Hollywood was already on its deathbed and the strikes are the Grim Reaper coming for its soul. Dune 2, one of the most highly anticipated movies of the year, is being officially DELAYED until early spring of 2024 because of the strikes ravaging Hollywood and the cinema business.
This is the end times for Hollywood.
In what has to be an extremely major, devastating blow for Hollywood and really all of old traditional cinema, Dune 2, which was slated as one of the biggest and most anticipated movies of the year, has been officially postponed until March 2024 due to the Actors and Writers Strikes as there’s no one available to “promote” the movie. And, even though I really like Dune and director Denis Villeneuve, this news shows how doomed Hollywood truly is.
Okay, I’m sad that Dune 2 had to be the major blockbuster movie that received the corrosive, justified backlash on Hollywood and these actors and writers guilds as the first movie was fantastic and Denis Villeneuve is one of the few directors in Hollywood still focused on trying to make great cinema over pandering cinema, but here we are.
Despite being fully filmed, reshot, written, and edited to the best of my knowledge, Dune 2 is being pushed back by Warner Bros. because of the Actors and Writers Strikes that have engulfed Hollywood these last 115+ days. Why if it’s fully completed?
It’s because Warner Bros. can’t scrabble together its stupid red carpet premiere nights all across the world, media interview circles with some of the most pompous, arrogant, and pandering questions ever, or get the actors to promote the movie as they’re all striking for increased wages, protections against A.I., etc. What a great sadness for the world…NOT!
Now, I’m sympathetic and supportive with these actors and writers’ A.I. concerns and about the lower-ring members of these guilds (which is about 95% of all people) getting better wages, but I really can’t help but scoff at the idea the same people who have destroyed Hollywood with pandering cinema, crap shows that degrade the beloved characters and defile the original source material its adapting, and the pompous belief they’re own malignant, incompetent writing and acting credentials is ACTUALLY BETTER than the legendary movies, shows, novels, games, etc. they’re drawing inspiration from for their remakes and sequels demand more money.
There’s a reason why only 45% or thereabouts of Hollywood films can be considered just good (88 Hollywood films have at least an 80% or higher score on Rotten Tomatoes of the 194 films that have come out this year), while only 10% of all T.V. shows released this year around the world can be considered good (491 T.V. shows have at least an 80% or higher score on IMDb out of the 5,109 shows released this year).
And if you want the full stat for movies released around the world, only 9% (949 titles) of all movies (10,405 titles) have a score of 80% or higher on IMDb. In what industry can you get away with having a good product just 45% of the time, let alone the grand total of just 9% or 10%, and not only expect consistent and contractual obligated work for future products and projects, but also demand even higher wages than you’re getting right now.
And, remember, the average salary of an actor in the US is $60,873 (Actor/Performer Salary | Salary.com), the average salary of a writer in the US is $61,200 if a writer works a normal 5-day, 9-5 work week given the fact the average wage/hour is $30 (Writer Salary: Hourly Rate August 2023 United States (ziprecruiter.com), and the average salary of the average worker in the US is $52,653 (Average Salary by Age In 2023 – Forbes Advisor).
Does anyone really believe these writers and actors should be making more than $10k/the average US worker as it is, let alone paying them over that figure with the products they’ve been releasing of late?
It’s too bad that Dune 2, which is one of the few films I actually want to see from Hollywood, is now getting delayed until next year, but Hollywood needs to learn that they’re relevance in modern society is not NEARLY as necessary or demanded as it was prior to the Age of the Internet.
(Warner Bros. Discovery-Dune: Part Two-Official Trailer)
In fact, if Hollywood, the studios, the actors, and the writers continue making crap products and complain about not making enough money on $200M movie budgets, $400M-$1B box office hauls, and on salaries that exceed the average US worker to begin with, then they’re going to find out that the rest of the world has left them in the dust before the greedy dollar signs in their eyes can even notice the ground crumbling under them.
Images Source: Featured Image: (Warner Bros. Discovery) (Dune: Part Two | Official Trailer – YouTube)
In Text Image 1: (Warner Bros. Discovery) (Dune: Part Two | Official Trailer – YouTube)
Other Sources: (Salary.com) (Actor/Performer Salary | Salary.com)
(Zip Recruiter) (Writer Salary: Hourly Rate August 2023 United States (ziprecruiter.com))
