The faltering critique

There was a story I saw a few days ago and I have an issue with it. The story (at https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20251212-10-biggest-film-flops-of-2025) gives us ‘Snow White to The Smashing Machine: 10 of the biggest film flops of 2025’ I wondered about that and while I was not a great fan of this Snow White (I am still drawn to the 1937 version, it was the most beautiful trip any youngling could make in his preteens), it wasn’t bad, it just wan’t my cup of tea. So the story comes with a line “From a controversial recreation of a Disney cartoon to an awards-tipped sports biopic starring The Rock, why did so many high-profile Hollywood films fail at the box office this year?” This is the real reason behind this. The economy. Consider that a ticket is roughly $15, popcorn $8 and a soda $5, so that puts you back $28 and that is merely for one person. At this point I reserve my cinema money for the really good experiences (like the Odyssey and Dune 3) and consider that $28 will get you Netflix for 2 months, the equation is simple. Thunderbolts, Mickey17 and M3GAN 2.0. All movies you can watch on the TV and some will require the purchase of a BlueRay $30, and you can watch it whenever you want again and again. These movies should not be seen as flops, they are merely the victims of a horrendous economy. 

That is not on them or on us, it merely is and you can tell me how awesome the Dwayne Johnson movie is, but I am not in to fight games and that might be on me, but at present I can only afford to see 2-3 movies a year, so I have to be massively selective in new movies. Hence the two movies I have (at present) preselected. So as we are given “There were plenty of hit films this year, but there was a raft of high-profile releases that fared far worse than expected. So where did they all go wrong? Below are 10 of the most infamous of 2025’s box-office duds – and they all help to explain in different ways why Hollywood is struggling to get people out of their homes and into cinemas.” At no point does the BBC raise the issue of the economy, I am in a bad place, but not as much as some others, I reckon that if they can afford merely 1 movie, they would be in a stellar mood and that is before you see the equation when it is 2 or more people. The BBC leaves this on the floor and blames the movie, but the world is a little more complex than that and Whilst I wasn’t a Snow White fan, I did get the Blu-ray of Mickey 17 and I loved it. The trailer was awesome and that is why I got it, it wasn’t the great trip I hoped for, but it was a nice ride and as such I am happy I got the Blu-ray. 

So whilst some people at the BBC want to say how the movie was depressing and and no one goes to see a film starring The Rock because they want to be depressed. No, it is a setting that people cannot afford to go to the cinema and that is why no one turns up to these events. I am already saving up to see the Odyssey and by march I should have enough to get the ticket for the IMAX. A simple setting that the BBC is massively overlooking and I wonder why. The economy is less than flat, it is turning onto itself and hiding that fact away isn’t helping anyone. 

Have a great day today and consider what movies you want to see, because the big screen is still magical, it is merely out of reach for many people.