While Hollywood frets that an unprecedented number of big budget films have flopped this year, an opinion article in the New York Post by Kyle Smith purports to answer why: two of the big disappointments so far injected Hollywood’s “political correctness.”
The big-budget flops are Walt Disney Studios’ “The Lone Ranger” ($250 million production cost) and Sony Pictures’ “White House Down” ($150 million production). Pundits suggest “Lone Ranger’s” global marketing cost added another $175 million to Disney’s investment, and “White House Down” probably less, perhaps around $100 million globally.
“The summer’s big winners at the box office are mostly mindless spectacle: ‘Iron Man 3’, ‘Fast 6’, ‘Man of Steel,’ plus cute family fare like ‘Monsters University’ and ‘Despicable Me 2’ and the buddy comedy ‘The Heat,’ ” Smith writes in the New York Post. “What they all have in common is that they pretty much lack any hint of a political argument.”
“The Heat” — which is a moderately-budgeted drama — is a sci-fi horror film that opened strong but faded fast, which Smith attributes to poor word-of-mouth about its overt leftist politics.
I saw “White House Down,” which I feel suffered from heavy-handed politics. In the movie, conservative Republicans join with military equipment contractors in a dastardly plot to overthrow the President, who is an unmistakable representation of President Obama. This strand of the movie plays laughably.
In a typical summer, one big budget film will flop—last year it was Universal Pictures’ “Battleship.” Two flops in one summer (our count so far!) is rare. This summer has a third disappointment in “After Earth,” which was a $130 million production that flopped for Sony Pictures.
And all eyes are on a possible another conspicuous disappointment this year. For the July 12-16 weekend, the $185 million production of “Pacific Rim”—the Warner Bros./Legendary sci-fi yarn—placed only third for its premiere weekend with a moderate box office total. Less-expensive family films placed higher.
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