The Kids Are Saving the Movie Industry
Today in show business news: Young people are going to the movies more these days which is a good sign for the industry, Seth Rogen will be directing another movie, and Meryl's daughter books another gig.
.Today in show business news: Young people are going to the movies more these days which is a good sign for the industry, Seth Rogen will be directing another movie, and Meryl's daughter books another gig.
The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) has released its annual report on movie attendance, and it seems that 2012 was a good year for the business. Global box office was up 6.4 percent from 2011, for a whopping $34.7 billion. In Canada and the United States, the figures were up nearly 6 percent for a $10.8 billion haul. Better yet, admissions were up for the first time in two years. (Meaning that growth in revenue wasn't simply because tickets, especially 3D ones, got more expensive. More people went to the movies.) What's the reason for the growth? Young people. Per capita, kids ages 11 and under went to the movies 3.3 times last year, while 18-24-year-olds were at 7.8, up from 6.8 the year prior. Meanwhile attendance dropped for people over 50. So older adults with the fancy TVs and the memories of when movies cost five dollars are staying home unless their children beg them to sit through The Lorax, while the youngs keep scampering off and forking over the $16 to see Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter in 3D. But who cares what they're seeing, as long as they're seeing something. Young people are going to movies more frequently and that is nothing but good news for the industry. So don't worry about studio chiefs losing their jobs or anything. They're going to be just fine. Even better, they now see that raising ticket prices isn't a deterrent for their target audience. So thanks a lot, kids! [The Hollywood Reporter]
Mamie Gummer, daughter of La Streep, has been cast on the CBS drama pilot starring Rainn Wilson. Yes, Rainn Wilson is doing a drama. He's playing a police detective who is super awful and annoying but is trying to be better. So he's playing the Dwight Schrute backdoor pilot! Zingggg. Anyhoo, Gummer will be playing his character's partner, a lesbian still smarting from a breakup with her longtime girlfriend. The show is called Backstrom, which... Not such a great title! I know I would certainly spend a good deal of time calling it Backstorm by accident if it makes it to series. Hopefully they will change it, maybe to something a little flashier. Like Cranky Cop or Officer Jerk or Detective Dick and Sergeant Sappho. Y'know, something punchy and exciting. Because Backstrom just does not work. [Deadline]
Ian McShane has joined the cast of a The "Dwayne Johnson" Rock movie called Hercules. Joseph Fiennes, Rufus Sewell, and John Hurt are also in the cast. So should we be expecting some magical godly epic? No, actually. This is "a more grounded approach," and Hercules is not the son of Zeus or anything. He's just a guy who "leads a team of mercenaries on a job where all is ominously not what it appears." Aha. That sounds... thrilling. I guess it's supposed to be like 300? Except that was sort of magical wasn't it? I mean the Persians looked like monsters. I don't know. McShane is playing someone referred to as a "prophet," so that's at least a little mystical. But otherwise I guess it's just regular people. Which is odd! To take all the fun stuff out of a story so everything's just regular. Seems a bit misguided if you ask me. What's worse? This is being directed by Brett Ratner. Yes, the Brett Ratner. So probably don't mark your calendars or anything. [The Hollywood Reporter]
Here is a trailer for the upcoming AMC cop series Low Winter Sun, about crooked Detroit police officers. Mark Strong and Lennie James, both Brits, appear to be the leads on the show, which was adapted from a BBC movie. It looks good? It's hard to tell from this, as not a lot happens. It's mostly tough/foreboding voice over and stern facial expressions and that's kind of it. One potential problem is that it doesn't seem to have much of a hook, like all the successful AMC shows do. (Zombies! The '60s! Meth!) That's not necessarily a problem, but it might prove a tougher sell. Y'know, it being just another cop show. But I'll give AMC the benefit of the doubt on pretty much anything, so bring it on. Weird title though, huh? I feel like it should be set in Norway. Is Detroit the Norway of the US? (No, it is mayyybe the Bucharest.)