Barry Diller: The Oscars Are Over and the Movie Business Is Finished

"Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to enjoy torrid heterosexual sex with my beautiful wife, Diane von Furstenburg,"

He says Academy Awards should go back to the earliest system of being an insider trade affair.

Halleluja!

Enough of 3rd rate 'actors' in 4th rate 'movies' being paid as though they have cured every known disease on the planet and expecting the world to swallow their swill as 'entertainment'!

The whole 'industry' is absurd.

Movies died by suicide.

I can't wait for the return of vaudeville.

Bring back shadow puppets.

No new ideas. Same old shit year after year. Transformes 40…escape from the geriatric ward.

Time to start some cockfights. This time with midgets.

Bear-baiting, like in Elizabethan England?

[quote] 'I used to be in the movie business where you made something really because you cared about it,' he told NPR adding that popular reception was the thing executives were vying for above all else.

[quote] But now, the definition of the term movie is 'in such transition that it doesn't mean anything right now.'

[quote] 'These streaming services have been making something that they call 'movies,' he continued. 'They ain't movies. They are some weird algorithmic process that has created things that last 100 minutes or so.'

He nailed it, one million percent!

Amen, Barry.

For better or worse Hollywood will always be around in one form or another.

Eh, if anyone was still taking his calls, he'd be cheerleading for crap faster than you can say "80 For Brady."

Fathom Events has been making much better use of commercial cinema spaces than the movie industry. More live opera and legit theater, please!

It’s Morbin time!

Public executions!

Old white man speaks nonsense. News at 11.

It wasn't so long ago they declared television a dead medium. Movies won't die. That literally make no sense. If nothing else, the ability to make movies is becoming more widespread because of the technological means of making and distributing them becoming more accessible across the entire world.

R12, I don't get the hate for 80 for Brady. It's innocuous and was probably fun for those old actresses to make and it appeals to old ladies. They should get an occasional movie to watch to go along with the endless piles of shit made for teenage boys.

This has been true for a while. In SF, there is now only one theater that shows independent films. And that one theater (Opera Plaza) is a small multiplex.

He's basically right. It's not that movies won't be made anymore, but most of what we will call movies will be on streaming.

I've been much more excited the last ten years about television shows than movies. I am tired of paying exorbitant prices, seeing endless commercials, and listening to strangers munch food.

He’s not saying anything we don’t know already. Streaming and SM killed the movies/celebrities. BUT.... it was also people’s tastes as far as movies go. Even 15 years ago (maybe more) action movies rules the box office. TV also, character driven dramas in the late 90s, early 2000s were always getting canceled, but not procedurals. I know this because I was an avid watcher of shows like Friday Night Lights, Rome and many others that struggled to get viewers. Oddly, both because classics after they were canceled.

Here’s wrong. Box office office is climbing. Fucking 80 For Brady will likely make $50 million domestic.

The Oscars rose in ratings last year, and they’ll rise again this year, as the Grammys just did.

Diller, like most of DL, is an old, comfortable shut-in who prefers to stay home. But we mustn’t let ourselves become a focus group of one.

Even former stars Julia and Nicole do TV films and TV series. They will probably never be nominated again for an Oscar.

The Olympics, nude once again!

I don’t think baby food 80 for Brady will save movies.

Everyone in Hollywood will take Barry Diller's call. He is a Billionaire who launched many careers. Whoever said otherwise is wrong, and probably late for their shift at Starbucks.

Rofl at R20.

You're delusional.

Keep fucking that chicken, though.

You're either a Hollywood bigwig or an actor/actress trying to "talk up" Hollywood, so you can put more money in your pockets.

Too late, though. Movies are DEAD.

Hollywood only puts out formulaic CRAP nowdays.

Yeah! Those TOP GUN movies every 36 years are just too much.

Streaming Online Killed The Cinema Star

In my mind and in my car

We can't rewind, we've gone too far

Oh-a-aho oh

Oh-a-aho oh

Did you hear r24, you pathetic poor people? Rich people are always beloved and always right !!

He's wrong. Big blockbusters are as big as ever at the box-office. Avatar 2 just passed $2 billion and is one of the biggest money earners of all time.

