In the final installment of Overhauling The World Of Cinema I want to look at bringing back at least partial focus on adult movies. Obviously I don’t mean porn, there’s no end to that genre, but more movies that have grown up themes, characters and situations. Some would call these intellectual films but I’m not sure that really holds. A movie doesn’t have to be incredibly intellectual to at least deal with the adult world. It’s not that there aren’t any of these movies out there but audiences at large don’t know about them or if they do aren’t really given a chance to see them.

It’s an interesting phenomenon because a new audience of moviegoers is starting to emerge one that the studios seem to largely ignore. Film lovers between the ages of 30 and 45, my generation for the most part, are a new element in marketing because we love both types of movies.

These are people brought up not just on Star Wars, Raiders Of The Lost Ark and Jaws but also John Hughes movies, bizarre eighties films and the emerging independent film world.  We’re not the older generation who only wants serious grown up films nor are we the kids who want all eye candy action epics. We’re right in the middle and we demand more variety, we want both sides of the coin.

Over the last ten years or so there has been a renewed interest in art theaters, small movie houses and mom and pop owned cinemas. That’s mostly due to people in that 30 to 45 year old age group who have grown tired of the multiplexes. Tired of the same movie in 5 theaters, tired of the roaming packs of rude teenagers that ruin any movie they’re in. We’ll gladly go see Iron Man and Friday The 13^Th but we’ll just as soon see The Hurt Locker or The Road. It seems as if these old ideas of flash-equals-money are crippling movies as story telling tools or as true proponents of art.

Most studios argue that the numbers tell the story. For instance even though it was critically reviled Wolverine made huge profits, as did Transformers and even the chronically awful Halloween II remake made money. My response to that is when given no choice people will see whatever they’re offered. Every so often a movie like The Curious Case Of Benjamin Buttons (which was sort of a grown up movie) might be shown in large numbers throughout the country but for the most part it’s dry times for those who enjoy more adult fare. Milk was an Oscar nominated movie and I know ten people in various parts of the country where the movie never opened.

Look at it this way. Most theaters across the country that are gigantic multiplexes to make the most money they can to continue to operate with such huge overhead. When these theater owners and corporations look at what films to buy for their multiplexes they focus on what’s being pushed by the studios. Mostly what gets the hard push are eye candy special effects movies, teen films or super action movies. Theater owners usually don’t see much marketing towards more grown up themed films so they don’t really buy them.

That leaves a giant hole in the ticket buying audience; one the studios seem to refuse even exist. These actions can really come back to bite them, as in the case of District 9. That film wasn’t really given a large marketing campaign and yet became a favorite with both action fans and grown up movie lovers.  There were scores of people totally outraged because they were unable to see District 9 and the studios looked completely out of touch. C’mon studio execs, you’re missing a golden opportunity here.

Some feel that if this type of moviegoer will see either blockbusters or grown up films why not keep the focus on blockbusters? After all, they’ll see either one right? Wrong. Right now there is a small but ever growing voice of disgruntled moviegoers that will grow louder over the years. Studios are just starting to see the figures as movie attendance slips a bit and revenue is down just enough to see the start of a trend. People are starting to get tired of having to see the same type of movie again and again.

The trickle down effect of this will be evident over the next ten years I can almost guarantee it. The lack of grown up films will start pushing people out of the theaters, instead these film lovers will simply wait until the DVD is released or, being a computer savvy generation, will download a pirate copy.

Add in the Blu-ray DVD players and hi-def sound systems you can install at home and suddenly going to the theater is unnecessary. It will be the same effect the Internet had on the music industry. People will turn to other sources outside the major studios and the studios will have no recourse for it. Take a good look at the music industry all you stubborn studio execs they still haven’t recovered.

The other problem with this lack of attention towards grown up movies is all these amazing films that are entirely looked over. People always say how there are no good movies anymore; it’s all special effects blockbusters. That isn’t really true, it’s just that if the more grown up or intellectual movies get made, they get passed over almost immediately.

There’s no advertising for them and they usually don’t get an adequate theatrical release. For example I asked a friend of mine in Iowa if he had seen World’s Greatest Dad or the documentary The September Issue. To my surprise he hadn’t even heard of these movies. I did some more checking and found a large amount of quality grown up films weren’t being shown throughout most of the country.