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LOS ANGELES — .... After helping to build some of the city’s most impressive monuments over the last century — including the downtown music center, with its Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and Disney Concert Hall — show business has been stepping back, according to nonprofit organizations in the city and some people in the entertainment industry.
While big companies and their leaders have historically helped out their hometowns in a pinch, out of benevolence or for bragging rights, Hollywood has been playing a relatively minor role in the civic life of Los Angeles, preferring national and international charities, say political leaders and many who care for those in need in the city....
I think we know which agenda-pushing interests those would be, no, readers?
Hollywood’s tendency to look past the locals....
While TAKING our TAX LOOT!!!!
Latest related: Hollywood Helps Mass. Workers
Slow Saturday Special: Day at the Movies
Do you SEE WHY I'M ANGRY, world!
the pattern has been clear for years: Homelessness in Santa Monica is eschewed in favor of starvation in Darfur, health care in South Los Angeles draws less than a search for cancer cures. The reasons vary....
Yeah, but there seems to be certain religious characteristic they mostly have in common.
Hollywood companies, once local, are now part of multinational corporations; the recession has taken a toll....
--more--"
Yeah, except HOLLYWOOD is MAKING BIG DOUGH BECAUSE of the recession!!!
FLASHBACK:
"Americans flock to movies, seeking silver-screen lining; Box office sales surge in midst of recession" by Michael Cieply and Brooks Barnes, New York Times | March 1, 2009
LOS ANGELES - Hollywood could get used to this recession thing.
While much of the economy is teetering between bust and bailout, the movie industry has been startled by a box-office surge that has little precedent in the modern era. Suddenly it seems as if everyone is going to the movies, with ticket sales this year up 17.5 percent, to $1.7 billion, according to Media by Numbers, a box-office tracking company.
And yet they are getting TAX BREAKS and TAX GIVEAWAYS from my state.
See: Making Movies in Massachusetts
And it is not just because ticket prices are higher. Attendance has also jumped, by nearly 16 percent. If that pace continues through the year, it would amount to the biggest box-office surge in at least two decades.
Not by me. I haven't been to the movies in two years. The last good movie I saw was Sicko, and considering the dissing my favorite film took, I will never pay for a ticket to a movie ever again.
(Update: I did recently pay for and see "District 9" and really liked it. The analogies and parallels to the past and present -- as well as the allusions to a none-too-happy future for the oppressors of today -- were poignant and powerful. Rather than do a review here, I would simply tell you to pay your $5.50 or $7.50 or $10.50 or whatever it is JUST THIS ONCE and go see the film for yourself)
Americans, for the moment, just want to hide in a very dark place, said Martin Kaplan, the director of the Norman Lear Center for the study of entertainment and society at the University of Southern California.
Yeah, HIDE in the DARK away from the LIGHT and TRUTH, America! I wish I could say that was the exception; however, it is the rule around here.
"It's not rocket science," he said. "People want to forget their troubles, and they want to be with other people."
In the DARK where you CAN'T TALK to anyone and are a SPECTATOR!
Americans, you are pathetic!!!!
You know, if I'm going to be in the dark with another person, I'd rather be having sex -- not watching a movie!
Helping feed the surge is the mix of movies, which have been more audience-friendly in recent months as the studios have tried to adjust after the lackluster sales of more somber and serious films.
Translation: Americans like crap.
As she stood in line at the 18-screen Bridge theater complex here on Thursday to buy weekend tickets for "Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience," Angel Hernandez was not thinking much about escaping reality. Instead, Hernandez, a Los Angeles parking lot attendant and mother of four young girls, was focused on one very specific reality: her wallet.
Even with the movie carrying a premium price of $15 because of its 3-D effects - children's tickets typically run $9 at the Bridge - Hernandez saw the experience as a bargain.
"Spending hundreds of dollars to take them to Disneyland is ridiculous right now," she said. "For $60 and some candy money I can still be a good mom and give them a little fun."
Oh, THAT'S WHAT being a GOOD MOM is, huh? Shoveling money at Hollywood and CANDY into the KIDS!!!!
I've been typing it all day, readers, and I've had it.
(Thank the Almighty those days are done)
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The film industry appears to have had a hand in its recent good luck. Over the last year or two, studios have released movies that are less depressing than what came before. After poor results for a spate of serious dramas built around the Middle East ("The Kingdom," "Lions for Lambs," "Rendition"), Hollywood got back to comedies like "Paul Blart: Mall Cop," a review-proof lark about an overstuffed security guard.
Translation: Americans DON'T LIKE WARS, especially when we have been LIED TO ABOUT THEM!!!!!!!!!! And we don't like STINK ELITE, AGENDA-PUSHING CRITICS, either!
"A bunch of movies have come along that don't make you think too much," said Marc Abraham, a producer whose next film is a remake of "The Thing."
That's ALREADY BEEN DONE!! So what, we get a THIRD REMAKE NOW?
Don't you guys have any NEW IDEAS out there?
Certainly exhibitors are looking for a profit lift in the downturn. A new report from Global Media Intelligence on Friday predicted that the fortunes of movie theater operators like
I want the $300 million in taxpayer hand-outs back.
Cinematic quality has little to do with it. The recent crop of Oscar nominees has fared poorly, for the most part, at the box office. Lighter fare has drawn the crowds....
Or maybe we just don't like what agenda-pushing elite s***ters like, huh?
"Watchmen," a dark superhero film, opens March 6 and is expected to do megawatt business. Movie theaters are adding 3 a.m. screenings for "Watchmen" next week, and advance sales.... have been strong.
That's nice. An APOCALYPSE FILM is going to be PROMOTED! Just the type of mindset the masses need.
So WhyTF does Hollywood need TAXPAYERS to pay for THEIR ROAD, 'eh?
