[HN Gopher] The golden age of the aging actor
___________________________________________________________________
The golden age of the aging actor
Author : BayAreaEscapee
Score : 63 points
Date : 2022-07-05 17:18 UTC (5 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.theringer.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.theringer.com)
| Saint_Genet wrote:
| It's also the age of 35 year old women playing the mothers of 25
| year old men
| [deleted]
| rasz wrote:
| also 55 mothers of 45 year olds (The Northman)
| ChuckNorris89 wrote:
| _> It's also the age of 35 year old women playing the mothers
| of 25 year old men_
|
| Its my gripe with the latest Dune adaptation. No way that
| actress was old enough to be Paul's mom unless she had him when
| she was 6 years old. She looked more like his siter than his
| mother.
|
| It bugs me when they don't have age apropriate family members
| with such obviously wide age gaps.
| antisthenes wrote:
| > No way that actress was old enough to be Paul's mom unless
| she had him when she was 6 years old.
|
| If you know anything about Dune's lore, you would know why
| this is the case. The movie absolutely does not go into
| enough detail about this or explain the abilities of Bene
| Gesserit.
|
| In fact, I don't think it does it at all.
| beezlebroxxxxxx wrote:
| I understand your complaint in the larger context of popular
| culture. But in the context of Dune, which takes place 1000s
| of years in the future, and in which there exist a
| genetically manipulating pseudo-cult group of witches/spies
| who are desperately seeking the ascendancy of humankind to a
| higher plane of existence, it is slightly more reasonable
| that Jessica Atreides looks the way she does, as a hyper
| attractive concubine that was _intended_ (you might say
| "designed") to eventually develop the bloodline of a pseudo-
| god. But that also only really makes sense if you're invested
| in the narrative.
|
| The real kicker is that Paul probably should have looked
| younger. In the novel, he arrives on Arrakis when he is 15.
| saiya-jin wrote:
| Well there is only 12 years age difference between actors,
| but Chalamet looks 15-17 all the time. Maybe creators wanted
| to emphasize strict gene selection happening behind curtains,
| and people in year 10,191 have better healthcare/skincare on
| position of queen.
|
| Never met 40+ woman who looked as if she just finished
| university? Smooth skin, no moles or wrinkles, energetic.
| Genes + upkeep + generally healthy lifestyle + good sleep.
| And probably no kids.
|
| Its not outrageous to have 15 year old son and looking very
| fine, plenty of world even in 2022 start having kids
| before/at 20. Look at all the photos of young moms from
| Ukraine escaping, often almost teenagers around young mom, in
| age that here where I live local women start thinking about
| having a child.
| Saint_Genet wrote:
| This is vey much what I had in mind, I think Rebecca Ferguson
| is like 12 years older than Timothee Chalamet
| WalterBright wrote:
| That's nothing new.
| ajsnigrutin wrote:
| Yep, and the reverse also... 35+yo people playing
| highscoolers was the norm.
|
| I mean, i guess it's kinda hard to film scenes not-in-
| chronological-order with a teenager who visibly changes
| during the filming, but it's not an impossible thing to do.
| jfengel wrote:
| 35 year olds also don't have to go to school, or be
| tutored. And they're allowed to work longer hours than
| actual children are.
| conductr wrote:
| Funny that actors in their 20s, especially early 20s
| isn't the obvious solution when bodily change has slowed
| but age can still easily pass for HS aged.
| Saint_Genet wrote:
| But neither is older actors. People like Cary Grant, Paul
| Newman, and Robert Redford played hunks well into their 50s
| nonameiguess wrote:
| They don't cite the source, but the claim in the article is
| that the average age of top-billed actors has gone up
| faster than the average age of the audience, not that
| yesteryear had 0 older stars.
| greedo wrote:
| And Tom Cruise is 60.
| Retric wrote:
| His latest movie was also filmed 3 years ago in large
| part due to how long CGI takes but also how long movies
| are edited. So not only do Actors age more between
| filming and release, but it also takes longer for a new
| actor to catch on.
|
| Aka they film a movie when their 20, it's a breakout hit
| when their 23, their next movie comes out when their 26.
| WalterBright wrote:
| It was filmed 3 years ago because the release was delayed
| due to the pandemic. They didn't want it to flop because
| people weren't going to the theaters.
| Retric wrote:
| It was finished filming almost a year before they started
| shutting down movie theaters for the pandemic and they
| didn't release promotional materials back then.
