“Oscars may pave way for more movies aimed at grown-ups”
Lovers of adult dramas, drama-comedies, smart genre pieces, feel free to read the headline of this LAT article multiple times: “Oscars may pave way for more movies aimed at grown-ups.”
Ooh, I like the looks of that.
“Oscars may pave way for more movies aimed at grown-ups.”
“Oscars may pave way for more movies aimed at grown-ups.”
“Oscars may pave way for more movies aimed at grown-ups.”
“Oscars may pave way for more movies aimed at grown-ups.”
“Oscars may pave way for more movies aimed at grown-ups.”
Bwahahaha! Vindication! Ever since the beginning of this humble blog nearly 5 years ago, I have been preaching a very simple point: Hey, Hollywood. You wanna make money? Make movies aimed at Baby Boomers! We are a huge demo group, we have discretionary money, free time, and we love movies. So every time I read stuff like this, it makes me feel like dancing. And I’m a crap dancer!
At the Oscars on Sunday night, however, six of the nine best picture nominees were hits that earned more than $100 million at the domestic box office. That could lead Hollywood to green-light more projects aimed at sophisticated audiences, filmmakers and studio executives say.
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This year’s slate of best picture nominees included “Lincoln,” “Les Miserables” and “Silver Linings Playbook,” all of which resonated with older filmgoers. The winner, “Argo” was seen by many as a throwback to the kind of movies made in the 1970s, with director Ben Affleck citing “All the President’s Men” as an inspiration.
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The success of many of the nominated films was driven by adults, an audience segment that has a long history of going to the movies.
Older moviegoers “are a very reliable segment of the audience that typically still has a fairly high incidence of moviegoing — it is part of their social fabric,” said Doug Belgrad, president of Columbia Pictures, the Sony Pictures Entertainment unit that released “Zero Dark Thirty.” That best picture nominee has grossed $91.6 million in the U.S.
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The roughly 76 million Americans born during the baby boom years of 1946 to 1964 — many of whom are now empty nesters with more leisure time — could be further tapped by studios to great gain. But not if they don’t make the kind of movies that compel older adults to leave the comfort of their living rooms.
Okay, that was the Los Angeles Times. Now here’s a fluff piece from NPR:
That’s a segment of the moviegoing audience that may have been neglected once — but no more. A number of films appealing to older audiences, or films that have themes closely related to aging, have been scooping up nominations for Oscars and other awards.
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“When the baby boomers were in college, they went and saw ‘art film,’ as it was called in those days,” Mundorff says. “And after they became empty-nesters, they returned to going to movies.”
And baby boomers, as you may have heard, are a huge demographic. They’re also less likely than younger audiences to be spending their entertainment time and money playing video games.
But it’s not just small, independent films that are dealing with themes of aging lately. Skyfall, the latest James Bond movie, shows Dame Judi Dench as M fighting against bureaucrats who think she’s too old for her job. Even Daniel Craig’s 007 is treated as a bit over the hill.
And there have been other mainstream movies in the past year with appeal to an older audience: Hope Springs, starring Meryl Streep, and Parental Guidance with Billy Crystal.
Excuse me… phew… was just doing The Frug and… whoa… catching my breath here.
Now while I sit down and mainline some Metamucil, let me clarify something. While these last few months, I have been noting the success of movies aimed at adults, that does not mean if you waltzed into the office of a Hollywood buyer with a pitch for a serious-minded, intelligent drama, they would bow down and worship you. My sense is very little has changed. They still want franchises, they still want sequels, they still want genre films, they still want movies with a high action quotient in order to translate into revenues from international markets.
What I am thinking is if you write a smart, compelling, and well-crafted drama spec, there may be a more receptive audience among buyers. Just last week, Conde Nast Entertainment Group commissioned two film projects, one based on a GQ article, the other on a Vanity Fair article, both adult dramas. Yet one more anecdote to support an apparent trend toward… “movies aimed at grown-ups.”
Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go cut a rug by doing the Twist… the Wahtusi… the Mashed Potato…
For the NPR article, go here.
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