Why doesn't Hollywood make classic movies anymore?

[Lord]

I'm trying the think of the last big blockbuster movie that wasn't based on a comic or book....

Pirates of the Caribbean, i know it was inspired by a park atraction, but here wasn't much plot there.

There was also The Fast and the Furious, the Riddick movie, multiple animated movies, etc

And that's only if you count films that inspired sequels, you also have a successful one-shot blockbuster film like The Life of Pi and Gravity.

 

[slumcat]

And plenty of people remember Annie Hall.

In its own way, it is arguable that Annie Hall was way more influential than Star Wars. How many sci-fi adventure films are made? Not a whole lot right?

How many romantic comedy-drama films are made? By the bucketful right?

Annie Hall changed the game as to how cerebral and sophisticated a romantic comedy-drama film could be, they could have large artistic aspirations, and truly encapsulate the current culture, the zeigeist and leave forever a portrait of New York and its many people (atleast in AH's case) as it existed back then.

It affected not just fashion and styling but how the relationships between men and women could be portrayed and even how men and women could be portrayed. It was obviously very influential. There is a good reason it swept all the awards that year over Star Wars.

 

[slumcat]

The Internet.

Movies are torn to pieces because people have almost instant access to all news about all movies in production and have become fickle.

Very few movies are beloved by all and because of fandoms competing and fighting each other there are less these days imo.

I would say overall the internet absolutely unabashedly loves certain movies in a consensus. If not all atleast perhaps 95% of the people love the following movies

Batman Begins
The Dark Knight
The Dark Knight Rises
Inception

Probably Interstellar would also be one such.

 

[Lord]

Even then, you get people starting to go against a certain franchise when they're given something new, the number of Nolanites has created some Nolan haters, some film snobs even consider him a joke. The Dark Knight Rises isn't universally loved, and i'm sure you too have seen people around these parts hating it with a passion.

 

[childeroland]

In its own way, it is arguable that Annie Hall was way more influential than Star Wars. How many sci-fi adventure films are made? Not a whole lot right?

How many romantic comedy-drama films are made? By the bucketful right?

Annie Hall changed the game as to how cerebral and sophisticated a romantic comedy-drama film could be, they could have large artistic aspirations, and truly encapsulate the current culture, the zeigeist and leave forever a portrait of New York and its many people (atleast in AH's case) as it existed back then.

It affected not just fashion and styling but how the relationships between men and women could be portrayed and even how men and women could be portrayed. It was obviously very influential. There is a good reason it swept all the awards that year over Star Wars.

Exactly. The idea that people primarily remember one movie from that year, even if it's Star Wars, doesn't really jell. That might be certain segments of the movie-going public, but outside of those (and beyond cinema) Annie Hall has at least as long-reaching a legacy.

 

[DA_Champion]

Exactly. The idea that people primarily remember one movie from that year, even if it's Star Wars, doesn't really jell. That might be certain segments of the movie-going public, but outside of those (and beyond cinema) Annie Hall has at least as long-reaching a legacy.

By certain segments, you mean the vast majority?

Lots of movies have legacies, but that if star wars is exceptional. Its had hundreds of copycats and it pushed the envelope in several dimensions, including beyond cinema, by which you might mean music, video games, novels, paintings, sculptures, etc

 

[slumcat]

Even then, you get people starting to go against a certain franchise when they're given something new, the number of Nolanites has created some Nolan haters, some film snobs even consider him a joke. The Dark Knight Rises isn't universally loved, and i'm sure you too have seen people around these parts hating it with a passion.

It begs the question why is consensus even required. We are humans not sheep. If everybody loved the same things, we would be reduced to the breaking down of conversation and there would be no color to interactions.

The variety of taste is an apt reflection of the variety of people engaging in a discussion. Besides art is the most subjective of things.

Perspective is what is desired, not consensus.

 

[DA_Champion]

William Shakespeare is the supreme example of a writer of classics who in his own time was seen as making "blockbusters" for which he was then not seen as the best among his peers.

