket average for 2017 rose 3.7 percent year-over-year to $8.93, up from $8.65 last year.

At that average, the estimated number of movie tickets sold last year is 1.23 billion. While that is only a rough estimate that does not account for the higher ticket prices for premium formats and theaters in more expensive cities like New York and Los Angeles, NATO’s estimate is the lowest since 1993, when “Jurassic Park” was the top grossing film of the year and an estimated 1.24 billion tickets were sold.

“2017 highlighted once again the importance of a balanced, 52 week movie calendar,” said NATO in its analysis. “A record Q1 (in box office and admissions) was offset by a disappointing summer, with a range of sequels that were not embraced by audiences in the numbers we are accustomed to. Summer 2017 was 92 million admissions short of summer 2016. An unusually empty August accounted for half of summer 2017’s shortfall. Q4 2017 was nearly equal to Q4 2016, with 315 million tickets sold, compared to 319 million.”

While annual box office revenue stayed above $11 billion for the third consecutive year, revenue over the summer season plummeted to 18-year lows. Historic lows were also reached for Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends. The 2017 box office was a case of bookends, as the struggling summer sat in between industry record highs for March and September that were powered by family films like “Beauty and the Beast” and “The Boss Baby” as well as adult blockbusters like “Logan” and “It.”

Attendance has been on a downward trend since 2005, though small rebounds were seen in 2012 and 2015. A similar rebound is expected in 2018, with heavily anticipated films like “Avengers: Infinity War” and “Solo: A Star Wars Story” expected to provide a more robust summer.

Is is just me, gentle readers, or do you, too, see something deeper going on with the shrinking attendance at movie theaters?

Certainly, we can attribute some of it to the change in technology.

Nowadays, we can watch movies in the comfort of our homes at the same time that they are hitting the movie theaters.

And, the rising costs associated with taking a family to a movie have made it prohibitive for some average Americans.

However, if you will notice, the article I posted gives you a clue as to what average Americans will pay their hard-earned money to go and see…movies in which good conquers evil…movies which they can feel good about taking their family to.

But, what about the rest of the movies that the “super geniuses” in Tinsel Town are churning out?

The thing is, not only has Hollywood run out of ideas, their chosen Political Ideology of Liberalism and their penchant for championing it in their movies has succeeded in driving their customer base away.

The Hollywood “Elite” on the Left of the Political Spectrum,who voted for Hillary Clinton to be our next President of the United States of America, and who covered for Serial Abuser Harvey Weinstein for decades, continue in public to show their hindquarters, while throwing the longest temper tantrum that the world has ever seen over the results of an American Presidential Election, that happened over one year ago. These self-proclaimed activists, are making a lie out of the claim that they have made for years that they are the most tolerant…and “gifted” among us.

In fact, these sore losers remind me of the hysterically sobbing children that you hear in every Walmart across the country.

It’s not that those children are crying because they are physically hurt. Just like these Hollywood Liberals, they’re crying because they did not get their way.

This epic meltdown by those who are paid handsomely to entertain us is a direct result of an isolated ignorance of average Americans’ desire to rid ourselves of those in the Halls of Power who told us repeatedly that they knew what was best for us and “who we were”, while their actual mission was to turn America into a Third-World Barrio in their quest to make us a Socialist Paradise.

All during the Presidential Campaign, the Democratic Party, along with those in “Showbiz”, through their minions in the Main Stream Media, assured us that it was a foregone conclusion that Hillary Clinton would be our 45th president.

There is a reason for that.

They are completely and totally disconnected from reality.

The Liberal Elite have always believed that our country revolves around the big metropolitan areas in the Northeast and in California. They have always looked down their noses at what they derisively call “Flyover Country”, the same area that many of us call the Heartland of America or simply “home”.

Just like their fellow Modern American Liberals who run the Democratic Party, the disconnected “dancing monkeys” in Tinsel Tow, who insist on turning every awards show on television into an Anti-Trump Hate-fest, never saw actually saw Trump’s victory coming in the first place.

