Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning - Andy's Review

[John Johnson]

[Monterey Jack]

[John Johnson]

[Monterey Jack]

Shame we're getting another leaden Lorne Balfe score (annoyingly, only the last two Balfe-scored M:I movies have featured isolated score tracks on the Blu/4K discs ), but I'm up to see the franchise conclude on hopefully a high note. The insane budget ($400 million!! ) means it has little chance of making a real profit, though, especially opening the same day as Lilo & Stitch.

[AndyDursin]

especially opening the same day as Lilo & Stitch.

That doesn't matter, one audience has nothing at all to do with the other. If MI can't find its adult audience then it's own problem. It's not a "family movie", skews older, and adults who go to MI are the TOP GUN audience, there's very little crossover there.

Besides there are thousands upon thousands of screens in mostly empty multiplexes that can handle 2 films opening on the same day...

...on a side note, it's scary how the parking lot at my local Showcase has been taken over piecemeal by different things (Texas Roadhouse, Orange Theory, Starbucks, etc.) over the years. Now the entire front of the Showcase Warwick lot is being bulldozed for another new complex. It will eventually be hard to remember the days when the entire lot was used for movies. Those days...are gone.

[Monterey Jack]

...on a side note, it's scary how the parking lot at my local Showcase has been taken over piecemeal by different things (Texas Roadhouse, Orange Theory, Starbucks, etc.) over the years. Now the entire front of the Showcase Warwick lot is being bulldozed for another new complex. It will eventually be hard to remember the days when the entire lot was used for movies. Those days...are gone.

This certainly isn't going to help...

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movie ... 236184531/

[AndyDursin]

It will make it worse, but the reality is Hollywood movies have been dying a quick death in China for some time now. They can't count on that market to bring in big money like it once did...not even AVATAR did as well as expected.

Apparently Chinese audiences are more bored than we are with the recycled crap they're making!

Here's a good article:

https://english.news.cn/20240831/e97380 ... 0audiences.

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- Hollywood blockbusters have long dominated the Chinese box office since entering the market three decades ago. In recent years, however, they have lost some appeal among Chinese moviegoers, who make up the largest movie market outside the United States.

Experts believe that a major factor behind this decline is a lack of novelty and creativity in Hollywood movies with their formulaic storylines having satiated Chinese audiences. Meanwhile, China's rapidly growing domestic movie industry has captured audience interest and loyalty by producing more diverse and culturally resonant stories.

FADING APPEAL

Hollywood's love affair with China dates back to 1994 when the first imported U.S. blockbuster "The Fugitive" hit Chinese cinema screens.

For many years, movies like "True Lies," "Titanic," and "Transformers" dominated the Chinese box office, with Hollywood movies once occupying half of the top spots. At its peak, "Avengers: Endgame" grossed over 4.2 billion yuan (some 592 million U.S. dollars) in 2019, setting the highest box office record for Hollywood movies in China.

In 2012, seven of the 10 highest-grossing movies in China were U.S.-made, according to Maoyan, a Chinese movie-ticketing and data platform.

However, things have changed. The same platform showed that in 2023, no American movies ranked among the 10 highest grossing in China despite highly anticipated sequels in the "Mission: Impossible," "Fast & Furious" and "Spider-Man" franchises. As of 2024, only "Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire" has made it into the top ten, ranking eighth.

Following the disruption of the global movie industry by the COVID-19 pandemic, Hollywood movies have made a strong comeback, yet they have significantly underperformed in their return to Chinese theaters.

"I don't think we're gonna ever go back to those earlier days," Stanely Rosen, a professor of political science at the University of Southern California, told KNX-FM, a commercial radio station in Los Angeles, California.

"Even films that were surefire tremendous hits, like Avatar, Fast and Furious when they played in China in 2023, they still did relatively well, but the numbers were way down," he said.

Chinese audiences are tired of repetitive Hollywood storylines, Ying Zhu, an expert in Chinese movie and television and author of "Hollywood in China," told CNBC.

For years, Hollywood has relied on formulaic plotlines and established IPs to secure box office revenue and sustain its appeal among fans, an approach frequently criticized for lacking originality and creativity.

"Chinese audiences have seemingly moved on from American franchises and Tom Cruise-style individualism," said Variety, a top Hollywood trade publication.

CHINA'S GROWING MOVIE INDUSTRY

Another major reason for Hollywood's declining appeal is the intense competition from the rapid development of China's domestic movie industry.

"The waning power of Hollywood's franchises is not a problem unique to China. But the scale and proficiency of the local competition is," Variety said.

If The Fugitive in 1994 triggered a "catalyst effect," prompting China's movie industry to embark on rapid industrialization, then after 30 years of development, the Chinese movie industry has made significant progress in both script and production.

"China learned all they could from Hollywood. Now they make their own big-budget blockbuster films with good special effects, and even good animated films ... They don't need Hollywood anymore," Rosen, who specializes in Chinese politics, society, and movie, told CNBC.

"The gap is narrower," Rosen said, the Chinese domestic films are "beating Hollywood at its own game."

