Video Games Rule, Dude. Teenage Boys to Hollywood: 'Drop dead, We Have Our DVDs. Who Needs to Find 'Nemo' Anyway?'
“For decades, movie executives could count on adolescent boys — a key audience for summer fare — spending a large percentage of their waking hours at the local cineplex, fueling the box office for movies such as 'Return of the Jedi' and 'Die Hard' with repeat visits. But as studios this summer report a drop in box office for the first time in years, teenage boys seem to have added movies to the list of things they're ambivalent about.
Many kids say sequels don't live up to the originals, DVDs full of bonus material come out just a few months after a movie's release anyway, and video games are more fun. [SFGate.com]
Say, you don't think these same attitudes could have affected the music industry, do you? Nah, couldn't be at all related. “Piracy” must be the answer to everything. I expect Jack Valenti to again step up to the microphone later today to combat this news story, spouting some nonsense like, “It's not bad movies, it's not high ticket prices, it's not that the technologies we fought (VCRs and DVDs) have become more popular and profitable than we could ever have dreamed it would… no, I'm here today to tell you that piracy is the root of all evil, including this summer's drop in box office receipts. Piracy bad.”
NetGens prefer interactive entertainment far more than previous generation. It's affecting our culture already, and it will continue to do so in ways increasingly obvious and subtle. Is your library truly interactive with these kids? [The Shifted Librarian]