July 11, 2005
MICHELANGELO’S HEIRS
DVD sales put the sex back into Hollywood (Catherine Elsworth, The Telegraph, July 11th, 2005)
Hollywood is rediscovering raunchy adult comedy after years of shunning the genre for fear of box office failure.The comeback is being driven by the booming market in DVDs, especially the soaring demand for "unrated" versions packed with explicit scenes "too hot" for cinemas.
With DVDs earning more than 60 per cent of studio revenue, producers are realising that even if raunchy films do not top the box office, they can earn a fortune in the shops.
The shift comes after a dramatic drop in the number of R-rated films (over-17s only), in part a response to a scathing government report in 2000 that attacked Hollywood for marketing sex and violence to children. Now a clutch of R-rated summer releases is signalling the return of crude humour, with more expected if the films prove as popular as test screenings indicate.
New Line is leading the charge with Wedding Crashers, a risqué caper about two friends who arrive uninvited at strangers' weddings. It will be followed next month by Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo, with Rob Schneider, and The 40-Year-Old Virgin, starring Steve Carrell.
What a breath of fresh air it is to see Hollywood at last find the courage to break free from the dark puritan constraints that have stifled our creative energies and deprived us of so much fine art these past years.
Posted by Peter Burnet at July 11, 2005 6:33 AMAmericans are so rich that the studios can make a fortune by catering to fairly small percentages of society. Hence no Passion follow-ups, and no WOT movies. If the studio bigwigs can get rich without soiling themselves by making movies the unwashed masses of patriotic Christians want to see, why risk making movies that their dinner party guests will consider low class?
Posted by: b at July 11, 2005 3:01 PMWhen did these "years of shunning raunchy humor for fear of box office failure" take place? The "Deuce Bigelow" is a sequel to a movie at least as raunchy, There's been six of these raunchy comedy movies every year for the past decade at least. They make almost as much as a quality movie and cost significanltly less to make. That's why there's so many there's one or two parodies of these movies, even though parodying them would be like knocking over a dwarf, what's the point?
The irony is, the terrorists they side with against decent citizens would be even less tolerant of their worthless smut than we are.
Posted by: MarkD at July 11, 2005 8:19 PMThe porn film industry and "Hollywood" are becoming one. Hollywood is returning to what it was before the Hays Office. The big question is: will Blockbuster or Netflix or download off the net provide productfor the movie goer of the future.
Posted by: John J. Coupal at July 12, 2005 12:21 AM