And so we come to the end of our “2021: Exit Interviews”, where the high-powered and the visionary alike share their full thoughts on the state of our world.
We take these in while we consider a some datapoints floating around today, indicators of the crumbling old world.
A la Don’t Look Up, it turns out that not only are star vehicles no longer any guarantor of anything, but a vehicle packed to the rafters with all the star wattage you can buy, also, it turns out, is no guarantor of anything. Meanwhile, while the news of the world stays dreary, fraught, contentious and seemingly hopeless. surprise surprise, people have decided to stop watching the news. Who could’ve imagined endless rounds of bickering and finger-pointing over arcane legislative process wouldn’t be a crowd-pleaser!
Two more signs that across the medias, the establishment hold slips further away.
Anyway, Spider-Man syndrome may have lifted some spirits, but the answer still is divisive on whether movies come back. Our jury is deadlocked, but the prevailing wind seems to run between “yes, but” and “maybe.”
The only consensus: change is coming. As is the next issue! The Ankler 100! On Wednesday, you can finish out your year with a note of malicious glee, made for the holidays.
The Marketing Executive
How do you think things went for Hollywood in 2021?
About as good as they went for democracy.
Do you think the damage is temporary or permanent?
I don’t know if you want to call it damage. I think history is passing. Meaning, I think that for 100 years, people consumed this kind of entertainment, went to the theaters, that that was part of their life. Now, the consumer will always dictate how they consume things. What I feel is a time period passing. Let’s put it that way.
Some would say, “Movies may be having a hard time, but overall for entertainment, this is the best of time, more money flowing than ever, more chances to make more things.”
I think that is true, but requires a dot, dot, dot, at the end of the sentence, which says: but what if there’s just too much to consume?
What is the danger of that?
The danger of that is that nothing cuts through, that you do not have any communal experience. You have to ask yourself, are we only going to hear about content through our peers? How are things going to reach any form of mass audience? These things cost too much money to deepen niche audiences.
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The Ankler’s Got People Talking!!
In the Chicago Tribune on the future of film
Read about us in Wired on the Y Combinator phenom
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