HOLLYWOOD—Men are finally flocking to see the hit “Twilight” movies. According to Summit Entertainment, men accounted for a third of the audience of “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse.” The movie “Eclipse” made an approximate $68.5 million in its opening, the second-best opening day. Last year’s “Twilight: New Moon,” was a bit bigger, which opened with $72.7 million. It’s unclear whether they’re on Team Edward or Team Jacob. One of the greatest inventions of Hollywood or, rather, the idea of movies is that popcorn-scented, wonderful mythology for the masses. So we celebrated our country’s birthday on the Fourth of July in Hollywood style by going to the movies.
Hollywood, USA, is a numbers game, every weekend. What are the weekend estimates? What were the opening-day gross figures? Do you really have to be a rocket scientist to figure out the math? That math is somewhat rough, unforgiving and simple, determining everything from ad buys to next year production starts and costs. Hollywood moguls somewhat forget that films that feature women still remain Hollywood’s neglected gold mine. “Chick flicks” draw crowds, so why are there so few of them? Forget about seeing movies that star actresses over 40. I’m quite sure that if veteran actress Betty White was to star in a flick, movie-goers would flock to see her.
Just like death and taxes, Hollywood moguls just want to bet on sure things. However, let’s look at the last few years of so called “chick flicks.” The movie “The Blind Side” brought in about $255 million at the domestic box-office after its November debut. “The Proposal,” released June 2009, grossed domestically $160 million. Released in 2008, “Mamma Mia,” grossed $144 million. “The Devil Wears Prada,” released in 2006, grossed domestically $124 million. One thing is for sure, women do go to movies, and they do go to see other women on screen. We remember the huge success of “Valentine’s Day.”
If only the movie-moguls would notice the success of female-oriented movies. Ignoring female audiences is not very smart. According to the Motion Picture Association of America females make up 52 percent of movie-goers. We all know that merchandising has a lot to do with the obvious. Movie moguls would rather sell stuffed toys for “Toy Story” than for “The Proposal.” The merchandising benefits bring in the money.
The sad thing is that in Hollywood if you’re over the age of 30, the studioexecs aren’t going after them. The same is true if you live in Brazil, it’s hard to find a job if you’re over 30 since it’s all about youth and beauty. That’s Hollywood, too!
Rose’s Scoop: Soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo revealed on July 3, on Facebook and Twitter that he was the proud father of a baby boy. His fans were in shock and disbelief, and no word on the mother of the child. In his announcement he mentioned he had sole guardianship.
