It's really genre movies vs non-non genre movies.

Advertisers are lazy.

It's the same reason we see the huge influx of movies based on pre-existing brands.

BATTLESHIP? Please.

It's just going to be whatever original spec on the high seas is getting good buzz in the agencies this year, with the brand name slapped onto it, and then developed into retardation as to not offend anyone and get a PG-13 rating.

It will have a big enough advertising campaign behind it that everyone will want to see it, despite already knowing it's going to be a shit-fest.

People site TITANIC as breaking the mold -- but they forget that Titanic was a bloated 225 million dollar budget in a time when 100 million dollar budgets were obscene. Many people went to see what 200 million looked like onscreen.

It was also somewhat serendipitous that the Titanic (ship itself) was a huge financial undertaking with a devastating result. There was a sort of NASCAR-type, waiting to see a flaming car wreck appeal.

Not to mention it was also released over Christmas (a plus), and was heavily influenced by the DISASTER genre films of the 70s.

Growing up, there were always gems like The Shawshank Redemption, that were difficult to market. That didn't stop these movies from getting made.

You really don't see these type of movies getting made anymore. Especially with the death of the independent arms of studios (which I actually think is a good thing for film, but that is another story).

Good story and genre are not synonymous. Neither are they mutually exclusive.

And neither are guarantees when it comes to money.

Having produced well over 100 plays in DC and New York City...though not films...I can say...you really as I call it must "hit the combination." ALL these elements must come into place:

Right script
Right time
Right director
Right cast
Right audience
Right design team
Right marketing campaign
Right critic ON the right night from the right paper(more a theater thing)
Sometimes word of mouth can save you without the right critic...sometimes...not often...

Miss one element...you don't get it. At least with film you get a second chance with a DVD.

Though there is nothing more exciting then when you do "hit the combination." On the "night" I just know when it has happened. Magic. I'm in the middle of a show now...and still love the action and looking for the "high" of a hit. Knock wood!

RAGING BULL is my favorite example of a great movie that didn't do well at the box office but it's certainly no mystery why a period movie in black and white that's chock full of expletives and explicit battery in various forms with a brutal antihero didn't bring in the big bucks.

There's a couple more reasons why THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION didn't do well initially:

a) it's a horrible title (although as a movie title it's a marked improvement over the novella's title "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption"). I don't know what the hell "Shawshank" means, and "redemption" makes me feel like I'm in for a lecture or worse yet, a sermon.

b) IMO, it's actually not that great a movie. It's an ok-to-good one, but nothing I would (or did) recommend to friends because I found the overlay of 90s feel-good psychology in a film about the 40s completely unconvincing. Here's an excerpt from THE MANLY MOVIE GUIDE by David Everitt and Harold Schechter - they cited it as the "Least Manly Prison Movie:"

"Tim Robbins plays an innocent man who is sent to prison on a false murder conviction. Does he get bitter about this and try to do something constructive, like kill a guard who gets on his nerves? No. Why? Because he believes he deserves to be punished. Again - why? Because he's a nineties guy (who happens to be in prison in the 1940s, but never mind). He believes he deserves to be punished because he was guilty of not having emotionally connected with his wife and even worse, actually getting angry with her when she started sleeping around! Somebody, please, get this guy a dress."

Obviously, a lot of people disagree with me, so YMMV. Prison breakout movies offer a great vicarious release (pun intended) to people who feel trapped in their lives in some form or another, and SHAWSHANK exploited this quite well - I think that's one reason it places on great movie lists so consistently.

[...] Was it the fault of the studio? Quite, quite possibly. There’s an excellent blog post by Scott Myers of Go Into the Story on the subject, which I highly recommend. Here’s the link – http://gointothestory.blcklst.com/2010/05/reader-question-why-do-some-great.html [...]