At this point, all their incessant national temper tantrum is doing, is making them look like fools, as evidenced by the continuing decline in box office returns.

As I have written before, I don’t remember any of us average Americans asking them for their opinion as to how we should vote, do you?

Their own haughtiness and super-sized egos have cost the Hollywood Liberal Hierarchy untold millions of dollars by allowing their own preconceived prejudices about average Americans and our “lack of intelligence” to drive a wedge between them and American Moviegoers.

The Hollywood Elite, as clearly demonstrated by the Harvey Weinstein Scandal and the self-serving, hypocritical “Me, Too” Movement, has no use for the ethics and morals of average Americans, until it is economically and politically expedient for them to erroneously claim that they do, indeed, share our values.

A claim which is proven to be false the moment they release another movie which glorifies evil or attacks American Values and/or America itself.

There is an old adage that warns “Do not bite the hand that feeds you.”

Hollywood not only bit the hands of average American Moviegoers in America’s Heartland, it has gnawed on them for over a decade.

And now, those smug Liberals in Hollywood are finding out that another old adage is true…

Payback’s a b!tch.

Until He Comes,

KJ

“American Sniper”: Why America Is Supporting It

On By kingsjesterIn Entertainment, PoliticsLeave a comment

American Sniper“American Sniper”, the movie about American Hero, Chris Kyle, continues to play to sold-out crowds at movie theaters across America.

According to deadline.com,

With Warner Bros./Village Roadshow’s American Sniper shooting down more box office records this weekend with an updated industry projection of $61.2M, another star-studded bomb went off at the B.O. following last weekend’s Blackhat debacle: Johnny Depp’s $60M R-rated comedy Mortdecai flatlined with an estimated $1.6M on Friday at 2,648 theaters, on track for a horrendous $4.6M weekend in eighth place – far below the $10-$12M that distributor Lionsgate was expecting for the OddLot co-production. Among Depp’s wide releases, that bow is lower than his 2011 Hunter S. Thompson adaptation The Rum Diary, which posted $5.1M and was also overpriced ($45M) in relation to its final domestic cume ($13M). It’s Depp’s fourth flop domestically after Alcon/WB’s Transcendence ($100M budget, $23M domestic B.O.), The Lone Ranger ($215M budget, $89M domestic) and Rum Diary (This is outside his ensemble work in Disney’s Into the Woods which is looking to take tenth this weekend with a projected cume through Sunday of $121.29M).

In fact…

Clint Eastwood’s American Sniper is proving both a big draw and talking point in Iraq and across the Arab world, where the film opened wide yesterday. In Iraq, where much of Chris Kyle’s story takes place, the film has reflected the bitter political divisions in the country. In capital city, Baghdad, the management of Iraqi Cinemas, which operates a four screen theatre there, pulled the film ahead of its scheduled bow Jan. 22 for fear of inciting protests and violence.  In the semi-autonomous north of the country in the Kurdish cities of Irbil, Suleimaniya and Dohuk, however, American Sniper has opened strongly, second only to Liam Neeson-starrer Taken 3.  To give  a sense of the complexity of politics in the country, Iraqi Cinemas actually operates the three screen theatre in Dohuk and had no problem releasing the film there, despite its own self-imposed Baghdad ban.

“The Kurds don’t like the Baghdadis that much so they have no big problem seeing them getting shot by an American,” said one film exec who operates theaters in Iraq. “So far, the film is working well for our screens in Kurdistan.”

In Lebanon, American Sniper opened uncut and at number one with over 3100 tickets sold on its first day alone, comfortably ahead of Taken 3 and local Lebanese hit Single, Married, Divorced.  

Former Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin, recently posted the following on Facebook:

God bless our troops, especially our snipers.

Hollywood leftists: while caressing shiny plastic trophies you exchange among one another while spitting on the graves of freedom fighters who allow you to do what you do, just realize the rest of America knows you’re not fit to shine Chris Kyle’s combat boots.

