i really hope the mid budget character driven movies come back

I hate how people complain about how Hollywood doesn’t make anything unique or original, but when an original film comes out, no one sees it, so it bombs! And then people wonder why they don’t see more original films. They have no right to complain. The death of mid budget films is especially tragic because those were the films that could mix artistic merit with commercial appeal. If you look at most Oscar-winning films from the 90s, most would fit into that category. They weren’t the highest-grossing films of the year, but they were films people had seen, or at least heard of.

A24 kind of reminds me of what Focus Features was in the early 2000s. Films like Eternal Sunshine, Lost in Translation and 21 Grams inspired me to make films myself. They also opened the door for me to smaller, character driven independent films.

The largest problem is that the cost of a movie ticket doesn't scale with the budget of the film. If people could see a film with a smaller budget for half the price, they might actually do that. Instead, as you point out, people only see the largest blockbusters in theaters.

What ever happened to anything mid level? You want a hotel or housing at minimal expense but you can't find it because the major corporations keep acquiring the smaller business to make everything expensive or "luxury" and have the audacity to say "it's what the people want"

Great video! One thing that concerns me about streaming services is how quickly they’ll cancel shows that don’t perform to expectations. So many classic TV shows struggled to find their voice and rhythm until third or fourth seasons in some cases. Those shows wouldn’t have a chance nowadays!

What I miss the most are the midbudget thrillers

I think a problem is also - these films are not being advertised well. Babylon, bones, beau and even the fabelmans were not advertised well at all! I didn’t even know they were a thing until the reviews started rolling out. Idk if studios aren’t willing to put additional funding into marketing or if the marketing is just bas

Definitely agree that mid budget films are being adapted to television shows because of budget issues. But also, a lot of the shows end up on streaming platforms so they are not paying crew and cast residuals anymore, which helps with their budgets, as well. I think that the strikes are making mid budget films harder for mainstream networks and the larger streaming companies, but will help with the production side of the business. A few shows have been cancelled by streaming networks before they are supposed to air because they don’t want to lose money through residuals but I think this is a tactic they are using to intimidating union workers hoping they’ll cave in and agree to AMPTP terms.

Also the difference between a cinema and your home TV setup is not as jarring as it was in the 90'. Back then usually you had a 21 - 25 inch TV, with low resolution... nowadays everybody has 55-65 inch 4k TV.

One really important thing that I dont see anyone talk about when it comes to why so many mid-budget films are bombing is that for example, if a young person wants to or needs to save money, doesnt subscribe to any streaming service, but he still loves watching new movies that come out, there is a high probability he will just go to a movie pirating site and watch his desired movies after cinema release there. I mean its only reasonable from the perspective of somebody who cant afford the luxury of going to a cinema every week, or isnt interested in subscribing to a streaming service, that always has only a fraction of all the stuff that comes out. Also I live in central Europe, and the cinemas in my city dont even play these mid budget movies.

All my favorite films are mid-budget films

This dropped as soon as I opened the UKposts app lol

Sent this video to my girlfriend since she and I really love these kind of flicks, and she replied “15 minute long video ugh” LADY YOU JUST PROVED THEIR POINT!

I went to see Barbie at the theater and the previews were sequels of old franchises, super-hero movies and remakes and was like "yup, that's why I don't come here anymore". And truth be told, I didn't see Oppenheimer yet for the reason the video points out... I don't want to sit through a long slow movie in the theater, I'm sure I'll like it, but I'll like it sitting at home.

I love what A24 does. Beau is Afraid especially even though it didn’t do well Keep buying dvds people

Just to point out, Forest Gump wasn't a "midbudget" film when it came out, it was a big budget film, and the cutoff back then was 30mm. Heck the first to be made with a budget over 100mm was "Independence Day", and now that's the higher end of "midbudget" because inflation has been that bad, for that long.

Most of the media that shaped my perception of the world was movies from the 80s-2000s (star wars, stand by me, dead poets society, etc). I actively seek out dvds and copies of these because they keep becoming harder to find. Good movies being chased out by bad ones.

