As recently as 1993, three kid-oriented genres—animated movies, movies based on comic books, and movies based on children’s books—represented a relatively small percentage of the overall film marketplace; that year they grossed about $400 million combined (thanks mostly to Mrs. Doubtfire) and owned just a single spot in the year’s top ten. In 2010, those same three genres took in more than $3 billion and by December represented eight of the year’s top nine grossers.

Let me posit something: That’s bad. We can all acknowledge that the world of American movies is an infinitely richer place because of Pixar and that the very best comic-book movies, from Iron Man to The Dark Knight, are pretty terrific, but the degree to which children’s genres have colonized the entire movie industry goes beyond overkill. More often than not, these collectively infantilizing movies are breeding an audience—not to mention a generation of future filmmakers and studio executives—who will grow up believing that movies aimed at adults should be considered a peculiar and antique art. Like books. Or plays.

The Day the Movies Died (via Give Me Something To Read)

(via marco)

Source: GQ

76 Notes/ Hide

  1. fgvlco reblogged this from marco
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  6. travors said: To be fair, this paints a bleak picture but totally discounts movies made outside of America. In particular, anyone willing to read a subtitle has a world of amazing “grown-up” movies waiting or them.
  7. michaellosauro reblogged this from marco
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  10. charlestheirishman reblogged this from marco and added:
    What an insightful artic…..oh, it’s from GQ. Never mind. Carry on citizens, nothing to see here.
  11. ohbradley reblogged this from marco
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  14. smarterbits said: That was a really depressing article. Really good, but really depressing.
  15. kbkarma said: Comic book movies != children’s movies (automatically, at any rate). That’s my one real complaint with this.
  16. andrewnonumbers said: Well then, part of the problem must be these children’s genres are always producing PG-13 movies. PG-13 means adults are going to watch them too.
  17. marco posted this