|
| So, that pushes the earliest summer release as 2 to 2.5
| years after filming each scene assuming COVID actually
| delayed things.
| WalterBright wrote:
| And he has his own P-51.
| greedo wrote:
| That bugged me. No way could someone on a Captain's
| salary (or even what he was being paid as a test pilot if
| on reserve status) afford one.
| conductr wrote:
| Who said he bought it?
|
| Implying gift/inheritance not theft. If I was a grandpa
| and had one in my shed, I'd probably give it to my
| grandkid that happens to be a top gun pilot/instructor.
| hawski wrote:
| That reminds me about Laila Lockhart Kraner from Netflix's
| "Gabby's Dollhouse" is presumably in her early 20s. She plays
| an 11 year old.
| mgkimsal wrote:
| Google showing she's 26 or 27?
| hawski wrote:
| I haven't seen a conclusive answer. My search results
| suggest that she may be 22, but it is mostly based on the
| fact that she has some voice acting credits from 2003.
| Someone on Reddit mentioned that they read an article
| saying "(...) she moved to LA w her family when she was 6,
| and then took up acting classes "a while later"" and this
| suggest that voice acting would probably be after this. So
| she would be from 1997 at least and that would make her 25
| (or more). The show had its premiere on January 2021.
|
| Regardless it is remarkable or even more remarkable.
|
| I looked her up, because my daughter was asking about her.
| BurningFrog wrote:
| Tried to look it up, but she's kept her age secret.
|
| I'm surprised that works in 2022!
| MisterBastahrd wrote:
| Now do the actors of Beverly Hills 90210. When the show
| started, Ian Ziering was 26. Jason Priestly was 21. Lukey
| Perry was 24. Gabrielle Carteris was 29. Shannon Doherty was
| 23.
| Retric wrote:
| It's seems more reasonable to use 26 year old actors to
| play a ~16 year old high school students than 11 year olds.
|
| Daniel Radcliffe on the other hand was actually 11-12 when
| playing an 11-12 year old character. By comparison Tom
| Felton as Draco Malfoy simply didn't fit nearly as well
| because he was a 2 years older.
| https://fantasytopics.com/harry-potter-cast-real-life-
| ages-d...
| fullshark wrote:
| My theory is that Movies are not the dominant cultural force for
| the younger generation. Their celebrity idols are on social media
| ( and musicians but nothing new there).
| echelon wrote:
| Those 40 and up only account for 30% of ticket sales [1],
| despite being nearly 50% of the population. This is a figure I
| find rather shocking given that these ages include those with
| children and those with an abundance of time in retirement.
|
| Another factor may be the skyrocketing costs of movie tickets.
| This source [2] shows that tickets went from $4.35 in 1996 to
| $9.16 in 2021, which exceeds the rate of inflation.
| Additionally, I'm not aware of any tickets to be had for $9.
| Tickets are exorbitantly expensive these days [3].
|
| [1] https://www.mekkographics.com/american-moviegoers-by-age-
| and...
|
| [2] https://247wallst.com/media/2021/03/29/this-is-the-price-
| of-...
|
| [3] The price for one ticket to Jurassic World tonight at a
| theater near to me is $18.84. This is in "2D" on a standard
| screen.
| FredPret wrote:
| Hollywood is churning out Transformers, Marvel, and Fast &
| Furious movies by the dozen. I don't think this really
| appeals to most people over a certain age.
| mettamage wrote:
| I am on IG since a few weeks meeting a lot of new people. Based
| on those experiences, I feel you're completely right.
|
| I could only wonder about the tiktok world but that is a step
| too far for me
| fullshark wrote:
| I just saw that a TikTok trend involves filming your friends
| going out to see the new minions movie in suits:
|
| https://www.distractify.com/p/minions-movie-tiktok-trend
|
| It's getting some credit for a ticket sale bump. I wonder if
| the joke for some kids isn't just that the minions are lame
| but movies as a whole are lame?
| synu wrote:
| It's Morbin' Time (Morbius) was a similar recent joke where
| the comedy came from pretending a bad movie was good.
| schnevets wrote:
| I just think it's a cyclical response to life becoming
| increasingly casual. In my public high school (~2005), we
| started doing "Formal Fridays" where we would dress up in
| suits. It was just a dumb, ironic fad that spanned multiple
| cliques and essentially went viral. At its peak, one
| enterprising friend bought a gross of hideous yellow-and-
| black "swiss cheese ties" and started selling them.
