SUNDAY, JUNE 6, 2010
KLMNO
K Shotgun wedding: Romance films get a little action action from E1
nously, clear. Action and romance are tying the knot, brought to- gether by a movie industry des- perate for product that will ap- peal not just to one demographic group (say, teenage boys) but two (teenage boys and their girl- friends, sisters or even moms). One wag has even already named the offspring of this shot- gun wedding: “Romaction.” As with most trends in Holly- wood, this particular spate of ac- tion-spiked rom-coms (or ro- mance-infused action flicks) can be traced to the twin impulses of love and fear: the movie indus- try’s love of a sure thing and its equally strong fear of trying something new. In this case, stu- dio executives are trying to re- create the past success of the 1984 hit “Romancing the Stone” and, more recently, “Mr. and Mrs. Smith.” “Knight and Day” producer
Steve Pink says he first learned of the trend when he began shop- ping the script around six years ago. Back then, it was a buddy ac- tion comedy.
Chip off the old ‘Stone’
“It was [co-producer] Todd Garner who said, ‘Studios are looking for that “Romancing the Stone” kind of action-romantic comedy.’ I sat there and thought, ‘What other ones are out there?’ And there really were no other ones.”
So Pink and screenwriter Pat-
rick O’Neill set out to re-tool “Knight and Day” as “Romancing the Stone” in the world of espio- nage, Pink says, creating the character of a young woman whose chance meeting with a mysterious stranger sends her on a chase from equally mysterious assassins.
Pink was happy to make the overhaul. “I’ve always been a fan of trying to have more than one genre in a movie,” he says, adding that combining action and ro- mance “enables anybody who wants to make an action movie to expand the interest of women in their movie by adding a strong woman character, which I think is always really smart in general.” Pink has hit on a new truism in the movie business: Girls are the new teenage boys. With the success of “Twilight” and its sequels (“New Moon” set a record for biggest opening day box office last year, and “Eclipse” is poised to be the most suc- cessful movie of the summer this year), a business model based on comic books and toys for boys now must make room for less tes- tosterone-heavy mega-hits. “If you’re ignoring the female audi- ence you’re making a humongous mistake right now,” says analyst Paul Dergarabedian, president of the box office division at Holly-
wood.com.
It’s a teen boy’s world
Still, guys under 25 continue to wield disproportionate power in the movie marketplace, accord- ing to producer J.C. Spink (“The Hangover”). “What’s driving the film business is teenage boys,” he says flatly. “Not that they’re the only audience, but I think every- thing is getting tailored more and more to them.” Spink notes that rom-coms — once thought of as “chick flicks” — have become increasingly guy- friendly (more porn jokes, fewer makeover scenes), especially with the success of such Judd Apatow movies as “The 40-Year-Old Vir- gin” and “Knocked Up.” “Roman- tic comedies have gone from be- ing female-driven to being two- handers,” he says. Whether it’s a function of boys’ movies trying to get female audi- ences or vice versa, the current romance-action mash-up is just the most recent iteration of the tyranny of demographics that has increasingly come to dominate Hollywood. Gone are the days of general-interest movies that tran-
Audiences love romaction flicks, even if the mashup is sometimes a mess.
E3
20TH CENTURY FOX
“Romancing the Stone”
1984
Actors: Kathleen Turner and Michael Douglas
Premise: She’s a romance novelist who writes about ad- venture she knows nothing about; he’s a soldier of for- tune who helps find her kid- napped sister in the jungles of Colombia.
Why it works: Turner and Douglas have flawless chem- istry, with just the right repar- tee-to-swashbuckling quo- tient.
Box office: $115 million
scended demographics — “Titan- ic” was arguably the last one. Even the hugely successful “Ava- tar” didn’t have quite as broad demographic appeal because of its emphasis on science fiction and special effects. Instead, like every other aspect of the culture, cinema has become fragmented, a function of niche interests and increasingly micro-managed au- dience research. Thus, not only “Killers” opened this weekend but also “Marma- duke” (a talking-dog movie geared toward kids and families), “Get Him to the Greek” (a com- edy starring Jonah Hill and Rus- sell Brand that will presumably appeal to both teenage boys and girls) and “Splice” (a science fic- tion drama aimed at sci fi and horror fans). The result are movies that in- creasingly look as if they’ve been stamped from the same mold on studio assembly lines. Filmmak- ers are “getting forced just to make a certain kind of movie more and more every day,” said a producer who spoke anonymous- ly to preserve relationships with studios. Movies have become “more a marketing medium than a filmmaking medium. . . . So you start to settle for getting any movie made rather than getting good movies made.”
‘Like guys in a lab’ Dergarabedian calls the new
genre “romaction-comedy” and likens the hybrid to a science ex- periment. “I imagine movie exec- utives sitting around a confer- ence table like guys in a labora- tory, trying to build the perfect box office beast,” he says. “They’re trying to figure out, ‘How do we get the guys to go to a movie with their girlfriends and not feel like
they’re being dragged to it?’ ” If Hollywood lives and dies by tentpole pictures — the block- busters that anchor a movie sea- son and earn studios major chunks of revenue — then the tentpoles’ stakes are quadrants: men under 25, women under 25, women over 25 and men over 25. Get two of those cohorts to see your picture, and you’ve hatched a hit. But Dergarabedian has no- ticed a trend, with such films as “Mamma Mia!,” “Julie and Julia” and the “Sex and the City” films,
David Mamet’s AMERICAN BUFFALO
Peter Allas, Edward Gero and Jimmy Davis. Photo: Scott Suchman. DIRECTED BY JOY ZINOMAN E X T E N D E D !
that women often go to these movies in groups, creating a mul- tiplier effect in their buying pow- er. “If my quadrant is buying four tickets at a time, it becomes a multi-quadrant tier all by itself,” he says. Whether filmmakers are trying to snag guys, girls, both or everyone else, it looks like filmgoers who sim- ply want to watch two people fall in love — without first falling 20 sto- ries, re-loading an Uzi and dodging an incoming fireball — may be in for a long wait.