See, they used to actually _market_ these movies. Now they put one out, say nothing about it to anyone, and when it underperforms they go "See, no one wants to see smaller movies!" I can't imagine why these studios are struggling... 🙄🙄🙄

I never really thought about the IP overuse but you bring up a perfect point. Even the successful major films of this year all use something which has already been established. Whether by a previous film, a book, a historical event or another medium original stuff seems to be going down the gutter generally.

I also have a feeling that mid-budget movies are threatening to disappear up their own ass, so to say. I've noticed a trend of many of them becoming very theatrical quiet dramas, "award bait" almost. It's not bad, there's several films I enjoy like that, but I feel like we've also lost the kind of smaller budget movie that'd dare to be just fun and weird. Stuff like Hackers, The Hunt for Red October, Kindergarten Cop, they all encompass a lot more genres and ideas compared to today. I also think it's why they struggle. There's only so many very intimate character dramas audiences can get interested about.

One good thing is that Hollywood studios cannot justify their $100m+ productions anymore. You gave an excelent overview. Many different reasons. I myself used to go to the cinema, now I go only once a year maybe. Has to do with prices and also there are less cinemas in my area, the one that was closest to me closed down during the pandemic. I have seen over 1000 movies. At some point, you have seen it all. And my watchlists are very long. Also there is youtube which gives me content about absolutely every topic imaginable without having to sit through a 90+ minutes movie. I hope that movie budgets shrink. The way Hollywood is treating theatres is horrible, to me it seems as if they want them to go out of business. Going to the movies is expensive, the ticket doesn't matter, 10 bucks is fine. But you have to pay for drinks, snacks and travel expenses because you have to go from where you live to where the theatre is. I would only do so if I really want to see the movie, not for any random movie anymore.

It's the audience fault. They complain but don't go to see it.

I think what needs to be covered are horror films who really make their low to mid budgets stretch Horror in general has been in a pretty good place in the last decade or so Sure a few of those are reboots and legacy sequels but that kinda goes for every genre but a good amount of original horror has been able to shine especially since the 2010s Great video tho btw

I think now more than ever there’s really a need for people skilled in making movie trailers. This current trend of having a formula for each film to appeal to the broadest audience doesn’t work anymore. I was pleasantly surprised Babylon was almost nothing like the marketing made it see to be

Love that we still kinda get the mid budget type movies through tv

I felt really bad about the Last Duel. Never went to see it in theaters because I had no idea what it was about, the advertisement wasn't great. Finally saw it and it was a great movie. Not only that but period films are notoriously expensive due to wardrobes and props.

I still can't believe "Bones and All" flopped. One of the best movies I've ever seen, let alone one of the best of its year

The other side to this problem is that a lot of video essayists on UKposts BARELY talk about mid-budget movies either, like where are the video essays for The King? The Devil All the Time? The Power of the Dog? Maybe it's my fault for the channels I subscribe to, but the algorithm sure doesn't boost videos about prestige indie dramas either. The same thing goes for certain TV shows, NOBODY wanted to talk about Y: The Last Man or Paper Girls or The Peripheral, but channels will *gladly* dedicate weekly videos to complain about some shitty adult animated show that "ruined their childhood"! 🙄

the early 60s and late 80s showed us that we're on the cusp of a new Indie Boom

One of the reasons why mid budget films are not made anymore is that they would be able to recoup their lost if they didn’t do well in the box office by video rentals and so it would be get a second life and a chance for the producers to make some money - but with streaming coming along and being the way most folks view films at home they lost that revenue.

This is why I appreciate Paul Thomas Anderson’s work. Straight mid-budget. Original work. Licorice Pizza had the highest budget: 40 million. The gross amounts of each of PTA’s films have either fallen short of its original budget or did only a little better than its original budget. I can’t imagine there would be a movie studio that would a grant him a $100 million dollars to make a movie.

