Helen Elizabeth at 2011-12-29 19:06:30:

I completely agree William. Too often the automatic "business" response is "oh that worked, that was a success, let's copy/steal it." Who wants to see cookie cutter films, read the same plot/story, etc. It's why daytime television has tanked, book sales are down, pop music sounds like a bad record that keep skipping, and most films out of Hollywood are painful and uninteresting to watch. The last time I really went to movie theater on a regular basis to see films was in 1993/1994. Lots of good, developed, original content films were coming out then. I turned to mostly foreign and indie films a long time ago for this very reason. Once in awhile a major motion picture out of Hollywood resonates with me, but it is becoming a less and less frequent occurrence. Content, however, is only part of the problem. Technology, as this post mentions, is a big part of it. We have pay-per-view, NetFlix, online options, mobile app options, etc. With that kind of convenience, it's gonna be a tough sell to get a society that is already pressed for time and dollars to get their butts in a movie theater seat. In the town I currently live in, we have a kind of "artsy" movie theater that shows art house/independent, old Hollywood, and Indie films. It is styled after the old early Hollywood movie theater feel and they serve you dinner and wine/drinks while you're watching. The theater also sponsors special events (think replicas of red carpet premieres, etc). It does quite well. I think Hollywood needs to get back to the idea of creating art, rather than profit margins.