Looking back through copies of Screen International in the early 1990’s comparing to what is currently happening in the industry I do think the industry was in a much better position than as is now. I know we always look back on days gone by fondly looking back on days of old. But looking back on 1994 it was the year after the massive success of Jurassic Park UK cinema attendance had just crossed through the 100m barrier and people were thinking that if the growth continued as well it would of shot through the 200m barrier within 10 years.
Looking back in the preview edition of Screen International there are many titles on those slates that are now MIA 20 years later. But every year studios have always had exciting presentations where they preview their upcoming slates and it always looks so exciting I remember watching on to many of these presentations from the projection booth at 20th Century Fox. The range of films that the studios made were wider the budgets weren’t as big; the quality of the films themselves is probably the same.
Looking to this year the majority of films that have been successful are very similar all targeting the same audience The Lego Movie, The Inbetweeners Movie 2, Guardians of the Galaxy, X-Men Days of Future Past, Dawn of the Planets of the Apes, The Amazing Spider-Man 2. That’s not to say earlier in the year there were massive successes of the Wolf of Wall Street and 12 Years a Slave both out grossing massive mega-movies like Transformers Age of Extinction and Godzilla the problem is that many of the smaller films aren’t attracting the same audiences that they used to 20 years ago. With so many films aimed at the under 30 audience being released week after week it is hard for these others to build audiences. During a quieter February The Grand Budapest Hotel managed to top the box office and go on to take almost £11m but then in September the similarly critically acclaimed Pride only managed to take £3.5m.
As seen by the massive growth of Event Cinema there is an audience out there that doesn’t feel that the studios are providing them with the content that they are wanting to see and this will become more so in the coming years when studios become even more reliant on the mega movies, comic book adaptations, remakes, reboots and sequels that this audience isn’t interested in seeing.
This year was a disappointing year for Warner Bros unusually for them they made a wide range of mostly original films but the majority of which failed to be successful at the box office. It is sadly no wonder that they will now become heavily reliant on mega movies from DC to fill out their slate and after the wonderfully original The Lego Movie are making sequels and spinoffs that will problem not have the same energy and originality spark that made the original film so much fun.
Compare that slate with 20th Century Fox who also had a wide range of original films along with sequels and animated films but their films brought in audiences. After previous years when they have had poor years they will be the biggest studio by some margin in the UK this year.
Looking back to 1994 it’s sad to also note that Mrs Doubtfire opened in January starring the late Robin Williams and in November the remake of Miracle on 34th Street opened with the late Sir Richard Attenborough as Santa Claus. (I believe)
