March 19, 2017
Watch: What Is the Recipe for Box Office Failures?
Why is it that brilliant art house films tank while tent-poles with bad stories become blockbusters?
There are many reasons why films fail at the box office. Maybe it has something to do with the economy, not enough publicity, or just the fact that it’s a terrible film, but one thing is for certain: indie/art house films seem to “fail” financially more often than their tent-pole counterparts. Regardless of how well-made it is, indies, even ones with brilliant stories, don’t bring in the bucks the way, say, a recycled Hollywood superhero flick does. Daniel Netzel of Film Radar explores the reasons why that is in this thought-provoking video essay.
I have nothing against tent-poles, superhero movies, or even Hollywood in general. These big budget, lowest-common-denominator films certainly have their place, because, for one, they do their job: they entertain. However, it is disconcerting when truly great low-budget indie films don’t find success in a landscape that is riddled with boilerplate action/comedy/romance movies that reuse the same stories over and over again, many of which weren’t that good to begin with.
Source: NoFilmSchool