The smaller films, dramas and Oscar bait films are being seen by more people than ever due to streaming services. Those films don't need to be seen in a theater anyway.

Nothing stays the same forever. Barry Diller's idea of the movie business may be finished(meaning he can't make as much money as before), but I think most people would prefer to see blockbusters in a theater on a big screen, and smaller films in the comfort of their own homes.

Dipshit at R23, the point is that there’s a wide range of movies that people are still going to see. Just because you’re 600 pounds and stuck on your WALL-E hovercraft means you understand the business.

Read fucking Disney’s earnings report today. They’re losing $1 billion+ on streaming every quarter. They need legacy theatrical (and theme parks, cruises, etc.) to survive.

Look at Showtime, AMC, HBO…selling off or shelving completed seasons of TV because they’re not worth what it costs to host them on their servers. TV/streaming is in much bigger trouble than theatrical, which is bouncing back from COVID stronger than most people thought.

What's so amazing is that Barry Diller is still alive, and yet he's been an old man for more than 30 years. Mr. Burns was largely based on him.

He and Rupert Murdoch must take baths in the blood of young maidens, like Countess Elisabeth Bathory. They never die.

Barry's lost his touch, which must be difficult for him.

You know what, nobody said these tv producers need to be dropping such astronomical sums on productions, including ridiculous salaries to all. And there is simply TOO MUCH being produced, anyway. By too many producers. Maybe Disney wouldn't loose a billion a quarter if they actually did business correctly, instead of built on egos and pipe dreams and fears.

Happy that 80 for Brady is a success. Rita hasn't had a hit since West Side Story. The first one.

I went for low-hanging fruit, plus I figured it made sense to use that "80 for Brady" alongside the word "cheerlead." Mea culpa, R16.

Agree with R3.

Avatar and Top Gun are big movies but they are not supporting the entire industry, just the studios who made them. Theaters can’t stay in business for only two big movies.

The whole model of Margot Robbie big budget failures is crashing hard.

All they have to do is studiously avoid preaching and 'wokeness', but that seems an impossibility now. Extract any signs of woke and merely tell good stories with talented cast and crew who are solely there by merit. That would turn so much of this descent around. But they can't do it.

R37, they’re not the only big movies, though. Sure, Babylon bombed, but there have always been bombs. Theaters are adapting with stuff like Crunchyroll anime titles, Fathom Events, and concert films. The industry is recovering, and it’s weird that people are so eager to write its obituary. (As Babylon reminds us, ‘twas ever thus.)

I’m so glad. It’s become such a horrible industry. The amount of crap is astounding.

One of the two best multiplexes in Manhattan just closed for good: Cinépolis. Regal UNION Sq. gone. Lincoln Sq. just holding on

Spielberg called it years ago; theatres will be for the big event movies such as the marvel films (as much as they are hated on here, they are popular with the general public) while the mid-range movies will either go to streaming or become mini-series.

Well if this thing is the supposed future of Hollywood, I'd say Barry is definitely correct.

Maybe people don't care to hear what movie-makers have to say. It's such buuuuullshit anymore.

Actors at the Oscars used to get drunk and have fun, they daren't now for fear of showing their "privilege".

The best things I've seen recently are Tar and The Bear. We bought a larger tv during COVID and turned an odd spare room into a home theater. Both projects were perfectly fine to watch at home and avoid the pubic.

There's more great content being produced than can be consumed. It's just not all theatrical releases.

When you have to nominate a certain amount of minorities too keep the SJWs happy it effects nominating people who are the best over meeting a certain quota

R47: Of this year's acting nominees, only two are black and four are Asian. It's a damned if you do and damned if you don't situation. I think at this point the Academy is just saying fuck it because they know they'll never placate the woke mob.

Just because you happened to watch Tar at home doesn’t mean it wasn’t a theatrical release. If it had been released straight to Peacock, you likely would never have heard of it.

It’s not movies that are dying, it’s movie theaters.

Large event theaters will stay around for a while, but cineplexes and small independents are doomed.

Hopefully, Tarantino can keep his couple of revival houses going for a while.