| Teachers were extremely concerned that it was some sort of
| gang/hidden meaning thing...
|
| But I digress. Altogether, I think it's good for the
| industry that kids are gathering at movie theaters again
| and doing things like this that make memories.
| oogali wrote:
| I recall reading that was a TikTok scheme created by a
| marketing agency for the opening of the movie in the
| Israeli market.
|
| And yes, it helped drive a better opening weekend than was
| normally projected.
| greedo wrote:
| Compare the annual gross sales of video games vs. Hollywood
| blockbusters. Yet gaming is given short shrift.
|
| My kids are all on their phones watching tiktok and youtube.
| They were traumatized when a prominent YouTuber died this
| weekend of cancer.
|
| Movies? They used to be into the MCU when it was relatively
| fresh, but now it's stale, like Harry Potter. My youngest went
| to see TopGun Maverick with me, but wanted to spend time with
| me more than seeing an old boomer movie retread.
| majormajor wrote:
| Gaming seems to get the same sort of short shrift as sports.
| Which is to say, they're competing for entertainment dollars,
| but not necessarily as much as cultural referents. And note
| that on HN you'll see much more discussion of movies than of
| sports... so it should be easy to see where that blind spot
| would be different (either opposite, or ignoring both areas).
|
| It's an interesting thing because some games are much more
| narrative, and others are much more competition-oriented. The
| latter seem to be driving a lot of the current $$$$.
|
| Youtube and social media exist in a new sort of advertising-
| dollar-pie-expanding competiting-but-also-newly-different
| genre of _free_ content. And kids will eat that shit up since
| they aren 't rolling in money for increasingly-expensive
| movies.
|
| A lot of movie genres have basically just moved to cable and
| streaming. Funny that yesterday's "free" kids entertainment
| (cable, since parents were subscribed anyway) is today's
| paywalled streaming content.
|
| Is Hollywood, by itself, threatened by Tiktok any more than
| it was by MTV? Between streaming and theatrical, Hollywood is
| doing great. The streaming bubble has to deflate some, though
| - it's been running at a loss for a decade - we'll see how
| big a hit that is.
| atmosx wrote:
| Anthony Mackie on why Hollywood movies are of poor quality and
| why there are no movie stars anymore:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oj8JK6c5x3M
| ralston3 wrote:
| Watched this. Very interesting
| BolexNOLA wrote:
| The video game industry is also larger than all other major
| entertainment media industries (film/television/music)
| combined, so there's that to compete with.
| schnevets wrote:
| A friend's indie band entered a hiatus after a disappointing
| tour across the northeast (OH, PA, NJ, NY, MA, ME). Simply put,
| they all realized it isn't enough to be talented musicians,
| they need to learn how to be better entertainers (which is
| increasingly synonymous with _influencers_ )
| InitialLastName wrote:
| This isn't new.
|
| There's a reason Bruce Springsteen is huge, and it isn't
| because he can sing.
| tcbawo wrote:
| Perhaps Jimmy Buffett is an example of someone who created
| a successful brand/following on top of modestly successful
| music.
| sklargh wrote:
| He can growl though.
| vajrabum wrote:
| That's interesting. Can you expand on it? What does
| Springsteen do as a influencer?
| DoughnutHole wrote:
| I'd say that guy was honing in on "entertainer" -
| Springsteen is a much better performer and entertainer
| than he is a songwriter or musician generally. The man's
| still performing incredible 3 hour shows at 72 years old.
|
| I'm not aware of him doing any social media influencing -
| he had earned his reputation long before social media.
| fknorangesite wrote:
| > Simply put, they all realized it isn't enough to be
| talented musicians
|
| Has it ever been?
| WalterBright wrote:
| Movies about high school go back to the 1950s, nearly always with
| a cast of "teenagers" that have lines and receding hairlines and
| are 28 years old. To me, they look ridiculous pretending to be
| kids.
| WalterBright wrote:
| One exception is the movie "Over The Edge" with a cast of all
| unknown first time acting high school kids. It worked well. The
| movie made Matt Dillon a star. I'm surprised more directors
| don't take a chance like that.
| vlunkr wrote:
| How often does that work though? Actual teenage actor are
| less experienced and usually worse than older actors. There
| are also child labor laws that don't allow them to work as
| many hours, which may slow the whole production down if
| they're in the main cast.
