Halloween is almost here.
Along with the usual slutty nurses, and snack-sized Kit-Kats, Halloween also brings us a slew of scary movies at the cineplex.
This season, we've got a sequel that's scaring up some serious business . . . Paranormal Activity 3 . . . which shattered a record last week with its $54 million opening.
Why did this one do so well?
That's the question that was asked of Don Harris, Paramount's President of Distribution. Don had a lot to say about sequels, reviews, and more.
But it was his final response that reminded me why all those who talk about the "death" of theater are just plain wrong.
Ultimately, it gets back to why there's still a theatrical business, why people still go to the movies. We want to laugh in a group, we want to be scared in a group, people like to cry in a group in the dark where nobody can see them crying. It's all the reason movie theaters exist and this genre has always been front and center.
Obviously, Don's talking about his industry of course, and not ours . . . but all the above is a primary reason why people go to our theater as well.
We just have to work harder to make sure we don't lose any more of our audience to Don.
Because that, would be horrifying to us all.
(Got a comment? I love 'em, so comment below! Email subscribers, click here, then scroll down, to say what's on your mind!)
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7 Responses to Why people will always go to a theater.
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We all want connection, but we are also afraid of it. People like social networking because they can have contact without contact. People use looking at their phones to avoid making eye contact with others. Even on public transportation or in a crowd people tend to want to keep a barrier between each other (at least in America). How do we keep people from retreating into “safer” forms of contact? How do we remind people that the experience is worth it and necessary in life? How do we convince them to remain open to experiencing life?
Dear Mr. Davenport, et al:
Halloween indeed. The hair on the back of my neck stood up when I heard that the BBC was doing a new series on none other then my boy Jack.
“Whitechapel” ©
The Life & Times
of:
‘Jack The Ripper’
A Musical Love Story! ™
It seems that I’m not the only one (some Hundred years later) that ponders the question, “Who was Jack The Ripper?” I have my musical answer attached. Just follow the link if, you’re NOT afraid of the dark…
http://www.myspace.com/jacktheripperwhitechapel1888
© Copyright 1996/2007
Bryan David/Brandon Kress
All Rights Reserved
The trite but inescapable truism is that movies are time-captured media and theater is real time = live. To the extent theater continues to evolve to create and promote those experiences only attainable via ‘in vivo’ performances will determine the audience mindshare it will garner, at the expense of the increasing technologically-imbued ‘in vitro’ alternative.
Let me ask, in the most casual manner, what if a show suddenly becomes the next [insert well known show here] because of a coincidental quality that makes such a show wind up in a similar fate? My school is producing “Midsummer”; jukebox musical adaptation of A Midsummer Nights Dream (set to the music of the Moody Blues). From my experience with the show, I can see how the show will end up in terms of fate. It might be deemed the next Wicked because it was a show that took the risk of managing to be decently mounted without a workshop period. One might call it the next “American Idiot” because of the intentional stringing together of one concept album (even if the story is not truthfully told 100%). It might even be deemed the next “Spiderman” as a result of the controversies involving actor and audience safety (since we are having fairies fly on silks—potential resulting in an injury, lawsuit, or simple complaint from the peanut gallery), in addition to the great amounts of tech that make the show what it is.
And if the show is confusing to market to the broadest audience possible, what could potentially happen to that show? Could it be the next “Taboo”? The next “Next to Normal” (and call me a hypocrite since I am in love with this show)? The next “Scottsboro Boys” or “Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson” (two additional favorites of mine in spite of their short runs resulting in mild publicity success)?
A genius is the one most like himself. -T. Monk
Dear Mr. Davenport, et al:
The next BIG hit you say? Dare I say Sir your expertise has been musical theatre. It’s Halloween. The BBC has a new series on. A topic I have just so happen to have done 5 years of research and wrote the Book & Lyrics to:
“Whitechapel” ©
The Life & Times
of:
‘Jack The Ripper’
A Musical Love Story! ™
YES A MUSICAL LOVE STORY! Are you afraid of the dark?
http://www.myspace.com/jacktheripperwhitechapel1888
© Copyright 1996/2007
Bryan David/Brandon Kress
All Rights Reserved