Sex Doesn't Sell To U.S. Movie Audiences

[siliconefreak]

From: The Advocate (news magazine)
March 24, 2005

You can laugh about it. Fantasize about it. Be punished or killed for it. But what you can't do is take sex seriously at the movies. Look at the numbers on sexy movies. The list of box-office casualties is long. Both versions of Lolita died at the box office, along with Striptease, Showgirls, Henry and June, Crash, The Brown Bunny, The People vs. Larry Flynt, Crimes of Passion, Wonderland, and Original Sin. Boosted by raves, the 1998 porn-world flick Boogie Nights topped out at $26 million. Even when Warner Bros. Pictures sold Eyes Wide Shut as a groundbreaking sex event movie starring Tom Cruise and his then-wife Nicole Kidman, audiences blinked. "People get itchy about straightforward sexuality," Universal Pictures publicity executive Michael Moses says.

http://www.advocate.com/new_news.asp?ID=15511&sd=03/24/05

[skypilot]

1. People can rent about 3 porno flicks...

...for what it costs to go see a movie with a cheesy sex scene in it.

[htuttle]

2. This is what is wrong with this country

Because when movies portray things like dismemberment, burning alive, and any other type of violent death and torture in gruesome and CG-enhanced glory, they generally sell like hotcakes.

Any society where death==good and sex==bad is not long for this planet...

[ElectroPrincess]

9. What they call sexy movie is a drama-fest girlee only movie...

I like dramas when they're intelligent (suspense, mysteries), but the romance movies are ultra boring.

[demnan]

3. Oh come on!

Lolita was not about sex, and it wasn't a particularly sexy movie - it was a book about growing old and fantasies. Porn is about sex and it sells well. For certain (!) reasons one doesn't necessarily want to view it in a public place. The People vs. Larry Flynt was a political documentary for Christ's sake!

[Radical Activist]

5. Yes, if remember correctly, Lolita's star

was under 18 at the time and there wasn't a single nude scene and one or two very tame sex scenes. That reminds me of everyone in my college dorm when they would go to see a film advertised for being sexy and then there was no nudity or good sex scenes. That always pissed everyone off. Maybe that's the problem. haha

On the other hand, if you market something as a dark, adult, sexual movie then a lot of people will feel embarassed or ashamed to go see it. Maybe that isn't the best marketing strategy.

[siliconefreak]

14. The trouble is...

you can't market it intelligently either. The story of Kinsey is a fascinating one, but probably too cerebral for most people.

[Hello_Kitty]

13. Thank you! n/t

[Alpharetta]

4. What's strange is the amount of sex on soaps

Lots. It's way more popular on daytime TV than it is on the big screen. Interesting.

[thinking is sexy]

6. look at Closer for an example

though this country is obsessed with sex, we cannot discuss sex and sexuality.

We saw 'Closer' opening night and were surrounded by giggling middle-aged Oprah watchers. (We were outraged, of course, having actually come to see the film and not just Julia Roberts.)

But I remembered that when we are uncomfortable, we laugh or make fun of or whatever to make ourselves feel better ... rather than deal with the issue. Perhaps those women should have seen 'Kinsey' instead. You know, that controversial movie about sex studies conducted half a damn century ago. Sheesh!

[NashVegas]

12. Great Quote from the Article

"When they're flinging around in a wet T-shirt contest in Old School, it's fine," DreamWorks marketing chief Terry Press says, "because no emotion is attached to it."

[newyawker99]

15. Hi thinking is sexy!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Village Idiot]

7. The USA is one SICK society...

Any kind (and yes, I DO MEAN ANY KIND) of violence is A-OK, but even simulated sex or partial nudity is banned outright...If this strikes you as normal, you are probably a USAsian...

[kwassa]

8. You can't sell BAD sex movies to the American public, unless ...

it is straight-up porn, which everyone expects to be bad, and no one watches for the acting or plot.

of those films on the list that I've actaully seen ...

"Eyes Wide Shut" was the most unsexy film starring beautiful naked women that I've ever seen. I think it is a textbook example that sex is more in the mind than anywhere else. "Showgirls" was equally adorned with beautiful naked women, featuring the scary shrill Elizabeth Berkeley, also very unerotic. Stupid as the day is long.

"Boogie Nights" and "Henry and June" were both pretty good, but too arty for the mass audience, and not all that much about depicting sex.

I think the premise of this article is false, of course.

[ElectroPrincess]

10. Yeah, no male frontal nudity in even NC 17

What's up with that?!? Viewing other women nude isn't entertaining for most straight gals.

The only "thrill" we women get in mainstream movies is an occasional peek at some guy's hairy buttocks. Whoa! Can we say mixed blessing? <snicker-teasing!>

[siliconefreak]

11. you have to have a deeper insight into sexuality

...in order to appreciate movies like the ones mentioned. I thought Showgirls was fantastic. Yes, I know I'm in the minority here, but I don't care, really. Yes, it was over-the-top, but that was part of the appeal. It was meant to be a "thriller" in the same way that a violent movie with gratuitous death and destruction gets people excited.

Actually, I'm glad to be in the minority. I'm proud of the fact that I understood what the directors of those movies were trying to express.

Most people just don't get it.