| WalterBright wrote:
| I suspect it's the director that makes it work.
|
| Another example is the 1968 Romeo and Juliet, where the
| leads were kids. It's the only version of the story that
| really works. Both West Side Story and its remake had the
| "kids" way too old to be believably besotted with each
| other.
| ajsnigrutin wrote:
| It worked with many other series, like kid-to-adult series,
| eg. Harry Potter. Yeah, sure, it took a bit longer than 7
| years, but the age difference (actor vs character) were not
| that large even at the end of filming).
| ChrisMarshallNY wrote:
| I dunno. I think this kid looks pretty good: https://i.kym-
| cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/018/666/fel...
| ChrisMarshallNY wrote:
| _META_
|
| For the last two hours, I've watched the score on the above
| comment, oscillate.
|
| So far, HN members with a sense of humor, just _barely_ edge
| out those, without.
|
| I've always found life is better for me, if I can laugh. WFM.
| YMMV.
| WalterBright wrote:
| I've run into a few celebrity actors in real life. They all look
| quite a bit older than on screen, and much less
| handsome/beautiful in real life. Hollywood makeup and lighting
| works very well, they know their craft!
| Retric wrote:
| Some of this is just the lag time between filming and when you
| actually see an actor. Top Gun Maverick isn't even out and it
| was filmed between 3 September 2018 - July 2019.
|
| Add some time between when you actually see a movie and you see
| an actor in real live and they may have been 5+ years younger
| when it was actually filmed.
| Balgair wrote:
| I'd add that the camera also adds 10 lbs. Meaning that due to
| the physics of the optics and sensors, faces get flattened
| out and people look 'fat' as a result.
|
| So, to compensate, actors tend to be a lot skinnier in real
| life. Like, 'yo, you need a cheeseburger' skinnier. My
| brother lived in LA for a number of years and would
| occasionally run into celebs. He said that when running into
| one he would first always say to himself 'Hey, that person
| looks a lot like a skinnier and shorter version of ___". And,
| lo, it would just be that actor, but without all the makeup
| and lighting and wardrobe.
| mirntyfirty wrote:
| I'd claim that there's so much familiarity and energy directed
| towards the development and marketing of these actors that it's
| probably tough to establish the next generation.
| beezlebroxxxxxx wrote:
| You're also seeing the effects of plastic surgery and/or
| aggressive anti-aging procedures. Actors are aging slower,
| superficially, and this is leaving less leading or main roles
| (in an already diminished blockbuster schedule) open to a new
| younger group of actors. The same actors are staying around
| longer. For marketing reasons, there is less incentive to debut
| a new actor (unless it's a serious prestige picture), and the
| actors get caught in a weird state of body modification and
| refusing to age. A lot of their faces move oddly now. This goes
| for male and female actors.
| [deleted]
| greedo wrote:
| I saw Tom Cruise at the Silverstone racetrack with Mercedes
| during the British Grand Prix. Seeing him without makeup was
| a huge change from how he looked in the latest Top Gun movie.
| He actually looked his age.
| Wohlf wrote:
| And Top Gun Maverick is the oldest he's ever looked too.
| wmeredith wrote:
| That's funny. When my wife and I saw him during the pre-
| race show, we jokingly said he looks great for 40! (Tom
| Cruise is 60)
| inanutshellus wrote:
| ... and did you see Nicole Kidman in Aquaman? Sometimes CGI
| "help" hits the uncanny valley instead.
| beezlebroxxxxxx wrote:
| I think Nicole Kidman has flat out broken her face with
| all of the plastic surgery she has gotten in the last
| couple years. She might look more attractive by strange
| Hollywood/LA standards, but she has seriously limited her
| own ability to emote with her face. She looks like she's
| practically wearing a mask now.
| greedo wrote:
| I thought she looked fine in The Northman, but that also
| was a very dark/dimly lit movie.
| WalterBright wrote:
| Tom Cruise obviously works very hard at staying in shape and
| training for the stunts. It's not like he just shows up and
| says his lines like most actors.
| mateo411 wrote:
| Yes, he definitely doesn't follow the convention approach
| like other leading actors. You might even call him a
| "maverick" for having a strong independent opinion on how
| to make and showcase movies.
| beezlebroxxxxxx wrote:
| I would say Tom Cruise is probably the biggest male movie
| star for exactly what you say. His performances have a
| degree of authenticity to them that is unique. When you see
| the stunts, you're often seeing him, and this gives his
| films a unique thrill and feel.