Another factor: Showtimes. Those midbudget films, like The Menu, Retribution, Bones and All, etc, those get shoved into the early and mid afternoon slots, and only get a few weeks, maybe even just TWO WEEKS in Retribution's case, worth of theatre run. I *work in the movie theatre* and never got a chance to see Retribution, because when I get off work at 6pm? The only movies playing right now are Barbie and TMNT and the Nun. I don't want to see the Nun, and the other two I've already seen a couple times. Why should I waste my *free* movie tickets on films I don't want to see, when the ones I do, I just... can't?

its actually amazing how both the film industry and gaming industry are both in a similar situation where middle market films and games just don't seem to exist anymore.

Films coming to streaming weeks after being in cinema is also a factor changing viewers behavior

At this stage I'll take a bad day with Tarantino over a good day with Disney.

Indy 5 only made 379 million? Disney lost their ASS on that one. I knew it didn't turn a profit, but I thought it hit more like 500-600.

This video does a really good job explaining today's overall situation in the film/theatre landscape. The subject may have been mid-budget films specifically, but it sheds light on the whole film environment. Great vid.

The studios seemed to think that creating mega-franchises would make them star-proof, but a lot of these franchises are clearly still very dependent on particular actors playing particular roles for their success. Just look at how the MCU's been doing without Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man or how killing off all three main characters from the original trilogy turned off so many Star Wars fan (and even many of those left are only interested in Pedro Pascal as The Mandalorian and not much else). They seem to want to create brands that are bigger than anybody involved, but audiences notice when they aren't seeing who they've been coming to see anymore.

This video was amazing. I’ve been bummed out how the number of mid budget movies have shrunk recently, but I liked the point that they’ve been re-contextualized into some of the best shows I’ve ever seen over the last few years. Also I’d been harsh on the studios for abandoning the mid budget movies, but I never realized how much physical media (or the lack thereof) kept mid budget movies afloat. I really hope they do figure out a way to make them more prominent because some of the greatest movies are mid budget.

Bro I remember when 5-15 million was mid budget and near or a little over a hundred mill was only for summer blockbusters, holiday releases, and some children’s stuff. The fact we are even calling the number you cited mid budget is the very problem with the industry. They’d rather conflate budgets than release things of substance- at least studios like Disney and WB.

I think that people are starting to realize that you need to buy DVDs or you run the risk of losing access to media. The streaming wars, inflation, the pandemic and the current strikes currently have a huge impact on the industry, but this won’t last forever. Like you mentioned, people are sick of superhero movies and soulless remakes. People are craving thought provoking, visually appealing, interesting, character driven films. Broey Deschanel has a great video on the current state of film, “Oscar’s 2022 and the Death of Cinema” that discusses many of the issues that you touched on. I am cautiously optimistic about the future of cinema/mid-budget films- I can’t wait for “Poor Things” and “Priscilla”.

We went to see Oppenheimer a week ago. It was an amazing movie! But the tickets were very expensive! 22,90€/person! With that price it is guaranteed that even us, belonging in the middle class, will go see a movie max once or twice a year.

Studios don't want to make 300 milion from 30 million they want to make 1 billion from 200 million. Thats one of the reasons.

2 reasons may have contributed. Death of the film star. In the 80s/90s you had box office stars who could get small independent movies greenlit just by attaching their names to it. Now none exist. 2. Death of the independent movie push by studios. There is no more studios like Miramax making movies that are box office draws for low budgets anymore.

Brother i am from india and we had this conversation just 4 days ago and somehow today i came across this . Thanku for making this .❤🙏

Excellent video essay. You hit every nail on every head.

”80 million mid-budget movies” excuse me…what?

This was a great episode and new here. Def subbed

Great video dude... Makes so much sense

Same thing thats happened in the video game industry. You have gigantic big budget AAA (usually 1st party) releases and small indie games. Almost nothing in between, and when these games do come out they often disappoint or even shut down their developers. If you're not a must-play AAA GOTY contender or a quirky Indie darling, no one wants to spend their money on them. The only hope for these mid-tier games are services like Gamepass, with the most recent success story being Hi Fi RUSH.

