C’mon Hollywood #127

… Don’t blame bootlegs for poor box office performance!
by Sturdy

I guess it’s human nature that whenever you put a lot of effort into a project and then present it to someone and they don’t like it, you immediately start pointing fingers and making up excuses for why you failed to live up to expectations. However, when you do that, you usually fail to see the real reason you failed in the first place.

Such is the case with Hollywood these days. Or at least it’s getting there. Earlier in the week, Eli Roth blamed online theft
for the lackluster performance of HOSTEL 2. He made some decent points in his little rant, but I was surprised to see him dodge responsibility so fast. Also, do you think Eli Roth was more upset that his movie was leaked online, or that the people that saw it online trashed it? My guess is he’d be singing a different tune if the people who saw it actually liked it. It’s to note that he removed the tirade from his blog, so maybe it was written after one too many beers or maybe he changed his mind.

Unfortunately, he’s set the precedent for filmmakers to blame online trading/stealing/viewing, etc. of their movies for their drop in box-office revenue. However, if they step back and look at what’s going on, I think they’ll realize that online theft has very little, if anything, to do with their poor box-office performance. I think now would be a good time to mention that I don’t condone the theft of intellectual property in any form and regardless of the impact on the industry, you shouldn’t do it. With that said, I bet there were more people that snuck into a theater to see HOSTEL 2 than people that downloaded it illegally. Does that mean we should call the National Guard to secure every movie theater?

I think Bijou Phillips is a little dirty for my taste.

Eli Roth and company need to look in the mirror for the real reason their films aren’t performing well. HOSTEL 2…really? Did he expect it to break records or something? The first one was alright, but did it really merit a sequel? The answer is a resounding NO! It didn’t merit a sequel, especially in a summer filled with the most sequels in Hollywood’s history. Sure, people love their favorite characters like Spider-man, Shrek and Captain Sparrow, but those are huge blockbusters, not horror movies. Every movie fan knew it was ridiculous to release it in the summer, against OCEAN’S 13, so he should be happy he at least made his money back.

Why would you challenge these guys?

Michael Moore’s SICKO has also been making headlines for the same reason, but you have to wonder if illegal downloading will have any impact on a documentary targeting the health care system. Right now, Michael Moore doesn’t seem to mind the bootlegging. However, I’d be very dissappointed in him if his movie tanks and the first finger he points is at the bootleggers. Then again, I can’t see the Cracker Barrell crowd gathering around a computer to watch a bootleg copy of SICKO.

So c’mon Hollywood, stop bitching about illegal downloads. I don’t think the people downloading films illegally are impacting the overall box-office performance. If Hollywood isn’t going to change, then they must accept that high opening weekend grosses and sharp drop offs are going to be the norm for the big budget films and smaller films will be lucky to make anything. But look on the bright side, Hollywood can always make up for it with DVD/Blu-Ray/HD-DVD sales.