The film industry is in full swing, why is it being said that it is no longer good? Ronald returned home full of doubts.
The entertainment industry is still a very attractive industry, there is no doubt about it. Just look at how many boys and girls are vying to enter.
But if the movie-viewing figures that professor mentioned are good, it is true that the film industry is no longer as prosperous as it was back then.
Why is my intuitive feeling so different from what the numbers reveal?
Which is the real situation in the film industry?
Ronald started taking out his notebook again and calling all his acquaintances.
"Eddie, this is Ronald. I was in class at NYU Tisch College today. I met a weirdo who said some weird things. I want to ask you something."
Ronald first called his director’s agent:
"Do you think the entertainment industry and the film industry are in rapid decline now?"
"Of course not. Why do you think so?" Eddie was a little impatient. He had a potential new director, but he actually felt that the film industry was declining rapidly? He quickly changed his mind.
"No, this is not my idea. It was a professor who taught us a class. He said that the number of moviegoers in America now is not as good as it was in 1929."
"When is this an old story? Of course, compared to the golden age before the 1960s, the number of moviegoers has dropped, but most people in this industry are still alive and well. In the 1970s, Coppola filmed
The Godfather, Spielberg made Jaws, George Lucas made Star Wars.
All these movies have high box office and total moviegoer numbers. The prospects of the movie industry are also very good. Many multinational conglomerates are rushing to invest in movie companies, such as Gulf Western, which bought Paramount, and United Artists, which bought Pan
American company.”
"I don't think this is a declining industry. The pursuit of these multinational groups shows that the industry is on the rise. And don't you think movies are becoming more and more popular now? Which movies are being shot, which movies will be released soon, and what TV stations are still
We will interview movie stars and broadcast premieres live, which we didn’t have this kind of momentum in the past.”
Ronald got another answer from his agent.
Keep flipping through the notebook...
"Hey, Mr. Coleman, I have something to ask you. The professor who gave me my first class at New York University said that movies are an industry that is dying. But the entertainment industry I saw is still very prosperous. He
How should we understand that the number of moviegoers has dropped significantly compared to the 1930s?"
"Ah, I know him." Roger Coleman said he had heard of the professor's name.
"This is actually a normal thing. There was no television in the 1929s, but the ticket prices at that time were also very low. People went to the movies with the mentality of going out for entertainment.
They can watch it at any time and leave at any time. They buy a ticket and enter the cinema at any time, start watching from the middle, and then stop watching when they see the plot of the next scene when they enter the theater, get up and go out."
"Besides, there was a lack of entertainment during the Great Depression. Movies were relatively cheap entertainment, so the box office exploded. I still have an impression of the movie theaters in the Roosevelt era. Many children spent money in movie theaters with money given by their parents.
One afternoon. That’s when I fell in love with movies.”
"So is the decline in moviegoers due to the popularity of television?"
"The number of moviegoers has been stable in the United States for many years, so there is no need to worry about him at all. Your professor's real worry is that his favorite dramas are not performing well at the box office."
"People are more willing to watch exploitation films with action, erotica, and violence as their selling points. Moreover, major studios are gradually using big budgets to make these exploitation films. Big productions attract more people to watch. Your professor can't see it.
It’s a feature film full of artistic thinking like that of Billy Wilder, Lubitsch, and Chaplin when he was young.”
"Hollywood's box office records were all set after the 1970s, so there is no such thing as saying that this market is about to die."
Thanks to Roger Corman's answer, Ronald understood better: movies before the popularization of television and movies after it were actually two different things. Before, movie theaters were just like the TV in the living room, and people would go to the movie theater every night.
have a look.
Nowadays, people will only go out to the cinema if they feel they really want to watch a certain movie. Otherwise, they would rather sit on the sofa in the living room and watch TV.
"Hi Julia. I'm Ronald and my professor kicked us out of school today. Why would he do that? Is the movie industry really in decline right now?"
"Oh, it's that old stubborn again, he's always like this. But he's not completely lying. In the 1970s, many production companies were indeed on the verge of bankruptcy. Universal, and Paramount's studios in Hollywood were suffering from no film production and lack of maintenance.
It collapsed."
"However, this situation was reversed by your former boss Roger Corman. He discovered Peter Fonda, Jack Nicholson and others, and made a movie with Dennis Hopper."
"Easy Rider" completely abandoned the traditional Hollywood shooting techniques and was an unexpected success at the box office.
This once again made capital have a strong interest in the film industry, and what followed was a series of box office blockbusters."
"For example, Coppola's 'The Godfather,' Peter Bogdanovich's 'Paper Moon,' and Martin Scorsese's 'Mean Streets' were all discovered by Roger Corman.
The movie wizards have turned Hollywood into a base of dreams again."
"Speaking of which, you also came from Roger Corman, hahaha."
This made Ronald very embarrassed. They were all talents discovered by Roger Corman. He had not yet officially directed a movie, and everyone else was already famous all over the world.
"Okay, so, in fact, Hollywood may have been in crisis before, but now it has recovered?"
"Of course, otherwise how could we open a casting studio? With so many actors, it definitely means there is no big crisis in the industry."
Ronald then called...
"Hey Jim, how are you?"
"Hey, Ronnie, why do you have time to find me?" Cameron was very happy. He had just completed the special effects work on Roger Corman's $2 million "masterpiece" - "Battle of the Stars."
"That's right..." Ronald repeated the professor's advice.
"He knows nothing." Cameron swore. "I went to UCLA and the University of Southern California and saw too much self-righteous garbage like this."
"They say every day that movies are dying, art is gone, and people nowadays only make exploitation films. If you ask them, which movie have they made? I'm sure they can't tell."
"Have you ever heard of a saying? Those who have the ability, make movies; those who have no ability, go to university to teach film." Cameron is still the same, not liking the clichés taught in school.
Looking through the little book, who else can I ask for advice? I don’t know Walter Mersey of San Francisco very well, so I’d better write him a letter.
"Dear Mr. Mersey,
I'm Ronald Lee. You may remember me from seeing a test screening of your 'Apocalypse Now' at New World Pictures in Los Angeles and asking some questions.
Thanks to your love, the honey you made by yourself tastes great.
I'm currently studying film and television production at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. I encountered a problem and I'd like to hear your opinion..."