Same thing is happening with videogames. It is either a 2d indie game with the lowest of budgets or a AAA tech demo made by a big studio with a giant budget. Mid budget games like those that existed by the truckload in the PS2/early XBOX 360 era seem to have conpletely died out.

Though it hasn't always been successful, I think the Superhero Genre works best in a TV show format vs Blockbuster films. At their core, most of those characters were originally intended for a serialized format (comics). Heck, when I was a kid, I often heard some adults referring to my comics as "soaps for boys" and the like. The big budget films are really best for character highlights, which can work sometimes, but becomes terrible when you try to cram all the highlights into one film. (Such as throwing in "The Dark Knight Returns", "The Death of Superman", the founding of the Justice League, and the introduction of Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, and Cyborg into a single film). Heck, we now have spent time with and know Loki far FAR better than Thor thanks to the Loki series. The other problem with "Spectacle" superhero cinema is that the characters often require initial setup, so you spend the first film on an "origin" story. This leads to the problem that if the story fails, you never get to actually know the character(s). (Green Lantern, The Eternals) If it succeeds, then the same origin story will be repeated ad nauseam every time the franchise relaunches. (Batman, Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, Batman) With a TV series, you might spend the first 1-3 episodes, at most the first season, on the origin, but after that, it's about telling other stories.

One thing I do see a fair bit with mid budget stuff nowadays too along with movie pitches being turned into series, is also whole movies being done to be repackaged as a miniseries for streaming. That happened 2 years ago in my country with the movie "Margrethe, Queen of the North". It had a budget of around 10 million dollars for a 2 hour long film, which is small for American standards but the largest budget for a movie in the Danish language ever. However after its theatrical run the movie was repackaged into a 3-part miniseries for streaming where it has had decent success. Especially since the movie released in the middle of the pandemic and had underperformed a fair bit. So as for now, I'd say expect a lot of midbudget stuff that isn't from the US, but from other countries. In many smaller countries, especially in Europe, a large scale production by their standards would be a mid budget movie by American ones. Denmark is an extra small case here since its a country just the size of West Virginia with only 6 million people living in it, but it has its own acclaimed and renowned movie and TV industry that even garners Oscar attention quite regularly, most notably in recent years with "Another Round" starring Mads Mikkelsen, but other popular examples in Movie and TV include Borgen, Toscana, Broen, The guilty, and many others. Some projects from Denmark and other Nordic countries have even been remade several times by US studios for quick cash but often with poor choices that make the American remakes worse than their Nordic originals. Denmarks movie studios don't have access to the same funding and resources and IP that American ones do, heck we're only just now getting our very first digital wrap-around sets like those used on the Mandalorian, so our studios have to go down different avenues or think outside the box if they wanna stand a chance at the movie theatres or on streaming.

This is what makes knives out/glass onion special. Theyre very popular mid budget mystery movies. I hope the third one isnt completely poached by netflix because glass onion at least got a limited theater run

The Truman Show is my all time favorite movie

Thanks for that. I'm going to sound a lot smarter the next time this topic comes up in conversation!

Give us more films like Idris Elba's movie "Beast" from a few years ago. It wasn't any 3 hour blockbuster, it was just a 90-ish minute movie about a father protecting his kids from a lion. The characters were good, the pacing was great, it didn't overstay its welcome, it had a satisfying ending. And it wasn't a sequel/remake/reboot of anything. I'm so tired of the modern movie habit of making everything pushing 3 hours. I like rewatching favorite movies, but with that much of a time sink, even if I love the movie, I could watch 2 whole other movies I love in the same amount of time it would take to watch a single modern blockbuster, granted, I love a lot of films from the '30s and '40s which sometimes end up being like 70 minutes, but still.

