Posted 3:51 PM by Gene

We hate to keep harping on MOVIES and the BEEEEEEEEEE-OOOOOOOOOOOH, but the flack sheet Variety has some EXCELLENT NEWS:

1. Admissions will be down 11 PERCENT (not the single digits of most reports), so no, it's not just the absence of WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!!!!! The Jesus Slasher Movie;

2. "Even more bad news: 527 new pics were released in 2005, compared with 507 in 2004. That means Hollywood did less business with more films."

3. "While the top 15 films of 2005 -- those with domestic cumes over $120 million -- were on a par with the top films last year, every film below No. 15 in the top 100 did worse than the one with the same rank in 2004." Meaning if it weren't for tentpole movies there'd be no tent.

We have this awful hunch the S&M moviegoing crowd will be back, but the APE may foretell of a day when the marketing just won't move them any more. I postulated that GREATEST FILM OF THE YEAR was this year's AUDREY'S MONSTER, heavily promoted by big consumer products companies on the strength of interoffice memos.* Which movies will be overpromoted and underperform next year?

*I said the same of CGI LEWIS, but the promoing seems to have been low-key by comparison.