Hear that? That noise that sounds like a crumbling empire off in the distance? That’s the movie theatre industry buckling like a calving iceberg in the Tropic of Capricorn. The studios actually have a plan to release FEWER MOVIES. Check out the various industry comments:

Fox Filmed Entertainment Co-Chairman/CEO Tom Rothman told the newspaper that the surplus of films represents “one of the biggest issues facing Hollywood today.” With so many films vying for attention, the studios have also been forced to increase their marketing and promotional costs.

“In order to break through the clutter, we all feel the pressure to spend more in marketing,” said Warner Bros. President Alan Horn.

And Disney chief Robert Iger was quoted by the newspaper as saying, “Too many movies are being released into the marketplace. They can’t all be good enough or marketed well enough to drive good returns.”

Time Warner plans to halve its counts. Everyone else plans drastic reductions.

I haven’t seen so many white flags since France celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of the Normandy landing. Studios spend tens of millions of dollars per movie, and only occasionally recover it. Oh, sure, when they get a hit it’s a monster hit, but the take isn’t so big that it can not only recover its own losses but also drag all the rest of the titles up from their underwater status.

Video’s killing the matinee idol, just as sure as it’s killing the radio star.

And to get a better idea of what’s killing the movies, try the indie movie trivia on Kwanzoo.

Tags: pop culture, trivia, recreation

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