Each US Memorial Day long weekend begins the annual summer harvest for Hollywood studios as their blockbusters open. This year Sex and the City 2, Prince of Persia and Shrek 4 led the way.
It was a disaster, with the worst Memorial Day weekend takings in nine years and the lowest attendances for at least 15 years.
Hollywood executives hoped that last year’s killer flick Avatar would lead to a new era in which 3D would give them the technological edge against their DVD-pirate rivals and raise ticket prices.
Pursuing what is called “technological rent” their thinking was that they could use their exclusive control over the techno-pizzazz to force a rise in their rate of profit.
Hollywood is a machine that eats its rivals. When television began, cinemas replied with wide-screen projection and enhanced it with Dolby sound.
That technological edge was clawed back by wide-screen TVs with surround sound and film pirating also took a share.
James Cameron’s Avatar, costing hundreds of millions of dollars and grossing billions, funded a quantum leap in 3D cameras, motion-capture tools and virtual production techniques. Avatar didn’t suffer from heavy competition — all producers wanted a profitable change in the way movies do business.
Avatar forced cinema owners to convert to 3D screens and to bump up ticket prices.
3D movies, and associated ticket prices, will probably become the norm. No longer will expensive projection reels have to be freighted around, studios will simply mail a digital disc. And if a pirate burns a copy it will be unusable, as will any pirate videos shot in a cinema.
Reformatting old favourites like Star Wars and Titanic cheaply into 3D to make extra profit is already on the cards.
Unfortunately for the producers, the Memorial Day massacre has brought them face to face with reality: the capitalist crisis is driving families to the wall, so forking out up to $100 or more in tickets for two parents and couple of kids is just out of the question.
Brandon Gray, the president of Box Office Mojo, which collates box office data, told the June 4 London Independent, lousy movie making was also a factor. “People go to the movies to be told good stories, and this May, Hollywood came offering only a retread”, he said.
Expect a new round of technological innovations to be paid for out of your pocket as other “entertainment platforms” strike back. New, flat-screen 3D TVs are on their way as are 3D phones — how else to preview the trailer for 2012’s 3D films?