On this Date at the Movies: Labor Day '81

[AndyDursin]

Showcase Cinemas ad from Labor Day 81.

BODY HEAT ushering the now non-existent adult movie season of Autumn.

[Monterey Jack]

One superhero sequel. ONE.

[AndyDursin]

That would be the only super-hero sequel for another 2 years too.

Somehow as a kid I was able to survive!

[Monterey Jack]

That would be the only super-hero sequel for another 2 years too.

Somehow as a kid I was able to survive!

It's hilarious to me seeing people (aka nerds) acting like there's "Nothing to see!", because there's a 3-1/2 month gap between Thor: Love & Thunder and Black Adam.



Going back forty years, it's WILD how many adult dramas there were year-round. Even the summer movie seasons had plenty to choose from. Now, "counterprogramming" no longer exists, and dramatic features from established auteurs like Ridley Scott, Guillermo Del Toro and Steven Spielberg played to empty houses last fall. And yeah, people will crow about how "dangerous" it was for adults to leave their houses and breathe deeply with the latest nebulous Covid "variant" going around, but GDT's Nightmare Alley was literally thrown into theaters the VERY SAME DAY as the latest Spider-Man.

[AndyDursin]

I used to go to these movies on opening day, right after getting picked up from school. Like I saw GOODFELLAS on opening day with my Dad, like at a 4:30 show. It was awesome.

That's the part of the cinema-going equation that's probably not coming back. I hope it does, truly, and I hate to say it but it's going to be a key memory of growing up how the page turned in September and suddenly there were BIG movies with big stars that were mostly intended for viewers over the age of 18. Between that and the TV GUIDE Fall Preview, going back to school brought a massive change of seasons for entertainment but one I looked forward to every year as I grew up -- before it came to an end and the studios realized they could just profit off making garbage international blockbusters 365 days a year instead.

[Monterey Jack]

The only movies I've seen in a theater with my dad for the entirety of this summer were Elvis and Jurassic World 3(!), the latter of which he complained about the lack of dinosaurs. Every week I scan the new releases at the theater, hoping for a "dad movie" to open so we can go, but nothing. No thoughtful dramas, no mid-scale thrillers, no broad comedies, no historical epics. Hell, we'd even settle for a Liam Neeson potboiler at this point.

[AndyDursin]

I think the worst thing are the articles trying to look on "the sunny side" by just stating the overall revenue of this summer. They don't seem to acknowledge how much of that was driven singularly by TOP GUN MAVERICK which is going to end up one of the Top 5 hits of all-time domestically (minus inflation adjustments etc.)...but we know there's zip like it in the pipeline. It was an anomaly and the lack of programming beyond it is just so obvious.

We've also said for years "what's going to happen when audiences grow tired of super heroes". Hollywood seems to have NO contingency plan for what's next. That should scare theater owners bleepless.

[Monterey Jack]

At the beginning of the pandemic, as studios were sitting on $200 million investments they couldn't release, I kind of hoped it would be an "intervention" for Hollywood, where they'd realize that the old "spend $200 million hoping for a billion" model was unsustainable and could be struck down so easily and there would be a pivot back towards smaller, medium-sized dramas, comedies and action movies to fill the void, at least for a while

How naive I was. Even a decently-reviewed $40 million Michael Bay action flick like Ambulance couldn't do any business this spring. That might have been a Speed-sized hit released thirty years ago.

[AndyDursin]

And Hollywood did it entirely to themselves. In aiming for the billion dollar blockbusters, they gutted the marketplace of mid-tier hits which are now streaming series/movies, and preconditioned audiences to find that kind of content there. Their greed, ultimately, is going to be what destroys theaters as an entertainment venue...I just don't see how they put the genie back in the bottle.

[Paul MacLean]

Hmmm...

First Monday in October, The Night The Lights Went Out in Georgia, Zorro: The Gay Blade...

Maybe things weren't as great in those days as we remember!

[jkholm]

Going back forty years, it's WILD how many adult dramas there were year-round. Even the summer movie seasons had plenty to choose from.

Recently I've been watching lots of movies from 1987 and it's amazing how many R-rated movies were hits during that summer: Predator, Beverly Hills Cop II, The Witches of Eastwick, The Untouchables, and Robocop to name a few.

[Monterey Jack]

Recently I've been watching lots of movies from 1987 and it's amazing how many R-rated movies were hits during that summer: Predator, Beverly Hills Cop II, The Witches of Eastwick, The Untouchables, and Robocop to name a few.

Back in the day, kids tried to sneak into R-rated movies hoping to see some gratuitous violence and boobies and hear "badass" swearing. When I saw the Robocop remake in 2014, during a chaste, PG-13 kissing scene between Joel Kinnaman and his wife in bed, I suddenly heard THUDTHUDTHUD, and whipped my eyes to the side to witness a couple of ten-year-old boys BOOKING it out of the screening room.

What's wrong with the youth of today?

[mkaroly]

Hmmm...

First Monday in October, The Night The Lights Went Out in Georgia, Zorro: The Gay Blade...

Maybe things weren't as great in those days as we remember!

Zorro the Gay Blade is a masterpiece! Lol...

Actually, it is my guilty favorite George Hamilton movie.

[Monterey Jack]

Even crap was more interesting in the 80s.

[Paul MacLean]

Even crap was more interesting in the 80s.

Like Legend, Krull and Highlander?