I know what will fix it: more awards for the blacks!

R48, that’s what they should be doing. They went all urban the last few years and got the lowest ratings. So why not keep your standards high and keep the people who traditionally watch.

People don't watch the Oscars because social media has ruined the allure of celebrities. You used to only see your favorite actors when they were promoting a project or attending an event like the Academy Awards. Now, you open Instagram...

The bloom is well off the rose when it comes to the industry.

R46 - Have you seen "Cocaine Bear"? It looks like a hoot!

Hollywood and Broadway are both currently on shaky ground. If they both go down, it will be a major loss for the Democrats, because they run the U.S. entertainment industry and have used movies and musicals to push liberal agendas.

In short, the Dems will lose their propaganda machine.

With the death of classic cinema, I can't wait for all the Republican bible readings that will certainly catch on with all the teens these days.

I can only cum when I masturbate to The Passion of the Christ.

Whether you like it or not, Hollywood is an institution too big to fail.

The problem is the system doesn’t produce Julia Roberts and Tom Cruise like stars anymore. You can argue about their level of talent but you can’t deny that they had that “it” factor. These days they foist forgettable mediocrities like Chalamet, Zendaya, Austin Butler, Florence Pugh as well as the no talent nepo babies.

I hate nepo babies!

No where's the coke and whores.

I can’t believe they would rather let the industry collapse and die than admit that woke business doesn’t work. They think their audience is people living in Brooklyn and LA. Middle America watches movies as well. Of course the geniuses running Hollywood will blame the audiences as racist rather than admit it’s their own woke faults.

You’d think they would’ve learned their lesson by now. People don’t want preachiness in movies and from celebrities accepting awards. They also don’t want the Oscars turned into the BET awards. All they have to do is a little course correction but the problem is they will only do that once the Democrats and the online woke community tells them to do. They are so stubborn in their wokeness that they are perfectly content watching Hollywood and Broadway fail.

Barry Diller is still alive?

I’m pretty confident Hollywood will always be around but it will never be as popular and elegant as it once was.

Best r1 in MONTHS! Brava!

Imagine being a right wing asshole coming to The Data Lounge to shit on gay people, black people, and Hollywood. Sad.

Imagine being R66 and not having an ounce of reading comprehension. Or he is just a troll.

Parler is calling you R67. Did you lose your way looking for gay porn?

I love Barry! Finally someone has balls to say it.

Hollywood is competing with computer games for teen and men's attention. They do need more young male stars who appeal internationally to young men. The good news is they certainly do not need to be white. Why are they pushing Timotay when they should be pushing young confident tough and tender action men who are black and brown and asian.

The numbers seem to speak to Diller's point that a mainstream audience is becoming less and less interested in the show.

'It should be for the industry,' he said of the show, 'and not for the consumers.'

Diller is not the first to speak out against the current trends being embraced by the Academy.

Bruce Davis, who served as executive director of the Academy for over 20 years, said that the Oscars' prioritization of artsy films which often 'baffle' viewers means that people are becoming more and more disinterested in watching the ceremony itself.

Nominees, he said, are often 'well-made films that are serious, issue-oriented, and sometimes a little grim' - which viewers have seemingly become disinterested in.

Moonlight, which won the award for Best Picture in 2016, grossed $65 million and 2020's winner Nomadland raked in just $39 million.

In comparison, The Godfather earned $291 million at the box office in 1972 before its sequel also won the award in 1974.

The third highest-grossing film of all time is Titanic - which ranked at a staggering $2.2 billion - and won the Academy Award in 1997.

Comparatively CODA - 2021's winner - flopped. Its estimated gross was around $100,000 in its domestic opening weekend, according to IndieWire. The film is estimated to have grossed $2.2 million worldwide.

'I'm not sure I see a way to reestablish the Academy Awards as an experience for a wide swath of the country's, or the world's, population.

'It isn't hard to see the Oscars on a track to becoming something like the National Book Awards with way more glamorous presenters. Their appeal could become limited to a far smaller audience with a serious interest in the arts.