|
| That said, Top Gun had some pretty incredible makeup and/or
| CGI for his face. The lighting in that movie was also
| phenomenal. The result was an almost uncanny valley look to
| him where he looked simultaneously old and young all at
| once. I was especially thrown off by the pre-movie screener
| he produced that thanked the audience for seeing the film
| in theatres. He looked a solid 5-10 years older in that
| screener compared to Top Gun, which was filmed mostly in
| 2019.
| Saint_Genet wrote:
| Very much so, advancements in cosmetic surgery as well as the
| strict training and supplements that were not available for
| older generations of actors. Take someone like Kumail
| Nanjiani who very clearly were on HGH for his role in The
| Eternals
| beezlebroxxxxxx wrote:
| The effect of steroids, and ultra aggressive cutters, on
| male actors is pretty outrageous. It's more outrageous,
| though, that a lot of the male actors refuse to admit it
| and in turn will try to sell or advertise their workouts. I
| think Nanjiani was kind of the nail in the coffin to the
| idea that actors were natty, though. His body recomp, in
| the time frame, was truly comical.
| asdff wrote:
| They still have their same old pipelines. Zendaya for example
| came from disney channel.
| JansjoFromIkea wrote:
| It'd be good to see the age trends of major Hollywood executives
| too; I can't imagine they were ever especially young but are we
| possibly just having close to zero new blood coming in over the
| last few decades so the ones making the decisions are still the
| ones who decided all these names should be stars in the first
| place.
|
| Beyond that a lot of it would be that society has changed in a
| manner that it's just very hard to have a movie star today that
| has the level of widespread fame that a Tom Cruise or Brad Pitt
| attained in the 90s.
|
| You've also got a lot more actors who know how to handle their
| careers long enough to protect their status; there's a template
| the likes of Robert Redford built out by getting so involved in
| the overall process that still helps a lot.
| standardUser wrote:
| I think this is just another consequence of Millennials becoming
| the dominant cultural force. There are the stars they grew up on.
| lapcat wrote:
| Top Gun was 1986.
|
| Millennials were _born_ in the 1980s.
|
| So, no. As usual, everyone forgets that GenX exists.
| asdff wrote:
| Millenials knew Tom from Mission Impossible.
| paulpauper wrote:
| Tom Cruise can single-handedly solve ageing.
| asdff wrote:
| You mean finasteride, botox, a trainer, and a dietician can
| mywittyname wrote:
| Hollywood relies heavily on networking. Older actors have larger
| networks.
|
| Prolific actors tend to also own their own production companies.
| Adam Sandler and Tom Cruise both own the production companies for
| their movies, which means they can have basically any role they
| want. Adam Sandler stars in dopey comedies set in on tropical
| islands with all of the same people because he likes getting paid
| to hang out with his friends in nice places.
|
| Also, I think we can't discount how amazing plastic surgery is
| anymore. We don't see "old" actors hardy ever anymore. Even in
| the 90s, balding actors were pretty common, now you never see
| them. TC looks 35; same with Brad Pitt, Jennifer Aniston, Paul
| Rudd, etc. Why go with someone new when Brad Pitt looks just as
| young, but is a known quantity?
| rr888 wrote:
| > Adam Sandler stars in dopey comedies
|
| With the hottest actresses, you can definitely notice he does
| casting.
| conductr wrote:
| He owns it all
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Happy_Madison_producti.
| ..
| lotsofpulp wrote:
| I am 35, and none of those people look close to 35. There is a
| certain look to the youthfulness of the skin on the face that
| always gives it away. Whatever that subcutaneous fat layer or
| whatever is that deteriorates and makes things sag or deflate
| has yet to be fixed in a believable way.
|
| I also assume the films have heavy digital editing to make them
| look younger.
| asdff wrote:
| You go with someone new because they are the fraction of the
| price and headache as someone with star power. That's why when
| it comes to quantity over quality productions in the streaming
| era, all the leads are people you've probably never seen
| before.
| lapcat wrote:
| Coincidentally, last night I saw "Solitary Man" (2009) starring
| Michael Douglas, who was 65 at the time (now 77). He played a
| character who had a series of one night stands with much (very
| much) younger women, so he was still cast at that age as a kind
| of sex symbol.