In recent years, genres like animation, action, sci-fi and comedy have flourished, leading to box office successes such as "Ne Zha," "The Battle at Lake Changjin," "Wolf Warrior," "The Wandering Earth" and "Hi, Mom."

China's top-grossing movie of all time is 2021's "The Battle at Lake Changjin," which is set during the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea (1950-1953). It grossed a record-breaking 5.77 billion yuan (812 million dollars), according to data by Maoyan.

Other mainstream movies that feature patriotism have also been popular among the Chinese audience in recent years.

"Also, the recent rise of crime/suspense dramas feature unpredictable and clever storytelling that keep the audience guessing and interested. Story endings are hard to predict, sometimes a surprise, and become hot topics for people to discuss. Hollywood sequels have become predictable from beginning to the end," Artisan Gateway principal Rance Pow was quoted as saying by Variety.

OPEN MINDSET TO CULTURAL DIVERSITY

The U.S. magazine National Review said as China has built up a movie industry of its own sufficient to cater to domestic demand, cultural differences are beginning to matter more.

Many American studios once viewed China as a market where they could always make money, Shi Chuan, vice chairman of the Shanghai Film Association, told The New York Times. "Now I am telling American film companies that this mentality is no longer viable. You must study deeply to understand the Chinese market, Chinese audiences and Chinese pop culture."

Chinese movies, such as the recently released domestic comedy "Successor" which explores themes of child-raising, education, and upward mobility in contemporary Chinese families, have "a major home-field advantage," according to CNBC.

"Many popular local films are adapted from true stories or from ordinary people's lives, relatable to real life," Pow said.

"The Chinese audience, mostly young people, want stories they can resonate with ... films that relate to things happening in China in one way or another," Rosen said.

Although Hollywood movies have not been top grossers in the Chinese market in recent years, Chinese audiences have maintained a fairly strong interest in them, and continue to engage with and enjoy these movies.

Experts have said a healthy movie market thrives on diversity and openness, and the flourishing Chinese movie market is closely linked to the success of imported movies.

During the 26th Shanghai International Film Festival held in June, Chinese director Jia Zhangke said, "When so many movies from around the world can be timely introduced into a certain region, it actually enhances that region's cultural influence."

"I believe we should maintain an open mindset and work towards establishing a compelling and influential image of Chinese movies, thereby solidifying our cultural standing," he added. ■

[Monterey Jack]

OH, FOR PHUCK'S SAKE...!

[John Johnson]

Fantastic

[AndyDursin]

aah it's no problem with me. The last one was long -- and some of the action scenes felt extended -- but it wasn't dull, even the second time around. Plus 10 minutes of it are credits. Cruise usually knows what he's doing.

There are movies that should be 3 hours and play quick. There are movies that are 2 hours and are boring. You loved SINNERS but man the first 30 minutes could've been cut in half, it played like a "Director's Cut" with a lot of needless character set-up since there was no payoff to a few of the characters they were setting up.

[mkaroly]

Would you rather it be 87 minutes -- like SUPERMAN IV?!? Just because it's short doesn't mean it's good -- sometimes the opposite is true.

Anyway it's no problem with me. The last one was long -- and some of the action scenes felt extended -- but it wasn't dull, even the second time around. Plus 10 minutes of it are credits.

There are movies that should be 3 hours and play quick. There are movies that are 2 hours and are boring. You loved SINNERS but man the first 30 minutes could've been cut in half, it played like a "Director's Cut" with a lot of needless character set-up since there was no payoff to a few of the characters they were setting up.

I agree with this. Sometimes movies are great with longer running times (and sometimes it is necessary); personally I prefer longer running times where the director has the opportunity to tell the story without rushing through it. I acknowledge that sometimes it does not work - in which case I am all for getting upset.

[AndyDursin]

To me the more obvious thing is that a movie is going to suck if it's short. There are far more bad movies out there at 90 minutes than there are good ones, especially in the modern era. Growing up a 80-90 minute run time -- unless it was a spoof like AIRPLANE or whatever -- was the telltale sign of a bad movie, which it certainly was when SUPERMAN IV came out. All you needed to see was the running time to know it was going to be terrible.

Studios would cut stuff down to 90 just to squeeze in more theatrical shows daily and max profits -- which they were more prone to do with garbage that was already bad.

[Monterey Jack]

I would have no problems with (justified!) lengthy runtimes...if it didn't mean dehydrating myself for half-a-day to insure I didn't need to run out halfway through a movie to hit the restroom. At least The Brutalist had an intermission.

[AndyDursin]

The local Showcase has MI with a single Xplus showing at 9:35 (way too late for me given the run time) and just a single large auditorium for this...STITCH is taking up all the other xplus shows and larger screens.

Tells you what they think will happen this weekend.

[Monterey Jack]

The local Showcase has MI with a single Xplus showing at 9:35 (way too late for me given the run time) and just a single large auditorium for this...STITCH is taking up all the other xplus shows and larger screens.

Tells you what they think will happen this weekend.

Two summers ago, Tom got Barbenheimer'd, now he's gonna get Stitch'ed.