Will Smith Says Prestige TV Has Raised the Bar for Blockbusters

[hewontgo]

Will Smith Says Prestige TV Has Raised the Bar for Blockbusters: People Don’t Want to ‘Leave Their Homes’ https://t.co/3LgqRy0UoC
- IndieWire (@IndieWire) June 7, 2024

Will Smith knows any theatrical release is automatically in competition with TV.

“You used to be able to put some explosions in the trailer and a couple of good jokes and people

Comments

[teetersslow]

there is just simply too many things to watch now on so many different platforms. i miss the community of event films and tv shows, when there were things you /had/ to watch, now we have like 2 of them a year. streaming rly did kill it.

i feel like an old man yelling a cloud but i've noticed the almost universal decline in quality of how everything is made just in the last 15 or so years. I watched the new matrix film last night and was shocked at how it was the same director, cast etc. as the first but looked like a netflix tv show when it had over double the budget. i'd rather have a handful of really great stuff that takes its time and has full resources rather than this onslaught of adequate viewing.

[littlepunkryo]

It's not even just TV and movies competing with each other anymore either, they have things like video games (both mobile and non-mobile) and stuff like Youtube. Nielsen releases a pie chart of what streaming services are the most popular and the free version of Youtube runs circles around all the other streamers and people get that for free. There really are very few things that are "cultural touchstones" like there used to be because it's simply impossible to make happen when everyone's attention is so split. And even when things do manage to gain a lot of attention usually the investment or discussion around it lasts for such a short time.

[helyanwe89]

There are now very few shows people watch weekly and discuss. I remember not wanting to watch stuff too much behind because I wanted to be able to discuss the most recent episode/speculate. Other than House of the Dragon, which starts up next week, I'm not sure there's any current shows where people discuss it after.

Movies are the same - Barbie was really the only one in recent memory.

[daredevilwolf]

What about oppenhiemer
That film was often paired with Barbie

[helyanwe89]

I saw both at the theater, just not at the same time - saw Barbie on $5 Tuesday & it was packed. Oppenheimer I saw at the earlier available time in the morning.

Since then I've only been to see The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes and Dune 2, I think.

[daredevilwolf]

Did you enjoy the films?

[helyanwe89]

For those, yes but I obviously don't go to the movies that often.

[writing]

I noticed this about tv too. It's not like back in the day where everyone was talking about LOST at a water cooler the next day. I think the last one was Game of Thrones.

[helyanwe89]

Which is why I like the weekly release in a way - because people can talk about them. I do watch Survivor and read the discussion on Reddit, but I'm kind of surprised there isn't more talk about TV shows in general - I initially thought it was because people binged it on Netflix then moved on quickly, but now Amazon & Disney are doing weekly releases (which I like) but they just don't seem as discussed. Even here, I remember how people (including myself) would make a post with the promo for next week's episode of a a show so people could discuss the recent episode in the comments, and I don't see that as much now.

[writing]

Yes! I remember those updates here. There's silence. I think Squid Game was another that got around by word of mouth. You're right with the tv is because people are able to binge it so quickly and move on. There's also so much out there no one can keep up. I recently watched the new season of Outer Range and I'm like I want to talk about this, but it's like to who? Who do I know watches this?

[helyanwe89]

We get a few posts, but not the amount we used to. Even the CW shows had posts a few years ago.

I only saw the first episode of Outer Range, but it didn't hook me. Maybe I'll give the next episode a try at some point.

[writing]

Yes. They did. It's interesting watching where things go as far as tv goes. Such a switch with covid and a few years prior.

The first season is slow. It does pick up towards the end and season 2 is a ride.