The good news? It will only take
one improbable hit to bring the romance back. Remember, it wasn’t that long ago that movies
about pirates, vampires and wiz- ards would never sell. Until they did.
hornadaya@washpost.com
“Ballet Across America is a success, not least in audience terms. More, please.” –The New York Times (2008)
STEPHEN VAUGHN/SMPSP
“Mr. and Mrs. Smith” 2005
Actors: Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt
Premise: They’re married, mayhem-addicted spies who, unbeknownst to each other, are hired to kill each other.
Why it doesn’t work: The frisson of the couple’s real- life love affair, reportedly be- gun while filming, is unmis- takable, but ultimately the ham-fisted stunts extinguish any genuine, subtle sparks.
Box office: $428 million
“Get Smart” 2008
Actors: Anne Hathaway and Steve Carell
Premise: They’re secret agents enlisted to fight the evil plot of a rival spy outfit.
Why it works: The TV show never had much sexual fizz, but Carell and Hathaway bring the sizzle.
Box office: $231 million
TRACY BENNETT
BARRY WETCHER/SMPSP
“The Bounty Hunter”
2010
Actors: Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler
Premise: He’s a bounty hunter, she’s his ex-wife, they’re on the lam from a gang of Atlantic City bookies.
Why it doesn’t work: He’s too slobby, she’s too brittle, the action is lame, and you don’t believe they’re meant for each other for a New York minute.
Box office: $130 million
MYLES ARONOWITZ
“Date Night” 2010
Actors: Tina Fey and Steve Carell
Premise: They’re a married couple who, through a case of mistaken identity, run afoul of a Manhattan crime ring.
Why it doesn’t work: Fey and Carell are masters of im- provisation, but they keep getting drowned out by bul- lets and a boneheaded car chase.
Box office: $142 million
LYPSINKA AND JAMES LECESNE IN LEGENDS! June 15–20 Opera House PROGRAM A Tue., June 15* &Wed., June 16 at 7:30 p.m. Houston Ballet
Stanton Welch, Artistic Director Falling (WELCH/MOZART)
Disney and CAMERON
MACKINTOSH present
The Suzanne Farrell Ballet
Suzanne Farrell, Artistic Director Monumentum Pro Gesualdo and
Movements for Piano & Orchestra (BALANCHINE/STRAVINSKY) WASHINGTON DEBUT
North Carolina Dance Theatre
Denyce Graves mezzo-soprano
Laura Ward, piano The Cavani String Quartet
Sunday, June 13 at 7pm The Music Center at Strathmore
Program includes works by Handel, Purcell, Schumann, Gershwin, Rodgers & Hammerstein and more!
“If the human voice has the power to move you, you will be touched by Denyce Graves.”
~ Atlanta Journal-Constitution
WPAS.org • (202) 785-WPAS (9727) LIMITED PREMIERE ENGAGEMENT
8 WEEKS ONLY! • JULY 1 – AUGUST 22 OPERA HOUSE
ONLINE:
kennedy-center.org
CHARGE BY PHONE: (202) 467-4600 VISIT: Kennedy Center Box Office
TTY: (202) 416-8524 • GROUPS (20+): (202) 416-8400
Theater at the Kennedy Center is presented with the generous support of Stephen and Christine Schwarzman. Mary Poppins is made possible through the generosity of The Adrienne Arsht Musical Theater Fund.
Additional support is provided by Elizabeth and Michael Kojaian.
Tickets from $29 at the Box Office or charge
by phone (202) 467-4600
Online at
kennedy-center.org Groups (202) 416-8400 | TTY (202) 416-8524
*
Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux, Artistic Director Shindig
(BONNEFOUX/TRADITIONAL BLUEGRASS)
Arts Across America is made possible through the generosity of the Charles E. Smith Family Foundation.
The Kennedy Center Ballet Season is sponsored by Altria Group, Inc.
PROGRAM B Thu., June 17* at 7:30 p.m.
and Sat., June 19 at 1:30 & 7:30 p.m. WASHINGTON DEBUT
Ballet Memphis Dorothy Gunther Pugh,
Founder and Artistic Director
In Dreams (MCINTYRE/ORBISON) WASHINGTON DEBUT
Ballet Arizona
Ib Andersen, Artistic Director Diversions (ANDERSEN/BRITTEN)
Pacific Northwest Ballet
Peter Boal, Artistic Director 3 Movements (MILLEPIED/REICH)
PROGRAM C Fri., June 18* at 7:30 p.m and Sun., June 20 at 1:30 p.m.
Aspen Santa Fe Ballet Tom Mossbrucker, Artistic Director
Red Sweet (ELO/VIVALDI AND BIBER) WASHINGTON DEBUT
Tulsa Ballet
Marcello Angelini, Artistic Director Por Vos Muero
(DUATO/OLD SPANISH MUSIC)
The Joffrey Ballet Ashley Wheater, Artistic Director
Age of Innocence (LIANG/GLASS AND NEWMAN)
Explore the Arts: Free post-performance discussion with company Artistic Directors
NORTH CAROLINA DANCE THEATRE, PHOTO BY JEFF CRAVOTTA
©Disney/CML
STUDIOTHEATRE.ORG 202-332-3300
OPENING JUNE 16
BY JAMES KIRKWOOD
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