The Rob Simone Talk Show

Filed under: Box Office, Distribution, Exhibition, Movie Marketing

On any slow news day, you can count on some major publication busting out a “death of Hollywood” story. This week, it’s the Guardian, whose Jeremy Kay has a piece entitled “Hollywood Must Plot a New Course to Win Back its Audience.” The gist: Hollywood is on the decline and has to come up with some game-changing plan to forestall its downfall.

Of course, this doomsaying comes at the end of the highest-revenue summer in movie history. Not discouraged, Kay nonetheless claims that the American movie industry is in trouble — why? As best I can tell, a couple of reasons. First: the movies this summer were bad. Well, yeah, by and large they weren’t great. (Curiously, he cites the exceedingly not-great Iron Man 2as a counter-example.) On the other hand, Inception, one of the summer’s biggest hits, was maybe the most ambitious and challenging tentpole blockbuster ever. Toy Story 3 was a near-masterpiece that busted all demographic barriers. Was there more than the usual number of stinkers? Slightly, probably. Was there a glut of franchise flicks and sequels? Yes, as has been the case for years. Does this suggest a systemic problem, or a new one? I don’t see how.

Second: attendance is down — 552 million tickets sold, the lowest since 1997 (540 million). (Here is the source for this.) First, this is a blip; by way of comparison, 563 million tickets were sold in 2005. Nothing to write home about during a by-all-accounts weak movie summer, especially since revenues increased. Second, weekly movie attendance has been declining in this country since 1930. Let’s not sound the alarms now.

Continue reading Does Hollywood Need to “Win Back” its Audience?

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Filed under: Action, Foreign Language, Horror, Independent, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, New Releases, Festival Reports, Fandom, New in Theaters, DIY/Filmmaking, Interviews, Toronto International Film Festival, Cinematical Indie, Indie Spotlight

There’s an old saying that all film journalists are just frustrated filmmakers who couldn’t break into the business. And while I certainly think directing a film would be an awesome experience, to be totally honest, I’d rather have Colin Geddes‘ job. If you’re a horror nut like me, and love Midnight Movies and the Toronto International Film Festival, Geddes is the guy you’re going to want to get acquainted with. Having held the job for over a decade, Geddes has helped bring films like Martyrs and Hostel to appreciative festival audiences. As he prepares for yet another TIFF (you can keep up to speed with the event by checking out the official Midnight Madness blog — where you’ll find interviews, details about the films, and more … ), Mr. Geddes was kind enough to take time out of his busy schedule to chat with us about what it’s like to program for one of the greatest film festivals in the world.

Continue reading Toronto Fest Programmer Colin Geddes on Midnight Movies … and Madness

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