2004 a Bad Year for Movies?Written by Ryan Parsons
Here is a case in point- 2004 was a strange, if not bad, year for movies. Now, I'm not talking about quality of films, they were probably right on par. But, Hollywood has been growing scared. Scared to create films that fall away from standard conventions and afraid to try films that may tilt a couple heads or raise a few brows. If it wasn't for a few HUGE films in 2004, including some that distributors were afraid of, everybody may have felt that Hollywood was losing us. However, it seems that Hollywood is willing to turn a cheek and come stronger than it ever has this century [never mind Lord of Rings] with bringing in of 2005.2004 Poor for Movies I can understand how it may be hard to fathom that Hollywood did not have one of its best years during 2004. Sure, film companies were still able to pull in film revenues with a little over nine billion, but ticket sales were actually DOWN by a startling two percent. Now, I know this doesn't sound like much, but it is! For year of 2004, distributors were planning on conquering box offices with films such as Troy, Alexander, The Whole Ten Yards, The Village and Van Helsing. However, all of these films flopped [Van Helsing is doing great with DVD though]. No matter how impressive battles or sequences, audiences left theatres feeling unsatisfied. So what was wrong with films? And who saved 2004? Four of biggest hitters of 2004 came out of either CG animation or children's tales. Shrek 2 began with a bang and was able to gross somewhere just under $450 million in ticket sales. Then we had Pixar's The Incredibles, which proved that animated films with adult-style action and subject matter can still be successful [~$275 million gross]. Last of animations was Spider-Man 2 [the fights were almost entirely animated]. I can call this an animation as fight scenes were well animated and film seemed to run like a perfect animated comic [~$370 million gross]. Harry Potter and Prisoner of Azkaban, based of 'childrens' book [I beg to differ], couldn't lose with a darker atmosphere set up by Alfonso Cuaron [pulled in $250 million]. Obviously, four listed films were expected to do well in theatres and all three performed gracefully. But what about films that nobody wanted or were afraid to touch? The two films that were handled like boiling water were Mel Gibson's Passion of Christ and Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11. Even though these films caused a lot of tension amidst their distributors [Einstein was pissed!], two films managed to pull just under a combined $500 million in ticket sales. So that would make five big blockbusters for year; not nearly enough. While Passion and Fahrenheit were more than plesent surprises, what about other films?
| | Eating after a long day at work!Written by eric - menuserve
A long hard day at work. You get home and need dinner. Nothing in fridge, nothing in cupboard. Take-out again, but you just can’t decide what to have as you are tired of ordering from same old places.Re-wind. Once you arrive at home… or better yet at office before you leave… now you have www.menuserve.com – ultimate resource in finding takeout and delivery in your local area. Whats at menuserve? How about complete restaurant menus to all local restaurants in your area. Better yet sorted by town and cuisine to help narrow your selection. It truly is that easy. With just a few clicks of mouse, a delicious and different meal can be coming to your doorstep. Happy Ordering! Restaurant Take Out & Delivery Menus AL|CA|
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