{"id":85731,"date":"2023-11-15T03:00:56","date_gmt":"2023-11-15T08:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/?p=85731"},"modified":"2023-11-14T11:14:38","modified_gmt":"2023-11-14T16:14:38","slug":"the-big-brains-of-hollywood-display-a-special-kind-of-stupid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/2023\/11\/15\/the-big-brains-of-hollywood-display-a-special-kind-of-stupid\/","title":{"rendered":"The big brains of Hollywood display “a special kind of stupid”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ted Gioia met with a group of executives from movie distribution firms outside the North American market back in 2016. It was a good time, financially, but the overall tone of the meeting was anxious because the trend seemed unsustainable:<\/p>\n

These were smart people, but they didn’t make the movies. They just ran theater chains. But they didn’t need to be specialists in creativity or storytelling to know that hit films were now built on tired formulas, the same plot lines played out over and over again.<\/p>\n

Special effects added some sizzle to the steak, but it was still the same stale meal night after night. Sooner or later, even superheroes die.<\/p>\n

Other genres have come and gone \u2014 westerns and musicals and other box office draws of the past. Comic book franchises would eventually meet the same fate.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Source: Bo McReady<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

Back then, Disney was bragging to shareholders that another 20 Marvel films were already in the pipeline. And that was just a start. CEO Bob Iger explained that Disney owned the rights to 7,000 different Marvel characters<\/a> \u2014 implying that brand franchises could propagate forever, like copulating Australian bunnies<\/a>.<\/p>\n

That was the party line in Burbank. But most of the people I spoke to that day privately expressed doubts about this formula-driven strategy. They hoped to enjoy a few more years of boom times, but worried about what would happen next.<\/p>\n