Sunday, February 9, 2014
Blog 4: Hollywood Around the World
Hollywood isn't dependent on American Audiences as much as they used to be. 70% of the money Hollywood makes now comes from International Sales. Movies like Battleship flopped here in American but did well Internationally. Slowly Hollywood is catering to foreign tastes.
This article caused me to think about many different things. One of those things was somehow you have to get these movies into another language either by subtitles or doing a voice over of that language. My last blog came to mind when I talked about The Super Bowl Coca Cola ad. Americans forgot their was diversity in this country. Perhaps we might have thought that Hollywood Movies can only appeal to Americans and it can only be in English. This is not true. We are a melting pot and everybody wants to enjoy a movie. There are some Hispanics in this country who can only speak Spanish. How are they going to enjoy a movie if it's in English?
I found it interesting that Hollywood is adding more international actors to the cast simply appeal to foreign audiences. Byung-hun Lee who is a South Korean Actor was in the 2nd G.I. Joe movie. Nobody in America knows who he is so they don't care. He's well know in Asia so Asian's care more. The movie made over $80 Million overseas which is twice the amount it made over here in America.
I agree with this article. I felt like I've seen a change in movies over the last few years. I remember watching Life of Pie. Sitting through that movie was a challenge. I didn't hate it but I wasn't blown away by it. Perhaps there are a few Americans who are crazy about it. It's entirely possible that the movie was mostly targeted towards Indians. I'm interested in knowing more. I wonder what Hollywood is going to be like in the next 20 years. Is it possible they might make a movie and only release in a certain country because it mostly appeals to them?
This definitely affects the world. Hollywood is trying to appeal to other countries for more money. Countries will get a taste of American Culture as well as part of their own culture. Language makes a person who they are. It helps defines a culture. Hollywood understands that. They need to understand the language and culture. It is also important to remember that America is a melting pot full of people around the world. In many ways this is helpful for them as well.
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Hey Justin!
ReplyDeleteAwesome choice for a topic! I thought back to your other post about the Coke ad as well. A lot of Americans are so oblivious to the different nationalities and languages in this country. I think that it is really great that Hollywood is integrating other cultures into our movies. This way we can see everyone represented. Sometimes, when I am in the theater and hear narrow-minded Americans talking about how movies shouldn't have other languages in them, even if there are subtitles. It reminds me of segregation with the blacks not so long ago. I think that once it becomes a common reoccurance, people will accept it more.
Great choice of an article! I was aware that the US depended on foreign markets for some movies, specifically in Europe, but I never really thought about the fact that a lot of our films need to be translated to appeal to audiences world-wide. This really helped open my eyes more to see that we need to be versatile in order to share culture, art, and stories across the globe.
ReplyDeleteLoved this article! I also completely agree with you, American directors should target other countries so that everyone has a part of their culture in these Hollywood movies, after all like you said, we're a melting pot!
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