'The large segment of the potential audience that prefers its movies noisy, flashy, and undemanding - or heartwarming and reassuring - sees little reason to try watching a Parasite or a Nomadland, and perhaps sees decreasing reasons to tune into an awards show that celebrates movies they either haven't seen or that they saw and were baffled by,' Davis wrote in his recent book The Academy and the Award: The Coming of Age of Oscar and the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences.

There’s no point in televising them. People aren’t watching these movies. There are practically no stars left. That’s why people are no longer tuning in. The same goes for the music industry. People didn’t even know that the Grammy Awards were airing. There is no buzz. No one cares.

[quote] When you have to nominate a certain amount of minorities too keep the SJWs happy it effects nominating people who are the best over meeting a certain quota

The Academy doesn't have minority quotas, you know it doesn't have minority quotas and you only wrote that to sow division and tank this thread.

The decline of Hollywood has several reasons imo

1) The death of small independent (not oscar bait type) movies made by small studios. These allowed young actors and creators to get experience. They were the minor leagues of Hollywood. By the time the cream moved to the big studios they already knew what they were doing.

2) The death of small independent and chain theaters and driveins that showed these smaller movies as well as second and third run blockbusters. Admission was cheap and they allowed a wide diversity in movies for the public to see. I grew up in the OC and within three miles were at least 10 theaters (single screen, two and four screen). Now they are all gone.

3) Corporate consolidation has led to a handfull of studios today run by lawyer types rather than creatives. They are far more vulnerable to cancel culture than when there were many studios and many independent theaters to show film. Could classic film like MASH, Animal House, Blazing Saddles, Chinatown or The Graduate get greenlighted today?

4) Videotapes, DVDs and BlueRays, streaming and torrenting have made movies far more available than in the old days but have made the experience of watching movies less special. When something is so easily available it becomes less fun.

Desperate old troll takes a shit on Hollywood and Datalounge. Look at all the hysterical posting. Jesus Fucking Christ.

[quote] Hollywood is competing with computer games for teen and men's attention.

Wrong. This is just a bizarre and stupid take. Games have nothing to do with anything. We don’t play computer games, gramps. Video games have been with us for nearly 50 years.

[quote]They do need more young male stars who appeal internationally to young men.

What?! lol

[quote]The good news is they certainly do not need to be white.

lol, THIS is a BIG reason no one watches anymore. The majority is white. Non-whites don’t bring the bucks and one hit Marvel film isn’t gonna cut it. The Asian market doesn’t want non-whites either. Audiences don’t want gay or trans shit either. Hollywood needs to get off the woke train before it’s forced to declare bankruptcy.

Calm down gurl.

He’s right about the Oscars-euthanize them. But movies have bounced back from the doldrums they were in a few years ago. Anyway, Barry is rumored to have a monster dick, so he’s allowed a mistake now and then.

[quote] The Academy doesn't have minority quotas, you know it doesn't have minority quotas and you only wrote that to sow division and tank this thread.

It absolutely DOES.

In order to be considered for ‘Best Picture’ at the 2025 Oscars and beyond, new criteria must be met. Four categories have been established that call for a quota of marginalised creatives, and each film must qualify in two of those categories to be considered for the top prize (no requirements have been applied to any other category). The categories are: A. On-screen acting and storylines, B. Creative leadership positions, departmental heads and crew composition, C. Paid apprenticeships, internships and training and D. Audience development, from publicity and marketing to distribution.

[quote] I know what will fix it: more awards for the blacks!

We can only speculate what will happen to the movies but Datalounge is definitely being killed by the morons who hijack every thread with their anti-Black, anti-"woke", anti-SJW nonsense.

Antisemitic anti-Hollywood tropes spring eternal!

If only Hollyweird would stop showing gay people and black people as people.

[quote]"In order to be considered for ‘Best Picture’ at the 2025 Oscars and beyond, new criteria must be met. Four categories have been established that call for a quota of marginalised creatives, and each film must qualify in two of those categories to be considered for the top prize...."

Note that it doesn't say what that quota number is.

It is just more of the chipping away of artistic freedom.

R85: Not for nothing but a lot of productions already satisfy these requirements.