|
| It only grossed $5 million though, below its budget. Too bad,
| because the cast was amazing: also Susan Sarandon, Danny DeVito,
| Jenna Fischer, Jesse Eisenberg, Mary-Louise Parker.
| datavirtue wrote:
| I'm 45 and have zero interest in watching anything with 1980s
| actors. In fact, all of those names would ensure that I never
| even give it a chance. Those guys are all washed up as hell.
|
| Haven't been able to watch Deniro since I saw him get all
| slobby drunk and try to talk during an award show in the 90s.
| Most of these people have proven themselves ridiculous, making
| it very hard to watch them in a movie...Tom Cruise especially.
|
| "Only Murders in the Building" is awesome though.
| lapcat wrote:
| > In fact, all of those names would ensure that I never even
| give it a chance.
|
| Ok, well, that's weird, but you do you.
| smm11 wrote:
| The oldest of actors and actresses don't seem to be out there, in
| the public eye 24-7, as the younger set does.
|
| It's going to be very, very hard to have another Cruise, or
| Costner, or Johnson, etc., with the baggage literally every
| younger actor is carrying these days. It will take new faces, but
| again, who we know nothing about. Which is possible, how?
| nomdep wrote:
| I don't think it's going to be a problem, if anything, public
| attention is something they have to fight for instead of being
| a burden.
|
| Tom Holland, Anya Taylor-Joy, and Zendaya, for example, are in
| their twenties, hugely popular, even among millenials, and
| probably they will be still popular in twenty years
| ipaddr wrote:
| Never heard of them and they will probably have a lower
| status in 20 years.
| a4isms wrote:
| This is a golden age for nostalgia by the boomers and their echo
| generation.
|
| It drives these highly delayed sequels, just as it drove the Star
| Wars prequels. It drives high prices for certain used cars and
| musical instruments, all of which represent nostalgia for a
| generation that has retired with disposable income. It drives
| outrageous ticket prices for aging rockers reliving 30 year-old
| hits.
|
| It's demographics. When this wealthy generation dies off, the
| interest in its nostalgia will fade.
| nonameiguess wrote:
| Boomers? I'm only in my 40s and have a whole lot of 80s and 90s
| nostalgia that Hollywood is milking the F out of. I'm hoping I
| won't die any time soon. Tom Cruise and Ed Harris are just the
| stars of some of my favorite movies from when I was a kid.
| Jennifer Connelly one of my first crushes. Not sure Top Gun is
| just targeting boomers.
| panzagl wrote:
| Psst, just so you know, Generation X doesn't exist anymore-
| that's what GP meant by 'their echo generation'. I'd argue
| against him, but, whatever.
| jessaustin wrote:
| [EDIT for clarity:] The boomers are a populous generation,
| and their children the millennials are also populous in a
| sort of "echo". It makes sense, that lots of parents would
| have had lots of kids. X are a less populous generation
| sandwiched in between those other two.
|
| https://nerej.com/generation-y-also-known-as-millennial-
| or-e...
| prionassembly wrote:
| Stranger Things.
|
| ST is generally awful and I was _compelled_ to watch up to
| S3. I 'd probably be watching S4 if I had the time. The thing
| is impressively optimized.
| dageshi wrote:
| Apparently season 4 is pretty good.
|
| The angry scottish man likes it
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLoToWBbbAU&t=166s
| at_a_remove wrote:
| I ditched somewhere around S3. It wasn't like Ready Player
| One, where I felt ... _milked_ ... but it was close to it.
| Gen X, mostly ignored, is still cynical enough to know when
| someone is trying to play them, and that 's alright.
|
| Don't get me wrong, some utility exists in the selection of
| earlier settings, namely not having cell phones, so I am
| sympathetic to that from the needs of the writers, but it
| would be nice not to have this stuff laid on with a trowel.
| Ensorceled wrote:
| > It wasn't like Ready Player One, where I felt ...
| milked ...
|
| Ready Player One was a deliberately over the top
| nostalgia fest ... Ready Player Two was where I felt
| played/milked.
| thefourthchime wrote:
| China is also destroying the movie industry as well. They are too
| large of a market not to cater to and have a rigorous set of
| requirements for what's acceptable in a film.
|
| Some things you would expect, like don't mention Taiwan, or being
| critical of China. There's some weird stuff too, like no "time
| travel" and no "ghosts".
