The only movie that I wanted to see last year was Sonic the Hedgehog 3. That is a statement that is sure to make most ask why. There are two answers to that. One is that I like Sonic. The other is that I don’t care for anything else being released by Hollywood this year. One glance at the roster of films being released and there seems to be little but superhero films, sequels, and just boring slop. Nothing coming out of Hollywood really excites me anymore. This year, in comparison, seems a little better with variety, but it has yet to be seen. Looking at all this stuff though made me wonder: What happened? Why does Hollywood only make unoriginal films based on existing IPs? Whatever happened to all the original movies and genres?
It isn’t just me thinking this as well. Since the pandemic, Hollywood has been on a financial downward spiral. Box office revenue has not recovered much from Covid, and it seems like its a gamble whether any big budget film can make back its money or not. Superhero films have been bombing left and right, and every major studio seems to be in some financial turmoil. Hollywood, as of the making of this article, is both figuratively and literally on fire. What’s most strange about this is that just before the pandemic, Hollywood seemed to be doing gangbusters, with the average movie making a billion. Even though many criticized them, the film industry seemed to still be doing well. What happened?
Well, to answer that, it will take a bit longer. The fall of Hollywood, from it producing great art to it producing mediocre slop, is a detailed one. One primarily driven by greed and incompetence. Let me tell you how greed and stupidity took one of the greatest institutions for making art on Earth into a creative cesspool in a decade. This is how incompetence and greed destroyed Hollywood.
Big Business meets Hollywood
The 1970s are often seen as the peak of Hollywood on a critical level. Encapsulating an era known as Hollywood’s New Wave, films became more daring, experimental, and gritty to match the tumultuous seventies. However, while Hollywood was reaching creative highs, less can be said about its financial output. Studios were already racked with financial instability for sometime before this with the rise of TV. With musicals and roadshow films failing by the late 60s, however, the hard times hit even harder. Part of the reason why Hollywood was in such a golden age creatively was because studios were willing to give anyone a chance to see if anything could stick. One of those people that Hollywood bet on was George Lucas, who in 1977 created Star Wars.
Star Wars was a big deal in many ways, but especially in finances. It, alongside Jaws and Rocky, were part of a growing list of films that were able to make unbelievable amounts of money, known as blockbusters. They were also similar in another way. With their simplistic story concept that could appeal to a mass audience, they became known as high-concept films. High concept films were quickly jumped on by Hollywood, who saw it as a return to the relevance and money of years past. With this shift, all of a sudden, the industry began to change. More films with simple concepts, and fantastical settings, began to be produced. At the same time, the new wave movement was sputtering with box office failures like Heaven’s Gate and One From The Heart.
That was not the only shift occurring as well. The industry began to put businessmen and producer’s interest over the creatives. Studios began emphasizing franchises and directors from commercials were put in to direct instead of film students. Big businesses also got involved, with many studios being bought out by companies like Sony, Toshiba, and Coca-Cola. This was done thanks to deregulation efforts made by the Reagan administration in the 80s. With all these occurrences happening, it seemed as though the industry was already heading into a similar direction to where it is now. Fortunately for us, this new model of business did not last long. Franchises like Police Academy would spin out with later releases, and fantasy films became hit or miss for box office revenue. Even high concept films were hit, with Days of Thunder becoming a box office bomb.
At the same time, there was more competition than ever for the studios, with companies like Polygram, Cannon, and Orion giving them a run for their money. The increasing availability and affordability of film equipment, as well as the rise of megaplexes, also gave rise to indie films. On top of that, the home video market created an outlet for films to get traction even after their theatrical release. So, while the experimental days of the 70s were over, some of that spirit still lingered even as Hollywood became more business-like. Competition was strong, and there seemed to be no guarantee on what could become a big hit. It was a great time for movies of all types, and a lot of that momentum continued into the new millennium. However, Hollywood had become more corporate in that time frame, and business a more integral part of the industry compared to previous years. In the new millennium, with continued success, we would also see some changes which would ultimately destroy creativity, and Hollywood as a whole.
The Recession Hits Hollywood
Much like what the original did in 1977, Star Wars Episode 1 (a prequel to the original trilogy), would also have an impact on how the industry runs going forward. It, alongside Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, would start a trend of studios making blockbuster movie franchises out of pre-existing IPs. While Star Wars had always been a film franchise first, Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter were hugely popular book series with dedicated fan bases. The already large fanbase that these franchises had made making films based off these properties less of a financial risk since those fans would probably see the films anyway since they enjoy the work. As well, there is also the possibility to make these works super successful like any other blockbuster, maximizing reward while minimizing risk in the process.
These franchises also correlate to the rise of other trends as well. CGI, for example, became a cheaper and more practical way to depict the fantastical settings and events on screen, allowing for properties previously seen as unadaptable to be given a spotlight. Superhero films, as an example, exploded in this decade due to them being both reliable pre-existing franchises, and benefiting greatly from CGI. So with all these trends, we saw a subsequent rise in franchise filmmaking, with properties like Spiderman, Fantastic Four, Narnia, and Twilight all getting their time in the spotlight. Yet despite this, creativity within the industry was still somewhat strong. Indie and director driven movies were still being made, DVD sales were replacing VHS sales, and it seems like business was still going on as usual. Then came the great recession.