In addition to it being easier to access at home, think about how much home entertainment has evolved, there's a big difference between a modern big flat screen with great sound and an old box tv with cable and commercials in 1997

Well, at least Fincher is releasing the Killer this year.

no A24 is not stale or repetitive the only people claiming this are those who worshipp major motion pictures and get bored if there isnt an explosion every 5 seconds in my opinion

What a great video. You definitely made some great points.

Great video as always. I for one am so glad The Bear is a show and not a movie because it’s phenomenal.

They haven't gone away, they've simply changed forms. Instead of a mid ranged budget movie, in today's market it makes more sense to make it a limited run streaming exclusive series.

Great video, but dang bro the Armie Hammer dm was out of pocket😭 3:30

Something that I think feeds into it and tends to get glossed over is the availability aspect like in the era of the video store. Part of the draw to see a movie in theaters was that it often wasn't even available to rent until about 6 months after it came out in theaters, and they weren't available to buy until even later. When DVDs came around the window between when you could rent and when you could buy started to shrink and then vanish altogether with movies being available to rent and purchase on the same day. Video stores started to take the hit in the same way movie theaters are now because some people were fine to just buy instead of rent (if you could afford it or already knew/hoped you'd like it) or just loan it out to anyone that might want to see it. The second you give someone either a faster or easier way to experience something, or often both, then it's only the die hard fans that are going to go that extra mile to see it in theaters or like you mentioned, you have to make the movie an experience that is really best to see on the big screen.

I love the movie In Bruges. It's slow pace movie perfectly crafted. Every scene is here for a reason and for me its really pleasure to watch. Hope this types of movies survive :)

Excellent video! I love going to movies in the cinema would love to see these movies come back

Pretty wild that Mario had a 100m dollar budget and has grossed over a billion. That's like slasher movies in the 80's made for less than a million and raking in tens of millions.

Good video. Very informative. The World is a different entertainment place. UKposts is my information tool now. I'm 39, and I miss not knowing everything, but it is hard to turn the phone off, especially when you are lonely.

We just have to go out and see them!!!! Talk to me, landscape with invisible hand, support your local theaters!!!

Had never even considered this conundrum until I saw the title of this video. And it all made so much sense and sadly im one of those who loves mid budget and have been greatly missing it. Sure, I love the big blockbusters as well but the middle is gone and replaced by 'made for streaming' movies that are ten a penny. Filmed in 6 weeks, mostly in front of a green screen to produced all the sets that would normally have to be built or sourced. It's all about how many movies you can get onto your streaming platform, not the quality of them.

I think the differnece maker for a lot of studios is how they present their films to the audience, and it comes down to effective marketing. Look at the way they turned the dual release date for Barbie and Oppenheimer into a meme, a cultural touchstone, months before they rolled out the red carpet. They leaned into the public's idea of an odd double billing, and made their opening weekend an event. Families went to see Spider-Man: Across the Spider-verse and Super Mario Brothers not just because they are bankable IP, but because the animation studios were trying new techniques and telling original stories with familiar characters. I think that they aren't promoting films effectively enough either, because they still rely on cable TV and commercial breaks to push public awareness, or they show the full length trailers in theaters when supposedly the audience is there to see another feature film. It's annoying when they plant a funny piece of dialogue into the trailer that you're now anticipating seeing in the film, and it takes away the impact of the joke, or as you may be disappointed to find out, that it's one of the only truly funny scenes in the whole movie. They'll give trailers a tone that is wholly different from the film itself, or phone it in and just mash together a montage of scenes out of sequence so the plot isn't obvious. Its sloppy, lazy, and condescending to the audience. I hope that the strikes have been a major turning point for the industry to start funding your creatives more and your executive boards less. Studio interference is another major drag, because they can't be bothered to promote smaller budget films effectively, while they over-correct blockbuster franchises in order to put out inoffensive pablum they can sell to international audiences. Maybe the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes are exactly what is needed to get them off this doom loop.