Four hundred years later, a couple courses on Shakespeare are universal for English lit degrees.

 

[Deserana]

What the hell how can you judge whether or not a film is a classic when you yourself are still in that era? Movies are classics because they've stayed in the public consciousness for 10 -20 or so years and could you name classics for around the 1994-2004 era? More than likely.

The only way to know is to go forward in time 20 years and to see what movies stuck around. People laughed at the Shining in theatres, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly was panned by critics, Vertigo got poor reviews and poor box office even with Hitchcock in his prime and who probably thought the light, fluffy Back to the Future would be the mega classic it was!

If in 20 years all films from today are thought about as horrid then I can see why this conversation can be had. But just like in the 30's and 40's or the 80's and 90's there are good films and bad films and the odd exceptional one. There were pieces of fluff like The Awkward Moment or Non Stop in the 50's and 60's I imagine and we don't remember them for the same reason no one will remember The Awkward Moment or Non Stop in 5 years.

 

[childeroland]

No, not the vast majority, compared to the other film. Maybe the most vocal. And Annie Hall's influence reaches at least as far, in the ways outlined by slumcat above, including copycats in the rom-com and other dramatic genres and the very way people view relationships on film. That's not as obvious as the more visual stuff, but it's just as pervasive.

Yep, Shakespeare was looked down on by snobs like Robert Greene, who is forgotten today, only remembered for snubbing the bard and then having to apologize to him in print later on. Heh.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Movies like The Dark Knight, Wall-E, No Country for Old Men, Drive, Frozen, How to Train Your Dragon, Up, Toy Story 3, Silver Linings Playbook, Inception, Ted, Bridesmaids, The Wolf of Wall Street, There Will be Blood, etc. will live on like the classics of yesteryear.

The truth is, we look at the past with rose tinted glasses. We don't know about all the bad films that came out in 1962 or any other random year. What survives are the classics, the ones worth watching. You don't watch the crappy movies from 1980. You Watch The Empire Strikes Back and Raging Bull. I know I will pass down Scott Pilgrim vs. the World to me kids. It will definitely be a family favorite.

 

[DA_Champion]

No, not the vast majority, compared to the other film. Maybe the most vocal. And Annie Hall's influence reaches at least as far, in the ways outlined by slumcat above, including copycats in the rom-com and other dramatic genres and the very way people view relationships on film. That's not as obvious as the more visual stuff, but it's just as pervasive.

No really, the vast majority, as can be discerned from the respective grosses of the two films, dvd and bluray sales (annie hall cannot be found in a typical store) , etc. It's a universally known story in the english speaking countries.

Star wars' influence extends far beyond the visual, though the costumes and sets were great. Why do you think every marching band in the world learns John Williams' score?

 

[Lord]

The only way to know is to go forward in time 20 years and to see what movies stuck around. People laughed at the Shining in theatres, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly was panned by critics, Vertigo got poor reviews and poor box office even with Hitchcock in his prime and who probably thought the light, fluffy Back to the Future would be the mega classic it was!

To be fair, it's mostly a classic due to the imagery and themes, it may be considered a Horror classic but i don't know a single person that has found it scary at all,

 

[Dispatch Ninja]

Do people really find any horror movies scary though? I've never been truly scared watching a movie except for maybe when I was ten and came across the original texas chainsaw massacre on tv.

 

[childeroland]

Box office and DVD grosses don't always align with influence or with what most people remember about a given film year, depending on films' respective audiences, their buying habits, and how a film's influence spreads through culture. Don't know about brick-and-mortar stores, as I haven't been to one in ages, but it's not like the Allen movie isn't easy to find online. And lots of music is part of the marching band repertoire -- Williams's music being extremely popular and important in it.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Do we really believe that Casino Royale and Skyfall aren't modern day classics? That LotR or Harry Potter won't live on for years to come?

 

[slumcat]

No, not the vast majority, compared to the other film. Maybe the most vocal. And Annie Hall's influence reaches at least as far, in the ways outlined by slumcat above, including copycats in the rom-com and other dramatic genres and the very way people view relationships on film. That's not as obvious as the more visual stuff, but it's just as pervasive.

