Are we entering a new Age of Hollywood film-making?

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CosmicMonkey
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Are we entering a new Age of Hollywood film-making?

Post by CosmicMonkey »

So generally, the history of Hollywood has generally been split into various "ages" that are defined by the specific business practices and film-making techniques and philosophies that were dominant at that point in time. Usually these ages are defined by film historians as roughly the following:

Early Age: c.1890s -1915

Silent Age: 1915-1928

Classic Hollywood Age: 1929-1968 (Which itself is often subdivided into the following eras:)
Pre-Code Era: 1929-1934
Studio Era: 1934-1949
Golden Era: 1950-1968

New Hollywood Age: 1968-1982

Modern or Blockbuster Age: 1982-present

The thing is, over the past couple of years I have noticed some significant changes in the way Hollywood has operated, that have been markedly unique developments in comparison to earlier decades including:

1. The rise of cinematic universes
2. The death of the Summer Blockbuster and shift towards big-budget films being released, and financially successful, year-round.
3. The disruptive rise of new ways of viewing films, including online streaming services and subscription services like Movie Pass
4. Increased market concentration by major media conglomerates (e.g. Disney's buy-out of 20th century Fox)
5. The Slow death of mid-budget films, and increasing polarization of film production towards either big-budget tent-poles or low budget indies.
6. The increased importance of global markets for American films, and the marketing of such films towards non-American audiences.
7. An increased visibility of women and PoC directors and film-makers.

All of these trends I've noticed have mainly been happening over the past 5 years. Do you think film-making today is different enough from the 1980s that we can consider it a notably different "age"? Is there a new philosophy behind the way Hollywood operates both financially and artistically? Discuss.

firstkyne
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Re: Are we entering a new Age of Hollywood film-making?

Post by firstkyne »

Good question. I think the cinematic era will be remembered simply as the Digital Age. A lot of the changes to cinema that you flag are intrinsically linked to changes in the nature and availability of personal technology, and the evolving usage of devices.

I'm not entirely sure that
5. The Slow death of mid-budget films, and increasing polarization of film production towards either big-budget tent-poles or low budget indies
.
...is a defining trend. I think this has vacillated back and forth over many years, is the result of several factors, and may change again if some or all of those factors undergo change. But I am happy to be persuaded.

Stewball
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Re: Are we entering a new Age of Hollywood film-making?

Post by Stewball »

The slump in box office this year I think reflects the beginning (I hope) of a slowdown in the typical blockbusters. I'm wide open to big budget movies, but it's gotten rote. But the biggest change is the quality of low budget Indies, especially in casting and writing. Nobody minds making loads of money on blockbusters, but many still would like to maintain some self-respect, and maybe even produce something with depth and worthy of long term esteem.

PrestoBix
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Re: Are we entering a new Age of Hollywood film-making?

Post by PrestoBix »

firstkyne wrote:Good question. I think the cinematic era will be remembered simply as the Digital Age. A lot of the changes to cinema that you flag are intrinsically linked to changes in the nature and availability of personal technology, and the evolving usage of devices.

I'm not entirely sure that
5. The Slow death of mid-budget films, and increasing polarization of film production towards either big-budget tent-poles or low budget indies
.
...is a defining trend. I think this has vacillated back and forth over many years, is the result of several factors, and may change again if some or all of those factors undergo change. But I am happy to be persuaded.


I agree. I think changes in the way people watch movies greatly outweighs thematic elements from a historical perspective.

As for the trend of mid-budget films disappearing, we've also seen a huge growth in independent cinema, but there hasn't been much support to it from theater chains. If moviepass catches on, and it looks like it is, small(and mid) budget films are going to become much much more prevalent. Moviepass already buys 10% of tickets for small budget films, three times the amount for bigger budget films. Moviepass has the ability to boost independent cinema, and that's great.

If it turns out that moviepass can eventually become very effective at getting people to see movies that they want to see, it could have a fantastic and re-vitalizing effect on the industry, in that we could see non-mainstream films getting larger budgets, and small budget films getting shown on more screens across the nation.

Mentaculus
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Re: Are we entering a new Age of Hollywood film-making?

Post by Mentaculus »

This is a great question - I've been feeling this potential trend nagging in the back of my head for a year or more. There is certainly the feeling that Hollywood filmmaking is reaching, or has reached, an threshold of sorts. Part of it, I think and hasn't been mentioned yet, is the exposure of a kind of "new guard" of creators coming both into their own, and into the mainstream (J.J. Abrams and Rian Johnson and Colin Trevorrow, Ava DuVernay, David Lowery, Barry Jenkins, James Gunn, Greta Gerwig...). Combined with the overall moving to prestige television/streaming by established filmmakers like Scorsese (The Irishman), Bong Joon-ho (Okja), and Lynch (Twin Peaks: The Return, possibly the best filmed thing of 2017).

PrestoBix wrote: I agree. I think changes in the way people watch movies greatly outweighs thematic elements from a historical perspective.


This is a bit more complicated for me; I believe technology informs thematic preoccupations (the proliferation of television, and increased visibility of foreign cinema product from Europe, in the 1960's leading to the age of cinematic modernism, as an example). Both are relevant to the discussion.

PrestoBix wrote:As for the trend of mid-budget films disappearing, we've also seen a huge growth in independent cinema, but there hasn't been much support to it from theater chains.


I went to a Q&A with David S. Goyer who (rightly, I believe) said that television has fulfilled the overall vacuum left by mid-budget cinema and its associated subgenres (i.e. political thriller, marriage and relationships, mid-range sci-fi and horror), so by this measure of complete admitted opinion, saying this is a Digital Age may be reaching close to the goal. But I also think that, especially in the last year, the "value sensitive" consumerist model of caring about how a product was made, by whom, and for what purpose, is becoming more a part of the conversation about entertainment. (#metoo) How this now interacts with a declining North American presence in cinema profits, alongside an increase in the necessity of foreign markets (will China overtake N.A. in cinema revenue by 2020?) is the real question I think needing educated exploration.

Potential answer?: I see a kind of equivalency being drawn across the board that values non-Hollywood cinema (including non-traditional distribution of product) at the same level as Hollywood cinema and its traditional model of distribution, which is radical if one thinks about it long enough.

Stewball
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Re: Are we entering a new Age of Hollywood film-making?

Post by Stewball »

Mentaculus wrote: I see a kind of equivalency being drawn across the board that values non-Hollywood cinema (including non-traditional distribution of product) at the same level as Hollywood cinema and its traditional model of distribution, which is radical if one thinks about it long enough.


I see one thing working toward a unified global market, the quality of intangibles like music, the appeal of certain individual personalities and personality types, and the biggest one of all, relevance. Working against that, of course, is language. It's more common in large metro areas to see foreign language films, especially in Spanish, Hindi and Tagalog. France, of course, still thinks French is the lingua franca because they believe they still have a corner on cutting edge culture and the social graces. Get a life.

English has the inside track right now on being a universal language, but that race is a long way from over, with the number of movies in English being a significant factor. And the issue of whether to dub or subtitle is still up in the air, with the biggest test market, China, often offering both. I can't find any information on which one is trending over the other, but offering both could well be where we're headed. I can see couples breaking up arguing over which to see. :o

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