Movies For Older Crowds

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Movies for older crowd are not that crowded

4/24/09 - Pricey, star-driven thrillers and dramas will struggle for profitability, while a trend toward youth-dominated offerings intensifies.

That's the prediction after last weekend's soft opening for "State of Play," the latest in a series of misfires by adult-oriented releases. The thriller starring Russell Crowe rang up just $14.1 million in its first weekend, meaning the $60 million production must overperform dramatically overseas to break even.

The picture's travails reflect a rude awakening in Hollywood: Older demographics may be resisting the recent enthusiasm for moviegoing. Certainly it has been months since anything has caught fire at the art houses. And the ill-fated outings of the studios' highest-profile adult fare has stirred the most concern.

"Not as many adults are going to the movies because of the recession," a studio executive said. "More and more, it's the kids who come out and support the pictures over opening weekend and not as much the older adults."

The good news is that tickets are pacing ahead of last year's sales by a healthy single-digit percentage, and box-office numbers are up by a double-digit margin on a calendar-year basis. In fact, the market has been so robust it can produce even the odd adult-driven success: "Taken" - produced for less than $30 million - has rung up $218 million at the box office worldwide since its January debut.

"The success of 'Taken' has a lot to do with the audience rooting so hard for Liam Neeson to find his daughter in the picture," Fox distribution president Bruce Snyder said. "The audience involvement is great. That personal involvement doesn't happen often with these kind of movies. It's more common in the younger movies, but that emotional note is important to hit."

Clint Eastwood hit big last year with his older-skewing "Gran Torino," a neighborhood-vigilante tale of personal redemption. Like the avenging-father thriller "Taken," "Torino" was a crowd-pleaser with emotional wallop. The picture grossed $237 million worldwide.

Marketing also figures prominently in any success or failure at the box office.

"Adults are a harder audience to motivate, and the problem with some adult movies is compounded by their not being high-concept films that you can boil down to 30-second spots," a top studio executive said.

A succession of adult-oriented laggards has been noticeable for at least six months.

More recently, Universal absorbed a bottom-line hit with its recent Julia Roberts-Clive Owen movie "Duplicity." The film took in a mere $39 million in the U.S. through five weekends, and it's unlikely to get much help overseas. Warner Bros. registered a similar sum with the thriller "Body of Lies" - an October opener starring Crowe and Leonardo DiCaprio that overperformed only modestly overseas. And Sony's political thriller "The International," debuting over Valentine's Day, raked in less than $50 million worldwide.

With films like "State of Play," critical praise is nice but goes only so far. If the kids don't take notice, then it's fingers-crossed for a successful DVD release to stanch some of the inevitable red ink - though adult thrillers also have been a tough sell on disc.

The worrisome trend is likely to put additional pressure on studios to rein in production costs on adult-skewing films where possible, including talent deals.

"If these things were made for a reasonable cost, it wouldn't be a problem," a studio executive said.

"Not a lot of them break through," another top distribution executive said. "With an R-rating you're playing to an older audience, and the subject matter has to be something besides politics. People at the moment are kind of fed up with that stuff."