Have you wondered why Martin Scorsese, James Cameron, Denis Villeneuve, and Ridley Scott are being such jackasses, insisting on badmouthing the Marvel Cinematic Universe? It’s because they’re scared. Simple as that. They aren’t worried about superhero movies somehow “tainting” *true* cinema. They might claim that, but it isn’t true. They couldn’t care less about that. What they’re afraid of is what is currently happening. Spielberg’s WEST SIDE STORY tanked. Hard. Like, really, really hard. And it cost a lot of money to make. “Just goes to show that the theater-going experience is dying,” the idjits were quick to proclaim. “People of the future will just stay home and livestream everything.” Then less than one week later, SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME absolutely obliterated any and all such suggestions. People *will* go to the movies, even during a pandemic. People will in fact trip over their own feet running to get to the movie theater, even during a pandemic. But they won’t go for just *any* movie. And *that* is why those aforementioned wannabe gatekeepers are terrified. Because people will go to the theater—just not for the kinds of movies these guys typically like to make. And that means the studios will eventually stop giving these guys money to make those kinds of movies. Get it now?
Will the future, then, belong only to the blockbusters, the “event” movies, with the Spielbergs, the Scorseses, the Scotts all relegated to the livestreaming world? I doubt it. People will still turn out for movies these guys make; just not *any* old movie these guys make. Mid-budget dramas won’t disappear from the movie theaters of the future, but they may become more scarce.
Wanna know one genre that is safe from all this? Horror! Horror flicks are by their very nature low-budget efforts (relatively-speaking). They don’t have to rake in hundreds of millions of dollars to make bank. And as the pandemic has proven, Horror fans *will* go to the movies to see Horror movies. HALLOWEEN KILLS sold a hellalotta tickets despite being simultaneously available to livestream. In fact, Horror movies survived the pandemic better than any other genre. One could say they even thrived during this time.
Expect the wannabe gatekeepers to start badmouthing Horror flicks next. Sour grapes is sour grapes, after all, and stripped of all such pretense of loftier motives, that’s all their kvetching amounts to.