I agree. The film-making lessons, if any, learned from Stars Wars are not easily applied. Who has 100s of millions of dollars worth of money to make one of these films. And only Hollywood makes such films in the summer and Japan in anime form.

But the film-making lessons learned from Annie Hall are more generally applied, you could make a movie like it in 2-3 million dollars and such cinema is widely seen and more importantly widely made around the world.

Star Wars might have transformed video games and comics and cosplay costumes, Annie Hall did none of these things, but it ended up transforming lives. For couples watching Annie Hall in 1977, watching a modern relationship being depicted that way in widely consumable art would have been eye-opening. My aunt tells me that her marriage was definitely affected by watching films like Annie Hall and Bergman's Scenes From A Marriage (an Allen favorite) which kinda showed the gender roles that were no longer applicable in modern relationships.

Art is the most potent and influential when it influences how people think and behave rather than how they dress for a fan event.

 

[Lord]

Movies like The Dark Knight, Wall-E, No Country for Old Men, Drive, Frozen, How to Train Your Dragon, Up, Toy Story 3, Silver Linings Playbook, Inception, Ted, Bridesmaids, The Wolf of Wall Street, There Will be Blood, etc. will live on like the classics of yesteryear.

The truth is, we look at the past with rose tinted glasses. We don't know about all the bad films that came out in 1962 or any other random year. What survives are the classics, the ones worth watching. You don't watch the crappy movies from 1980. You Watch The Empire Strikes Back and Raging Bull. I know I will pass down Scott Pilgrim vs. the World to me kids. It will definitely be a family favorite.

God i hope not, if history keeps progressing, then fortunatelly, MacFarlane will be put alongside things like Song of the South, every time he speaks in public i see everything thing the female rights have been trying to accomplish being ignored and steped on.

 

[Deserana]

Yeah I can't see Ted becoming a classic I hear about 21 Jump Street which was from the same year far more than Ted. I enjoyed it don't get me wrong and whilst I'm looking forward to sequel I don't think it will be held up the same way Anchorman was after 10 years.

 

[Lord]

Do people really find any horror movies scary though? I've never been truly scared watching a movie except for maybe when I was ten and came across the original texas chainsaw massacre on tv.

I see many being scared, yes. The thing with horror films though, is that the older they get, the less scary they are. Show Poltergeist and The Devil inside to a 15 years old, and he will most likelly find Devil inside to be the most scary.

 

[DA_Champion]

Star Wars dismissed for having influenced what people wear to cons.

Fascinating.

FYI, a planet was discovered by astrophysicist a few years ago orbiting two stars in a circumbinary manner. You know what they called it?

A Tatooine planet. They even called LucasFilm to ask to use the label in the press release.

 

[DA_Champion]

Small example of the influence of star wars,

Apollo Creed had a talking robot in Rocky 4.

I don't know if that cost 100 million dollars.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

21 Jump Street is great. Etc. means there are plenty of options to add.

God i hope not, if history keeps progressing, then fortunatelly, MacFarlane will be put alongside things like Song of the South, every time he speaks in public i see everything thing the female rights have been trying to accomplish being ignored and steped on.

So you dismiss the work because of this?

 

[Soapy]

Good movies and bad movies still come out...just like it has been since the history of cinema

One and done.

 

[Lord]

Anyone remembers these films?

What? No? The first 2 were topping the box office.

That's the thing, even back then there was trash, but they're simply no longer remembered for being that. It wasn't all just glory in the 70s and 80s.

So you dismiss the work because of this?

The thing is that Ted may not have has any of the sexism or racism the creator displays, but it didn't push the genre anywhere, it was your run of the mill comedy featuring white people with a female interest that is just there, only with a weird concept that is a talking bear. The people behind The Lego Movie know how to push Hollywood cliches and be self-aware, MacFarlane is not, he thinks he's speaking things others don't, but heavily focuses on shock value, while still following the safe route and not really adding anything.