Laugh if you will, but my mother's retirement village took a bus trip to see 80 For Brady. These are white 75+ year olds in the midwest who still go to the movies.

[quote]Not for nothing but a lot of productions already satisfy these requirements.

And others don't and shouldn't be coerced. Especially foreign productions.

What r53 said.

"Glamour", "Movie Star", "Red Carpet" - I used to live for those things when the Academy Awards were telecast.

Not anymore, and that's a feeling in me that gradually has faded over the last 20 or so years.

I don't care about the movies nominated and I don't care who wins an Oscar, be they from a blockbuster or an obscure indie film.

The only thing that still gets interest from me is the Red Carpet.

It's still fun to see who's wearing what and to read and post on the DL thread about it.

The Academy Awards themselves have been a fossil for a long time.

It’s over, Johnny. OVER.

For those of you saying that Hollywood's problem is that it's "too woke", can you give some examples of movies that were released last year that were "woke" and bombed because of it? The only ones I can think of are "She Said" and "Women Talking". I think "She Said" bombed not because it was "woke", but because it was a journalism movie, which are rarely big hits. "Women Talking" just seems like it would be a boring movie. They didn't do themselves any favor with that title. Are there some others?

One of the reasons I think movies are faltering right now is because of consolidation in the industry. Fewer studios means fewer movies are getting made. Fewer distributors means there's a power imbalance between Hollywood and the movie theaters. I listened to a podcast that was talking about the boom in indie films back in the 90s. The theory was that when theater chains started building multiplexes with 20-30+ screens, they needed more movies to show on those screens and were willing to book smaller films. Indie filmmakers were then able to get their movies more easily seen than ever before. But in recent years, the studios have been requiring theaters to devote more of their screens to the blockbusters at the expense of smaller films and indie movies. And the audiences have been trained to expect 40+ shows per day of the latest Marvel or Star Wars or Jurassic or Harry Potter and other IP movies and they ignore other films.

There is no monoculture anymore and something like the Oscars depends on a monoculture.

Bingo! R92

He's right. Television, not cinema, is the venue for entertainment, and the source of the best, most original content for a quarter century now.

While Hollywood and DataLounge prenda that movies still matter, that cinema still means something, that there are still important major broadcast networks with fresh content, Netflix an HBO and streaming services and the trade in international content has grown - unnoticed by the fossils.

The Oscars were done at least 15 years before "the slap," its audience so old and frail and befuddled they couldn't see all the life support apparatus.

Films and cinema will carry on for some time, but the shitty big deal superhero films and, if we're lucky, some occasional film festival offerings made on no budget but with some occasional talent. That's absolutely the dest to be hoped for for the film business: more diCaprio crap, more R Downey Jr in tights, an ironic superhero for the time, and a no dusting of small films via festivals and grants that, if they are lucky, will land on HBO or Amazon or Netflix.

We need more roles for white people, and more white people winning awards.

What lazy trolling.

[quote]He says Academy Awards should go back to the earliest system of being an insider trade affair.

Absolutely. The artistic divide between the rubbish of super hero movies for kidadults and film excellence has gotten too wide.

The Academy also needs to revise the diversity rules it brought it: while well-intentioned, they're far too prescriptive. You can't have the making of art boxed up by rules – the history of art should teach that. Great art is generally made by rogues, not rule followers.

And those rogues were WHITE

If the Academy Awards were to completely go away, would there be a public outcry? Personally, I don't think so. I think after a year or two, no one would even mention them.

[quote] The Academy also needs to revise the diversity rules it brought it: while well-intentioned, they're far too prescriptive. You can't have the making of art boxed up by rules – the history of art should teach that. Great art is generally made by rogues, not rule followers.

Hollywood is commerce, not art. The Academy Awards have always been a reflection of that ethos. Hollywood has long insisted it could not be inclusive or deal with subject matter it deemed culturally controversial because it would not "play in Peoria." That has limited opportunity in front of the camera for anyone who was not white, and behind the camera for anyone who is not a white male. In the U.S., filmmaking is a staggeringly white profession. Now that it is calling for inclusivity on both sides of the camera it is being criticized as "woke." It is typical of MAGA-America (and MAGA-Datalounge) to reject and deride any view of the world that doesn't have a strictly white axis.