Such a great analysis, I also think romcoms were great mid budget too. I miss seeing those in theaters

I really think the studios hold the most of the blame, amid the strike we're learning how much crew & talent are making compared to the studio execs, how streaming residuals are basically non-existent, and it just creates an industry that leaves very little room for people to work in it. Combine this with the massive shares studios take from the box office & how that strangles theatre chains, it's not shocking the industry is in such a weak spot where even Disney is looking to have a very unstable year. I'm optimistic about how we're moving away from the year long blockbuster model, but I think there needs to be a restructuring of the industry that gets people paid their share for what they're making and for what they contribute, putting the artists and their works first.

I wonder how the ongoing strikes are gonna affect the industry after everything starts again. As a VFX artist working in movies, I can tell you that the future is looking really scary for a lot of people, me included

Part of the thing is that physical copies are just so expensive these days. So, why not stream? And if streaming services arent paying the prople working in the films, why not pirate? Its this icky cycle. I really want physical media to make a comeback but with the price of DVDs and such being what it is, it just doesnt work.

"A family has to pay upwards of $50 for movie night". thats hilarous. I live in the cheapest part of the country and I would love to be able to take my family to the movies for $50, that would be awesome. if we could get by for anything less than $100 that would be sweet.

i think many things, and i'm afraid to share any of my opinions cause social media is dangerous for that, but i'd like more types of stories that focus on narrative and style than big budgets to be made

I think the issue is in 2 parts. 1, People are tired of by the numbers cookie cutter films. 2, Ticket prices are too high. The first issue is harder to fix but the second is simple. Why are all files priced the same at the theater? Surly lower budget films could take lower ticket prices. Lower the ticket prices, get more bums on seats and in turn make more profit.

See, the fact they saw streaming as them "missing out" instead of a source of free and easy revenue from licensing while Netflix and Hulu assume all the risks is very telling of how greed has corrupted our entertainment. Because they had a sweet deal going for awhile: the movie would come out in theaters and be there for a few months, then you could release on physical home media or downloads bought exclusively through the studio for about six months. And THEN it would go to Netflix in the same way a movie would go on HBO or something back in the 90s. You got that licensing money AND had time to sell and rent the movie until most of the people who were gonna buy a copy already have. But no, they had to control it ALL. Even though that's not always the best move. Sometimes it's more profitable to work WITH another company.

Good video, but I hate to say it, there's one simple answer: Ancillary markets. Studios used to be able to take risk because there'd be a whole other market after the movie came out (DVDs). Studios want more sources of revenue than just box office. Well known IP was always safer, sequels have existed for a long time. But now it's the only option, and can be paired with toys, parks, merchandise, etc. Streaming killed mid budget not because of the competition of readily available content, but because a midbugdet film requires pretty much all revenue to be made at the box office

Good video! I wouldn’t exactly say that people are completely sick of superhero movies or media, rather they’ve become far more selective on what they want to watch. Across the Spider Verse and Guardians 3 did very well because the previous films grew massive fandoms, and the latter was directed by James Gunn, who made a name for himself in comic book films. Meanwhile Quantumania didn’t do so hot because while most people liked the previous films, they weren’t as revered as Spider Verse and Guardians, meaning that they likely weren’t as interested in it comparatively. Also small contradiction, but when you say people are sick of franchises, Barbie kinda goes against that since that has been a brand for so long.

Someone finally summarized everything I’ve been wanting to say this year especially. 😪

Articulate and holds the attention. Good work fam 🤘🏼💪🏼

I think the top companies have realised that they can have a monopoly on all things film/cinema if they make big budget, billion dollar movies the social norm. This is because if such big budget franchise movies are the norm (which they push with their capital), then the likelihood of any new competitor stealing their light depletes to near zero - thereby solidifying the few that can afford it as the makers of the movies that people go to see, and thus creating a monopoly where even the ones they think could flop, draws an audience as there's less of anything else that will compete.

There are a ton of midbudget movies from this year. They just tanking at the box office. What about last voyage of the demeter, strays, asteroid city, paint, a haunting in venice, beau is afraid, are you there god its me margaret, air, gran turismo. People assume these type of movies will release on streaming and they dont wanna go to the cinema for these movies anymore. Anyway, thanks for the good video!

