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A recent trip to the movie theater really opened my eyes to a new form of movie making.
FLASHBACK SEQUENCE - 1990 - The drinking age has finally reached 21 nationwide. 17-year-old boys in dance clubs are now competing with 20-year-old men for the 16-year-old girls. Knowing that a physical conflict with a military man will result in said teenager getting his head handed to him, guns come into play and "all ages" clubs become a battlefield on a nightly basis.
PRESENT DAY - Kids are growing up faster than ever. Dance clubs have been replaced by internet cafes, and concealed weapons take up too much pocket space that is now used for electronic communicators and MP3 players. But, now there's a new dilemma - where do you go to hang out?
You go to the movies.
I have been wondering for some time how some of these movies get made... and make money. I guess the sheer fact that they're going to make money is motivation enough to make them. It's the same reason other companies make things like Urkel-O's and Clamato (Clam juice and tomato juice? Really?).
What I saw at the cinema made it all so very clear. I saw teenagers running in and out of the theater, blinking cell phone or 2-way messenger in their hands, like a lame parody of Logan's Run. They spend all day on their personal communicators talking about NOTHING... they see each other for hours every day... and they just paid $10 to sit in this dark room and use their text pagers to send each other messages like ITS 2L8 and GOT HR B4U. Do we really need to waste our radio waves like this?
So, Hollywood now has an all new audience: the 12-19 year old looking for a place to hang out. Like the dance club, there has to be deafening audio so you have a reason to shout and a lot of flashing lights and images - something cool so the kids feel like this is the place to be. There doesn't have to be any solid story. Just shock the senses with car races, explosions, flashy gadgets, big guns and sexy girls, and you'll reel in an audience that's barely paying attention (lucky them). It's like a rave put together by someone who's not on hallucinogens.
A big opening weekend will dupe the rubes into thinking it's a good movie, and that will make others go to see it. By the time everyone figures out it's crap, it's a big hit, and you know what that means:
Sequels. Lots and lots of sequels.
Personally, I blame the parents.
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