Cinema is one of the most important and influential pop culture outlets in the world. It has inspired generation after generation by offering a variety of fantastical yet extremely meaningful experiences that resonate with audiences for a long time.
Despite a long history of success, cinema has been struggling recently to attract the number of audiences it used to. Especially blockbusters.
A blockbuster is a product that is a great commercial success. Blockbusters are known for bringing millions of diverse people to the theater to share a moment of escapism.
Studios pour hundreds of millions of dollars into blockbuster movies because the bigger the budget, the more they can promote it as a spectacle and potentially bring in a big audience. As of this moment, the most expensive movie ever produced is “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.” Released in 2015, the highly anticipated space opera cost an estimated $447 million. Adjusted for inflation, the film’s budget further grew to an estimated $552 million.
While about thirty years ago, it was mind-boggling to see a movie with such a big budget, as time marches into the 2000s, it is nowhere near as uncommon to see such expensive movies.
A major problem now is that studios aren’t making their money back.
The aforementioned “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” was massively expensive to produce, but when released theatrically on December 18, 2015, it made over $2 billion at the worldwide box office. This was spectacular news for the production studios, as the film’s global revenue brought them a net profit of $780.1 million.
However, since 2015, box office returns on blockbuster films have steadily decreased unless they are films of an already established IP (intellectual property). Film franchises such as Marvel and Star Wars flourish because of their dedicated fan bases, but even their revenue is starting to struggle due to “blockbuster fatigue.”
Blockbuster fatigue is the exhaustion felt by audiences when they see the trailer or even the announcement of a new blockbuster. What was once excitement over Hollywood’s new spectacle is now at best slight interest.
For example, around 10 years ago when a blockbuster movie was released, it had its month of spotlight and promotion both before and after the release to get audiences interested.
Nowadays, so many blockbuster movies are being released that unless the studio pushes for it, none are getting the proper promotion and are dismissed by audiences as another loud and obnoxious blockbuster among a sea of others that look just like them.
Also, if a film’s special effects and production design still look cheap despite the massive budget, audiences will drift away simply because they feel like paying for something that looks bad despite immense resources will be equivalent to stroking a company’s ego. It seems that now more than ever, people are truly beginning to express their opinions with their wallets.
Over a dozen movies released starting last year boasting a budget of over $200 million have failed at the box office due to audiences actively ignoring them and looking out for the movies that they think will truly interest them.
This past summer, the “Barbenheimer” cultural phenomenon was born of movies one would typically not expect to be blockbusters. “Barbie” a fantasy comedy based on a popular toy for young children, and “Oppenheimer,” a historical drama based on J. Robert Oppenheimer, the man who invented the nuclear bomb.
Because the movies were being released on the same day and were so different from each other and other movies being released at the time, audiences latched on to both. Some moviegoers even went to watch the two movies as a double feature.
To be fair, both movies were not cheap to make. “Barbie” cost $145 million to produce and “Oppenheimer” cost $100 million. However, compared to the budget of other films such as “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” which cost over $295 million, and “Fast X,” which cost $340 million, the two films are significantly cheaper.
They also went on to become significantly more successful than both aforementioned blockbusters combined. Two months after their dual release, the films have grossed a combined $2.2 billion worldwide. “Barbie” generated the lion’s share of the revenue with over $1.38 billion, but due to its relatively niche genre, “Oppenheimer’s” gross of over $860 million is still massively impressive, and more than twice what the latest Indiana Jones film has made.
Despite audience attraction to films that are non conventional blockbusters, there are still some blockbusters they are willing to give a chance to. Marvel Studios’ “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” made over $800 million, cementing another win for the highest-grossing film franchise of all time. 2022’s “Avatar: The Way of Water” grossed over $2.3 billion.
Guardians’ success was mostly due to the goodwill Marvel still has among the general public, and Avatar’s success was mostly due to it being a highly anticipated sequel with truly stunning special effects. Despite being traditional blockbusters, it was commonly agreed that both films were competently made.
And that seems to be the answer to the main question. Maybe it is not blockbusters themselves that people have gotten tired of, but the constant stream of soulless sequels and retreads that Hollywood has been pumping out as of late. Audiences will show up if a movie truly grabs their attention, but they must first be secure that they are not wasting their time.