May the epic “American Sniper” bring nothing but blessings to Taya and the children of this true American hero.

Thank you Bradley Cooper and Clint Eastwood for respecting the United States Military.

– Sarah Palin

There are several reasons for the popularity of “American Sniper”.

First, there is a reason that Hollywood has having more misses than hits, in the last several years.

The Liberals who run “Hollyweird” are totally disconnected from the average American’s belief system of ethics, values, and faith.

In other words, “Truth, Justice, and the American Way”.

All of the great movies and television shows my generation watched while we were growing up, reinforced those values.

One of the movies expected to be a blockbuster a while back, “The Lone Ranger”, cast Johnny Depp as Tonto, and rewrote the legend to center around him, instead of the title character.

The audience simply did not buy Captain Jack Sparrow as Tonto.

When Americans envision the crime fighting duo of the Old West, Americans see Clayton Moore and Jay Silverheels. Two outstanding gentlemen, both on and off the television screen.

We knew that the Lone Ranger and Tonto would beat the snot out of the bad guys, and rescue the rancher’s daughter. We knew that James Bond would defeat SPECTRE and get the beautiful Bond Girl.

We smiled in admiration when we heard that Superman fought for “truth, justice, and the American Way”. We threw our rubber tomahawks at the trees in our front yards, just like “Daniel Boone”. We knew that John Wayne would rescue Dean Martin in “Rio Bravo”.

And, all the guys in the 1970s wanted a red Gran Torino with a white stripe down the side, like “Starsky and Hutch” drove.

Even though they “underperformed”, you want to know why  Americans go to see movies like “American Sniper”, the Captain America Movies, the Spider-Man Movies, the X-Men Movies, and  “Guardians of the Galaxy”?

They are throwbacks. They are entertaining. They are not dirty or vulgar. There is plenty of action with a great story line wrapped around it, and GOOD TRIUMPHS OVER EVIL.

We go to movies to be entertained, not to be lectured to by a bunch of snotty-nosed, America-hating, relative morality, situational ethics-loving Liberals.

Also, Americans have to deal with enough ugliness trying to survive under the harsh reality of America under Obama.

American Sniper shows very plainly that we can triumph against Radical Islam, the Political Ideology masquerading as a Religion, which Obama dares not call out by name.

Heck, as the article explained, “American Sniper” is even doing well in Islamic Nations.

Why? As President Ronald Reagan realized, all those decades ago, the followers of Mohammed respect strength, not weakness.

So, why are Americans flocking to see this movie in record numbers?

Americans are living vicariously through the late American Hero Chris Kyle.

Americans respect his legacy of heroism. That is why, when Former Professional Wrestler, and lunatic Jesse “The Body” Ventura sued Chris’ widow, Americans wanted to string him up in the middle of the Town Square.

As I have written several times, America is still a Majority Conservative Nation.

Look at an Electoral Map. America is a Sea of Red, with little Blue Enclaves, up in the Northeast and on the Left Coast.

Finally, the last reason that “American Sniper” is blowing the doors off at the Box Office, is the fact that average Americans are being forced to cut back on their Entertainment Budget.

Americans have to pick and choose very carefully the movies they go to, simply due to the high price of tickets, refreshments, and gasoline and Obama’s stagnant economy.

There is a reason that Redbox is so popular.

Americans can choose to view the movies they like to watch.

A while back, my bride and I made the mistake of renting “Noah”. Thank the Lord, we only paid $1.28 for it. Even at $1.28, it was still over-priced. But, I digress…

Hollywood needs to pay attention to which movies the American public is watching at home…and make more just like them.

Average Americans are more perceptive than Liberals think we are.

Until the Liberals in Hollywood (and New York City and Washington, DC) realize that, they will continue to fail.