Bullshit, R100. The objection comes to the artificial quotas put on films to become " diverse" in all phases of production. It has nothing to do with talent, but producers being forced to employ because of the person's skin color or gender identity....very woke.

Exactly R101, Every time a POC is hired, they’re taking the place of a more talented white person.

[quote] Bullshit, [R100]. The objection comes to the artificial quotas put on films to become " diverse" in all phases of production. It has nothing to do with talent, but producers being forced to employ because of the person's skin color or gender identity....very woke.

Hollywood is not special, it's no different than an Amazon fulfillment center. "Talent" is found and cultivated, it is not created in the womb. Requiring the Academy to explore talent pools that it previously, purposely overlooked will not have a negative impact on the industry. Certainly not an industry that considers "Babylon" and "La La Land" art.

By the way, using "woke" as a pejorative suggests something about your character and values that will make rational people dismiss you.

[quote] Exactly [R101], Every time a POC is hired, they’re taking the place of a more talented white person.

LOL. Datalounge has become so crazy I honestly cannot determine if this remark is sarcasm. If so, you get a WW from me.

[quote]For those of you saying that Hollywood's problem is that it's "too woke", can you give some examples of movies that were released last year that were "woke" and bombed because of it? The only ones I can think of are "She Said" and "Women Talking". I think "She Said" bombed not because it was "woke", but because it was a journalism movie, which are rarely big hits. "Women Talking" just seems like it would be a boring movie. They didn't do themselves any favor with that title. Are there some others?

Perhaps "Bros" would be another example.

r55 in the *THEATRE GOSSIP #513: Give us some Sugar* thread:

[quote]I'm willing to bet that one of the major reasons for the recent rise in horrible theater etiquette has to do with more black audiences in attendance. Broadway has been on a mission for several years to court more black people to come to Broadway. Anyone who's ever had black neighbors or been to the cinema knows they are generally loud and unruly. Now add 'woke culture,' which pretty much dictates that criticizing/admonishing black people is akin to racism, and ushers et al. are less willing to intervene and blacks feel entitled to continue to act out.

The bullshit diversity and inclusion movement precipitated this and the Will Smith assault put the nail in the coffin.

Thanks, r106. Sometimes I can't tell if it is one poster or multiple posters because they fill the threads with their foolishness.

[quote] Not for nothing but a lot of productions already satisfy these requirements.

Not with a gun to their backs.

[quote] Hollywood is not special, it's no different than an Amazon fulfillment center. "Talent" is found and cultivated

Honey, the studio system ended over half a century ago. Hollywood doesn’t do that.

I think one of the reasons why many Americans don't care for the Oscars anymore is because it has become too international within the past 20 years. I think that before they thought of the Academy as an American institution that was awarding/promoting American homegrown talent. Until the turn of the 21st century, most nominated actors/directors were American and the Best Picture nominees often consisted of popular movies at the box office. In the 2000s, the Academy (and Hollywood in general) began shifting away from Americana; in fact, having downright contempt for it. I think American viewers sensed this and began tuning out. Also, the Academy embracing woke culture and preaching to viewers did not help matters.

"It used to be, that the Academy Awards won over viewers by correlating themselves with the year's most popular films."

Is that true? If so, to what degree? Even before the rise of Marvel and the decline of the Oscars telecast, didn't the Academy love to award films that not a ton of people saw. Not exclusively, but it's not like it was a rare thing for a critical, though not popular, fave to win big awards.

Now they get accused of this if they don’t nominate somebody

Gotta love the black people who believe diversity only means "black." Misogynoir? Please.

The reason black people are so angry is because Asians did particularly well at the Oscars this year and for the past few years actually. Black people hate when Asians gain ground and do well.

A production with woke politics can be successful but these Hollywood and Broadway producers incorrectly assume that these productions are successful because of woke politic.

People getting older always think everything coming up behind them is shitty, but there's some truth in it now. The demise of local news, the splintering of mass entertainment into niches, cable-news hyper-partisanship, the banality and mean-spiritedness of social media. They're having an effect, and it's not good.