| voisin wrote:
| > They are too large of a market not to cater to
|
| Why? Seems the market was plenty big enough prior to their
| ascendancy.
| theshrike79 wrote:
| A movie can make back its budget just by being a hit in
| China.
|
| This is how we get movies like Skyscraper(2018)[0]. $120M
| budget. $70M from US/Canada. $300 from "worldwide" and most
| of that was from China. Just the Chinese opening weekend
| alone was $48M.
|
| Transformers: Age of Extinction. $210M budget. China alone
| provided $300M of profit.
|
| All you need to do is hire Chinese actors for side
| characters, set a bit of your movie in China and not talk
| about Taiwan. Easy money =)
|
| [0] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5758778/
| pru567 wrote:
| I think its interesting that two of the most bankable stars
| of their respective times are/were enormous guys: Arnold
| Schwarzenegger and the Dwayne the Rock Johnson.
| bidirectional wrote:
| Obviously films can be produced without aiming to enter the
| Chinese market, but the highest budgets will go to the films
| which can, and they'll have higher marketing budgets and so
| on.
| Sparkle-san wrote:
| China's middle class was about 3% of its population in 2000.
| It's now around 50% of its population. The number of people
| there able to afford going to the movies is substantially
| higher now.
| tines wrote:
| Why is this being downvoted?
| jimbokun wrote:
| Was End Game (with it's time travel plot) not released in
| China? Seems like I would have heard about that.
| 130e13a wrote:
| i wouldn't say outright destroying, but definitely distorting
| BrianOnHN wrote:
| What's the potential threat in the concept of time-travel?
| JohnJamesRambo wrote:
| We would go back and help Chang Kai-Shek harder of course.
|
| I wonder what a world where he won would look like?
| BrianOnHN wrote:
| I'm sure they're not afraid of it becoming a real
| technology.
|
| So, what's the "danger" in the _concept_ alone? I 'm
| assuming they have a "rational" explanation behind the
| decision. What is it?
| echelon wrote:
| https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-
| news/china-ba...
| jfengel wrote:
| That is surreal. It's also dated 2011; is this a policy
| they're continuing? Did it ever apply to imported movies?
| wodenokoto wrote:
| It's hard to keep up with. I watched a video essay on
| YouTube on why Chinese horro movies are so bad and the
| main reason, it argued, was that the rules for what you
| can and cannot show changes so quickly that you want to
| get your movie out fast in fear of your plot device
| becoming banned before release
| henriquecm8 wrote:
| What if the story takes place in a different universe,
| with no relation with our history?
| [deleted]
| BrianOnHN wrote:
| > the fantasy of time travel - which potentially gives
| the individual the freedom to reorder reality - conflicts
| with politically correct thought
|
| I think that excerpt from the article answers my
| question.
| zionic wrote:
| They also delete black actors from movie posters.
| daenz wrote:
| >no time travel
|
| According to this Quora post, it doesn't appear to be the
| case[0]
|
| 0. https://www.quora.com/Why-are-movies-about-time-travel-
| banne...
| Hellion wrote:
| It's complicated. AFAIK there is no official ban.
|
| It's not so much that time travel itself is banned, it's that
| the Chinese government has a bunch of rules that make time
| travel movies impossible to execute.
|
| For example, the Chinese government wishes to protect the
| dignity and honor of historical culture. And that means, any
| movie made of those time periods must fundamentally be
| serious.
|
| Also, it's possible that whoever is running the movie review
| board personally thinks time travel is "too silly".
| mason55 wrote:
| > _China is also destroying the movie industry as well._
|
| China may be changing the "Summer Blockbuster" segment of the
| industry but it's quite the stretch to say they are destroying
| the whole thing. Plenty of great movies still come out every
| year.
|
| There's plenty of argument that the Academy Awards aren't
| necessarily the best movies but even if you look at the movies
| represented this year, there were a lot of good ones and I
| don't think any of them were influenced by China. Obviously you
| can't prove it unless the filmmakers confirm it, but certainly
| there are a lot of movies with themes that would be
| unacceptable to Chinese censors.
|
| Maybe the plot of "Transformers 7" isn't as good as it could
| have been without Chinese influence but as long as movies like
| "The Power of the Dog" (or "Licorice Pizza" or "Belfast" or
| "Flee" if animation is more up your alley or ... take your
| pick) are coming out, I'd say the industry is doing ok.
___________________________________________________________________
(page generated 2022-07-05 23:00 UTC)