Until He Comes,

KJ

Summer 2014: Another Summer of Box Office Bombs

On By kingsjesterIn Entertainment, PoliticsLeave a comment

Guardians of the GalaxyTo say that Hollywood had a bad summer would be an understatement. The Liberal Intelligentsia, in all of their pompous glory, incorrectly assumed that Americans would pay our hard-earned money to go see anything they put out on a movie screen, schlock or not.

Once again, the “smartest people in the room” turned out to be the dumbest.

The Hollywood Reporter has the story:

To understand the upside-down summer at the box office, consider that Sony’s 22 Jump Street, made for about $50 million, ended up grossing nearly as much in North America as The Amazing Spider-Man 2, the studio’s $200 million-plus tentpole that represents the type of movie on which Hollywood long has relied to drive summer slates. 22 Jump Street earned $193.3 million domestically, versus $202.8 million for the Spider-Man sequel (Neighbors, another R-rated comedy, also prospered).

All the usual rules were tossed out as comedies, female-fueled films and Guardians of the Galaxy, the season’s top-grossing title despite being released in the dog days of August, were left to make up for underperforming franchise pics. “Ultimately, it comes down to content, and the content just wasn’t as good as it has been in previous years,” says entertainment analyst Eric Handler of MKM Partners. Adds one studio executive, “many of the tentpoles that underperformed were more of the same and way too long. People ate up Guardians because it was a departure from the norm.”

Domestic revenue from May 2 through Labor Day came in at an estimated $4.05 billion, an eight-year low and, when accounting for inflation, a 17-year low. Moreover, revenue was down 15 percent from last summer’s record $4.75 billion, while attendance tumbled more than 5 percent. Not one film has crossed $300 million domestically for the first time since 2001, though Guardians of the Galaxy will ultimately reach that mark (its domestic cume is just north of $280 million).

If there’s any solace, it’s that the international marketplace remains strong, although the World Cup hurt box office returns in key soccer markets. Nor were there major debacles akin to summer 2013 disasters The Lone Ranger and After Earth. Still, Sony appears to have put its Amazing Spider-Man franchise on ice after ASM2 topped out at $708.3 million, which included only $202.9 million domestic.

Paramount’s Transformers: Age of Extinction also hit a franchise low in the U.S., but it has amassed north of $1.07 billion globally after becoming the top film of all time in China with $331 million. “There is no question the movie business is cyclical,” says Paramount vice chairman Rob Moore. Age of Extinction’s lengthy running time of 165 minutes no doubt hurt it in the U.S. (the previous installments were shorter).

Warner Bros., usually the dominant summer player, saw its revenue drop a massive 39.5 percent from 2013 as of Aug. 1. Godzilla, the studio’s top earner, grossed $507.9 million globally, while Tom Cruise’s big-budget Edge of Tomorrow finished with $364 million. Disappointments included Adam Sandler’s Blended and Clint Eastwood’s Jersey Boys. “Our summer did not live up to our expectations,” says Warners distribution chief Dan Fellman, “though Tammy will be profitable. We’ll also have a very strong fourth quarter.”

Disney, without a summer animated film for the first time in a decade, did great with Maleficent and Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy.

Fox, on a winning streak, will win the market-share honor thanks to X-Men: Days of Future Past ($745.4 million), Dawn of the Planet of the Apes ($611.5 million) and The Fault in Our Stars ($286.5 million), among other titles. “All of our movies were fresh and well-received. That’s ultimately what matters,” said Fox domestic distribution chief Chris Aronson. “Give the people more of what they want.”

Last summer was a horrible summer for Hollywood, as well.

One of the movies expected to be a blockbuster last summer, “The Lone Ranger”, cast Johnny Depp as Tonto, and rewrote the legend to center around him, instead of the title character.

The audience simply did not buy Captain Jack Sparrow as Tonto.

When we envision the crime fighting duo of the Old West, Americans see Clayton Moore and Jay Silverheels. Two outstanding gentlemen, both on and off the television screen.

The Liberals who run “Hollyweird” are totally disconnected from the average American’s belief system of ethics, values, and faith.

