The Year In Movies

The NYTimes does a story on the box office successes of the year. Almost everyone downplays one remarkable fact: four of the top 10 films were animated. They all talk about a "glut" of animated films, but with 40% of the biggest hits being animated, I think they're wrong. No one talks about a glut of live action films, even though most of them tank. The NYTimes makes one whopper of a mistake: they say that "Casino Royale" set a franchise record by grossing $155 million. Since this movie has been under the microscope eight ways to Sunday, that error seems unforgivable. The record is still (briefly) held by Pierce Brosnan's "Die Another Day" at $160 million until this Bond finally passes it this week. Overseas and worldwide, of course, "Casino Royale" HAS set the all-time record. Another silly comment:

Among thought-provoking movies, “Flags of Our Fathers” showed how treacherous it can be to open an Oscar contender in September or October. While “The Departed” was a hit, “All the King’s Men,” “Hollywoodland” and “Running With Scissors” all bombed.

Are they suggesting the only reason these movies flopped was because of their release date? Hardly. They wouldn't work whether they were platformed into Janaury or opened during the summer. A bad movie is a bad movie. All of them (w the exception of "Flags" were panned by critics, so where's the puzzle? They were bad movies. Period.