The great recession, in my opinion, is one of the most impactful events of the 2000s. So many aspects of global life were changed due to the recession. The American movie industry, as an example, was never the same as before the recession. To start, the industry was already reeling from a writers strike that delayed and canceled many productions. Due to this, Hollywood was already in a vulnerable position. The recession then came along and made things worse. It forced people to cut back on entertainment spending, like movie tickets or DVDs, hurting the industry even more. It seemed as though, with these two terrible events, that Hollywood had become weaker and more vulnerable as a result. This vulnerability was ripe for abuse and, unfortunately, there were actors willing to do such.
After the 2008 financial crisis, the Federal Reserve began bailing out the financial industry to help secure America’s financial interest. This included groups such as private equity and asset management firms such as Blackrock. This funding flushed them with a lot of cash not only to help them survive, but also to invest in new markets as well. The way these companies work is that they buy up businesses that are financially struggling, and then make them profitable, so that they can sell them for much more later on. And due to interest rates being so low, they decide to invest in different businesses to make more money. This included stuff like journalism, but later on, it moved over to Hollywood. As an example, Vanguard has stocks in several major companies involved in the entertainment industry. Such include Disney, Comcast, and Warner Brothers. Of course, having such a profit driven motive behind these companies and their takeover can be very worrying for those who care about the arts and artistic integrity.
Hollywood and Private Equity
When private equity took over Hollywood, starting in the late 2000s, a culture of cost-cutting began to intrude itself onto the industry. Practices like focusing on profits, investing little in labor and being as cheap as possible, became more the rule of law instead of the exception. Greed, for lack of a better term, became the rule of the day. As studies show, people who exhibit incredibly greedy acts, actions and thought processes oftentimes make poor decisions and emphasize short term gains rather than the long term stability of a business. This can be shown in many ways throughout the industry, such as the rise of franchises. Franchises were seen as more profitable and safe compared to original films. So franchises were subsequently made the focus despite issues like franchise fatigue.
This greed aspect also extends to the way that employees are treated. Writers are oftentimes given much lower salaries than they were previously where they cannot live on such wages. As an example, one of the writers for The Bear literally had to go write the screenplay for the show in the library since he couldn’t afford heat in his apartment. All this does is push talent out of the shows, reducing their quality, and making them unpopular. Hence, the shows become financial flops, and the reputation of the business is ruined in the long term. This extends to visual effects companies too. This is why there has been a dramatic drop off in visual effects in terms of their quality. Most VFX staff are overworked and underpaid, working between dozens of different projects, which all overuse visual effects simply due to their cheapness. Hence, why VFX look like they were produced in MS Paint. Actors are also finding a troubled environment. In this new greedy Hollywood, emphasis is now on celebrities with star power in other industries such as music rather than actual actors. This is regardless of whether or not these singers can actually act. As a consequence, smaller actors who couldn’t get into the industry or have the money to pay for connections are left out. Meanwhile people with money or people that are already famous can easily get in, reducing the overall pool of talent.
Although private equity plays a major part in Hollywood’s demise, there are other factors at play. This included stuff like the rise of Netflix and the death of physical media like dvds. Netflix allows people to watch any movie they want at any time without having to go and buy a movie at retail. This ended up killing the physical media market which the movie studios had relied on as extra revenue for films. This also meant that more experimental films could not have another model to rely on to make a profit. As well, there was a rise in the international market, with places like us like China, opening up for foreign films to be released there. This meant that more fantasy and sci-fi films began to get emphasized rather than more localized films with smaller budgets.
Original films also suffer greatly as well. Sometime in the 2010s, 64% of movies that were released by Hollywood were part of franchise films in comparison to only a quarter of works in 2000. There was also an increase in mergers of various entertainment companies during this time. Such also lead to less competition and more monopolistic practices becoming common. Of course, this monopolization led to creative stagnation. Companies did not need to compete with each other and hence not be as creative as they were before, since, of course, there is only a handful of them. Now these movie studios are acting out so that they can harass theater chains into only showing their movies and giving less of a spotlight to more up and coming studios and films. Such has caused indie filmmakers to end up being squeezed out of the market in comparison to years before, stifling creativity even more. All of this stuff sounds horrible, but can there be any stop to it?
Where Hollywood Stands Today
Overall, the situation in Hollywood seems pretty grim, and it seems like there isn’t much to help remedy this situation. However, when I look around, I do notice some signs of improvement. In fact, I’ve been noticing a lot of signs of improvement as of late. Smaller films with smaller budgets are beginning to get more mainstream attention, and more of them are being released. Thanks to smaller studios like MGM and A24, we’re beginning to see a lot more experimental films and a lot more down-to-earth, low budget films. What we saw in the 1970s, which gives home to a new Hollywood, could be happening again before our eyes. However, for major studios like Disney, I do not see much of a shift. Unless they go through some major financial turmoil, not much will change for them. However, I do have faith that the next couple of years could be good for Hollywood.
Would films and a return to more lower budget affairs, similar to what happened in the 1970s? I know in this day and age, it’s easy to be cynical. However, in my personal opinion, cynicism doesn’t really get people anywhere. It just makes people more pissy and stuck in the same moods over and over again. Overall, I see some interesting stuff coming out of Hollywood, and I believe there is a lot of potential for really great stuff to be made in the next little. Films that are low budget and do not rely on the same tired cliches as previous works. Just keep the faith and keep buying films that you think are worth it, and stop supporting films that you think are garbage. After all, what matters at the end of the day, to private equity firms, is money. If they don’t have money, then they can’t survive and they can’t produce garbage. So make sure you fall with your wallet. Because at the end of the day, what feeds everything in this capitalistic economy, it’s money Both good and bad, it always comes down to the dollar.
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Links for more info (used on this blog):
https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/is-high-finance-killing-hollywood-transcript-1.7178611