It's hard to say who's winning the streaming wars, but customers are losing

Re:It's hard to say who's winning the streaming wars, but cu... by vlunkr on Friday November 19, 2021 @04:38PM (#29282892)

I don't see why you would blame that on streaming. There was plenty of low-quality content before netflix. Movie budgets have gotten huge, in order to guarantee a return, they play to the lowest common denominator, including international audiences.

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Re:It's hard to say who's winning the streaming wars, but cu... by catlikesshrimp on Saturday November 20, 2021 @02:08AM (#29286179)

I asume you mean all Non-US audiences.

In what sense is "International Audiences" part of "The lowest common denominator"

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Re:It's hard to say who's winning the streaming wars, but cu... by rsj_hn on Saturday November 20, 2021 @02:13AM (#29286191)

If it's not obvious, the more diverse a group is, then lower the lowest common denominator will be. That's just a law of nature.

So if you are selling a global movie, you are not going to be able to rely on cultural references, witty banter, or sophisticated plots. You will not even be able to rely on a lot of dialogue as the movie will need to be dubbed and subtle dialogue doesn't translate well.

You will rely on boobs and explosions, because that's the lowest common denominator that will sell well in New York, Indonesia, Nigeria, Italy, Egypt, Chile, and China. And if many nations don't allow boobs, then explosions it is.

There just isn't a lot that the world has in common, which forces movies with a global audience to be extremely shallow.

One reason, for example, for the dearth of good comedy films is that it's really hard for comedy to translate across different cultures. Maybe something like slipping on a banana peel will work, but more sophisticated stuff doesn't work.

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Re:It's hard to say who's winning the streaming wars, but cu... by asdff on Friday November 19, 2021 @04:57PM (#29283105)

Movie budgets don't have to be huge. Most A24 films cost 10 million to make.

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Re:It's hard to say who's winning the streaming wars, but cu... by chc on Friday November 19, 2021 @06:52PM (#29284156)

I question how many A24 movies actually make much more than $10 million.

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Re:It's hard to say who's winning the streaming wars, but cu... by asdff on Saturday November 20, 2021 @02:06AM (#29286169)

They wouldn't be making over a dozen films a year if they weren't making money. Hereditary was their top grossing at like $80 million and was a $10 million film. Lady bird did $79 million on a $10 million budget as well. Moonlight did $65 million on a $4 million budget.

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