In its ongoing mission to convince moviegoers that critics are an unnecessary evil, the major Hollywood studios have been refusing to hold press screenings for more and more films.
The studios want you to believe they are doing this because reviewers are out of touch with the taste of the average moviegoer. The reality is that they’re doing this because the vast majority of these non-screened movies are junk.
Don’t take my word for it. The weekend of April 27 offered us the closest thing we can get to scientific proof when it comes to such matters.
Of the four new releases that weekend, three were not screened for the press: Nicolas Cage’s “Next,” the supernatural thriller “The Invisible” and the Jamie Kennedy comedy “Kickin’ It Old Skool.”
According to Hollywood’s argument, those three unscreened movies could only truly be appreciated by “real” moviegoers. So then, how did they do at the box office?
None of them were able to knock off “Disturbia” for the number-one slot, even though it had already been in theaters for two weeks.
The best-performing picture of the batch, “The Invisible,” reached No. 2, but with a measly $7.6 million gross. (I think “Spider-Man 3″ earned $7.6 million in its first 20 minutes.)
As for the other two non-screened films, “Next” came in at No. 3 and “Kickin’ It Old Skool” didn’t even crack the top ten.
It seems, then, that Hollywood executives may not be as in touch with moviegoers’ tastes as they claim, even when Larry the Cable Guy is involved. The unscreened “Delta Farce” came in fifth place at last weekend’s box office, earning a paltry $3.4 million.
Looks like moviegoers pegged that one as trash all on their own.
Read more at LarsenOnFilm.com.
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