Hollywood Babble On & On #972: The Christmas Movie Conundrum

Does it seem that there has been a shrinking number of Christmas movies being released theatrically by a major studio. There were none in 2010, only 1 in 2011 called Arthur Christmas which I had to look up because audiences seemed to forget it about five minutes after they watched it, and this year the only thing remotely Christmas adjacent that I've heard of is Rise of the Guardians, which is something to do with Santa turning into Rambo for some reason but even that fizzled at the box office.

There are still some Xmas stuff on TV and straight to video, but they don't really count.

Hollywood used to love to make Christmas movies. They were relatively inexpensive to make, they generally did pretty well, and the really good ones could become classics that are played annually either as theatrical re-releases during the Golden Age, later on becoming perennial TV favorites, or regular home video sellers.

 

Even the cheesy, insincere, stupid or overly saccharine flops still had potential for a second life as seasonal filler on deep cable.

So why have the major studios seemed to have given up on what used to be a bread and butter sub-genre?

Well there are two theories, or to be more exact, one theory, and one fact, since it comes from me.

The theory comes from political and social conservatives who feel that Hollywood is hostile to Christians, their values, and express that through a hostility to Christmas.

While there does appear to be hostility toward the bulk of America's population because they believe in something beyond their own fabulousness, most of it stems from a willful ignorance enforced by Hollywood's group-think culture.

However, I think that's just a small part of what is a bigger picture.

My theory, which is fact since I'm always right, is all about capability. 

To make a Christmas movie that doesn't want to make the audience want to set the screen on fire you need the ability to feel and express sincere emotions cinematically without smug irony/sarcasm, slapstick idiocy, or hammer handed bombast.

Can you name anyone in Hollywood capable or willing to do that? 

*crickets*

Exactly.

The audience seems to know that too, even if it's on an entirely subconscious level.