All of the great movies and television shows my generation watched while we were growing up, reinforced those values.

We knew that the Ranger and Tonto would beat the snot out of the bad guys, and rescue the rancher’s daughter. We knew that James Bond would defeat SPECTRE and get the beautiful Bond Girl.

We smiled in admiration when we heard that Superman fought for “truth, justice, and the American Way”. We threw our rubber tomahawks at the trees in our front yards, just like “Daniel Boone”. We knew that John Wayne would rescue Dean Martin in “Rio Bravo”.

And, all the guys in the 1970s wanted a red Gran Torino with a white stripe down the side, like “Starsky and Hutch” drove.

Even though they “underperformed”, you want to know why  Americans go to see movies like the Captain America Movie, the Spider-Man Movie, the X-Men Movie, and  “Guardians of the Galaxy”?

They are throwbacks. They are entertaining. They are not dirty or vulgar. There is plenty of action with a great story line wrapped around it, and GOOD TRIUMPHS OVER EVIL.

We go to movies to be entertained, not to be lectured to by a bunch of snotty-nosed, America-hating, relative morality, situational ethics-loving Liberals.

Americans have to deal with enough ugliness trying to survive under the harsh reality of America under Obama.

Movies this summer “underperformed”  because, average Americans are being forced to cut back on their Entertainment Budget.

Americans have to pick and choose very carefully the movies they go to, simply due to the high price of tickets, refreshments, and gasoline and Obama’s stagnant economy.

There is a reason that Redbox is so popular.

Americans can choose to view the movies they like to watch.

My bride and I made the mistake of renting “Noah”. Thank the Lord, we only paid $1.28 for it. Even at $1.28, it was still over-priced. But, I digress…

Hollywood needs to pay attention to which movies the American public is watching at home…and make more just like them.

Average Americans are more perceptive than Liberals think we are.

This summer’s movie failures have proved it.

Until He Comes,

KJ

 

The Summer of Hollywood’s Hiroshima

On By kingsjesterIn Entertainment, Politics7 Comments

lone ranger and tontoTo say that Hollywood is having a bad summer would be an understatement. The Liberal Intelligentsia, in all of their pompous glory, incorrectly assumed that Americans would pay our hard-earned money to go see anything they put out on a movie screen, schlock or not.

Once again, the “smartest people in the room” turned out to be the dumbest.

The costliest failure so far has been The Lone Ranger, starring Johnny Depp, which cost $250 million (£165 million) to make, and had a huge marketing budget. It was savaged by critics as a “bloated, unfunny, sometimes downright bizarre train wreck” amid a “summer of garbage blockbusters.”

Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer in The Lone Ranger (Rex Features)

Disney may have to write off up to $150 million losses on the movie, which was largely ignored by cinemagoers despite being released over the July 4 holiday weekend. It took in just $29 million that weekend in North America, losing out heavily to the animated comedy Despicable Me 2.

Jamie Foxx and Channing Tatum in White House Down (Rex Features)

White House Down, starring Jamie Foxx and Channing Tatum, took just $25 million on the June 28 weekend, while Pacific Rim, a story of alien monsters, while praised by many critics, still brought in only $38 million over the July 11 weekend. More people went to see the Adam Sandler comedy Grown Ups 2.

R.I.P.D, a $130 million science fiction film about police officers fighting villains in the afterlife, is predicted to take in only around $20 million this weekend.

To be considered successful, blockbusters aim to take in about half their budget over the first weekend.

The movie is being released at the same time as Red 2, a tale of retired hitmen starring Bruce Willis and Dame Helen Mirren, which is expected to split the audience.

The series of big budget disappointments has come just a month after Steven Spielberg warned that Hollywood was facing a “meltdown” because of its over-reliance on blockbusters.

Speaking at the University of Southern California in June, Spielberg predicted “an implosion where three or four, or maybe even a half dozen, mega-budget movies are going to go crashing into the ground.”