Before clicking this I too was thinking, "Yeah, whatever happened to unique mid-budget films?" then watching the video I realise I'm one of those people who tend to stream said mid-budget films nowadays... lol. Though you are right near the end of the video, I am kind of sick of so many sequels, reboots, and remakes, and would love for more original content.

Also want to shout out some movies coming out that I hope people checkout because of the talent involved and the interesting stories produced... Dune Part 2, Nosferatu, The Movie Critic, Average Height Average Build, Killers of the Flower Moon, Safdies next film, Queer, The Killer, Mickey 17, The Bikeriders, Wonka, Saltburn, All of us Strangers, Foe, Small things like these. Some will slack me for Wonka but directed by the Paddington 2 director and I think he is brilliant so I'm excited

In the last few years I have been looking at the numbers for what you are calling mid budget films. It amazes me that more of them aren't being produced with so many theatres losing customers. By the numbers I am seeing many mid budget films that are excellent from a creative point of view and offer an excellent return on investment. Why wouldn't you want to produce many smaller budget films that yield better returns on investment? Spend $20-40 million and get a profit of millions of dollars. The huge potential blockbuster films that fail fail big. But when a mid budget film is described as a flop it is compared to total dollars at the box against competing films. Sure all movies can lose money. But we're calling movies a flop because they don't draw as much as other films often while being very profitable. The book budget flops lose tens or hundreds of millions of dollars. Meaning they spent a ton of money to produce and market them and bring in less revenue. If you are going to take risk and fail why not take smaller financial risks and cap your losses to a few million dollars when your net returns on many small films will be positive?

7:20 Just want to point out that AIR was actually massively successful when you consider that it was a streaming movie and had a very limited theatre run. Great video overall but it's more than just box office numbers with streamers since of this revenue is more like "extra" money

Just like Disney selling the rights to “The Sound of Freedom” for a pittance, only for it to make more at the domestic box office than that Indiana Jones 5! 😂

I do wonder if a studio like Netflix or Amazon did a month or two cinema release of a film before releasing it on their platform. You could keep the cinema experience alive, but still get the revenue from the ticket sales and then get the streaming revenue on top of it. Sure, streaming can replace DVDs but it'll never replace cinema experience.

One other contributor in my opinion is that to your average movie viewers, mid budget films are seen as 'not worth it' to watch on a cinema screen when it'll probably come out on some streaming service at some point on top of that we're also at the stage where if you have a decent screen and audio set up at home. At least for mid budget films, the viewing quality difference aren't that big (other than the screen size) that you have to experience the movie in cinema like with your blockbusters with extravagant productions

Great analysis. I do not love everything that A24 produces but their movies are the only ones I am willing to watch. Beau was Afraid was really weird but I applaud them for trying something new.

Ive thought about this recently with big successful movies from the 90s and early 2000s. Like today I can't fathom how a film like Forrest Gump could do so well back then as its concept doesnt sound like it would sell at all today. I do think theater prices do play a big role too. Going to the movies is just wayyy too damn expensive now. Tickets now cost almost $15. Popcorn and drink? Pony up another $25. And you gotta deal with annoying moviegoers as well. Id much rather watch it at home with my big 4k tv and cheap snacks and drinks.

Going to the cinema in the UK can be cheap. At my local multiplex, Vue in Southport (near Liverpool), it is £4.99 (about $6.30) for any movie bought online (£5.99 in theatre) at any time for the cheaper seats (which are fine). The interest thing for me is that I get 2 free tickets a month from my Sky Cinema satellite subscription, which I pay £12 for. So for a £5.99 standard cinema ticket, it’s “free”.

i think the biggest factor is the streaming services cranking out low effort movies without quality assurance just to fill the schedules thats why we barely see good mid budget movies when people see them as disposable entertainment, overshadowing actually competent movies

Great analysis

I saw Air in theaters and it arrives on Blu-Ray Sept 13. I love my boy Matt Damon