Nerve Endings Firing Away

Has Hollywood found the winning combination? The last weekend movie receipts featured the Matrix Revolutions saga which was treated to a lukewarm response by critics and fans but the surprise winner turned out to be a descript movie, heralding in the holiday season — Elf. While Revolutions struggled through five days to collect $85 million, this non-hyped kiddie movie grossed in a strong $32.1 million in three days and another kiddie animation flick Brother Bear grossed $18 million in its second weekend.

Matrix definitely was the over-the-top hype and eagerly awaited event of the weekend but the success of the other movies puts in perspective the entire movie making business. Big stars with larger than life special effects, complemented by complex philosophies are still a risky business bet. But down to earth tales eliciting laughs from the younger generation seems to be working wonders. Is the American kid (or rather the global kid) emerging as the primary target audience for a $9 billion strong industry that mostly relied on star power and larger than life projections to make a quick buck?

Finding Nemo, the summer animated movie has emerged as the highest grossing movie so far, collecting a whopping $400 million plus and the DVD sales began just last week. And I have already seen the DVD play in the back of a family Dodge Caravan on a dark rainy night. Kids are the ideal consumers for the movie business. They need to be accompanied by adults, go for the day or the early evening shows and generally are potential repeat viewers.

It also makes economic sense in making movies for the kids. The cliches never are boring. The good always triumphs over the evil. Any kind of love is acceptable and general humor is widely appreciated. The movie experience likened to the family event always draws more crowds (read more money) than the couple of teens who try to sneak into a R-rated movie. These success will surely see a gradual shift in making movies for the younger generation and with the holiday season peaking early, I guess its never too late to make a quick buck.