Analysts said the failures were partly a result of competing studios trying to release too many big movies at the same time. There are more than 20 films with a budget of more than $100 million being released this summer, six more than last year.

The studios have ploughed resources in to so-called “tent pole” films, which are accompanied by costly marketing, and are expected to make large profits. But, to do so, they all need to arrive in cinemas over the summer months.

Until late June, Hollywood had been on course for a record summer, following the success of early hits including Iron Man 3, Star Trek Into Darkness. and Fast & Furious 6.

However, as fatigue set in with audiences the movie industry entered what has been labelled the “dud zone,” in which big releases have fared less impressively than lower budget productions. A slew of expensive films remain to be released in late July and August.

One exasperated studio head told The Hollywood Reporter: “You had too many $100 million-plus movies, not to mention $200 million-plus movies, jammed on top of each other. There isn’t enough play time, and the result has been more movies that wipe out.”

I believe that there are other reasons for the horrible summer movie receipts.

First, Americans are living paycheck-to-paycheck. Why should we blow $50 dollars at the movies, when we can stay at home, and watch our cable or satellite television programs, or watch a movie on DVD or Blu Ray? There are other downsides, to going out to watch a movie besides the outrageous cost: The idiots you have to sit next to.

When my bride and I went to see Iron man 3, earlier this summer, I was seated next to a woman who played and talked on her cellphone, sighed loudly, and talked to her friends during the movie, all in an effort to make us move somewhere else in the crowded theater. My crime? Do the words “creepy a@@ cracka” ring a bell?

The other problem that these summer movies have, is simple: They aren’t worth seeing.

Hollywood has been losing their collective mind for a while now. While our soldiers were fighting and dying in Iraq, they were releasing films that criticized our brave military and our country. Those movies bombed spectacularly as a result.

Earlier this summer, There was a movie about Liberace and his young protegé/confidant/lover Scotty Thorson, featuring Michael Douglas and Matt Damon, in those roles. The studio released it to Europe first, where the heathens over there, gave it rave reviews.  It was never released to American theaters, because American capitalists refused to distribute it. They knew that Americans would not pay their hard-earned money to watch a movie denigrating an American Icon, like the legendary, beloved showman, Lee Liberace.

One of the movies expected to be a blockbuster this summer, “The Lone Ranger, cast Johnny Depp as Tonto, and rewrote the legend to center around him, instead of the title character.

The audience simply did not buy Captain Jack Sparrow as Tonto.

When we envision the crime fighting duo of the old west, Americans see Clayton Moore and Jay Silverheels. Two outstanding gentlemen, both on and off the television screen.

The last point I want to make, is the total disconnect of “Hollyweird” from the average American’s belief system of ethics, values, and faith. All the great movies and television shows my generation watched growing up, reinforced those values.

We knew that the Ranger and Tonto would beat the snot out of the bad guys, and rescue the rancher’s daughter. We knew that James Bond would defeat SPECTRE and get the beautiful Bond Girl.

We smiled when we heard that Superman fought for “truth, justice, and the American Way”. We threw our rubber tomahawks at the trees in our front yards, just like “Daniel Boone”. We knew that John Wayne would rescue Dean Martin in “Rio Bravo”.

And, all the guys wanted a red Gran Torino with a white stripe down the side, like “Starsky and Hutch” drove.

You want to know why the Sherlock Holmes movies, the Iron Man movies, and the Star Trek movies have all done so well? It’s simple.

They are throwbacks. They are entertaining. They are not dirty or vulgar. There is plenty of action with a great story line wrapped around it, and GOOD TRIUMPHS OVER EVIL.

Americans have to deal with enough ugliness trying to survive under the harsh reality of America under Obama. 

We go to movies to be entertained, not to be lectured to by a bunch of snotty-nosed, America-hating, relative morality and situational ethics-loving Liberals. 

Average Americans are more perceptive than Liberals think we are.

This summer’s movie failures have proved it.

Until He Comes,

KJ