These days, I write whenever I want to – or when I’m not busy exploring the world with my wife, kids, and grandkids and sometimes friends. I write and read constantly. Then I discovered that I was writing longer and longer pieces. My new focus is to write shorter; and to write HUMOR. On purpose. Maybe I can still irritate people while being funny. It works pretty well for John Scalzi! We’ll see what happens.
This week? "Top Grossing Movies of All Time 1976 - 2022" and what it means to me...
This week? "Top Grossing Movies of All Time 1976 - 2022" and what it means to me...
The YouTube below showed up on my FB feed a few weeks ago. I watched it with rapt interest! Truth? I was beginning to think that I should either give up writing to get published altogether because I just haven’t been selling to the markets I care about. People seem to prefer watching TV, YouTubes, and other media that doesn’t require anyone to anything but CONSUME.
I am not a couch potato – my wife and I are in the habit of watching either news or movies with our meals (when we’re not out with friends). As the non-print media follows the desires of its vast constituency, the number of readers continues its slow decline: “In 2021, 17% of U.S. adults said they read no books in the past year, about the same percentage as in 2016 and similar to most readings since 1990. At the same time, there was a decline in the number reading more than 10 books, from 35% in 2016 to 27% in 2021.”
Surprisingly, “Estimates suggest that in 2024 U.S. adults will spend an average of nearly three hours watching traditional TV each day. This figure has generally fallen in recent years and the downward trend is forecast to continue in the years to come.” (https://news.gallup.com/poll/388541/americans-reading-fewer-books-past.aspx#:~:text=In%202021%2C%2017%25%20of%20U.S.,2016%20to%2027%25%20in%202021.)
On the other hand: “Streaming services have achieved a near-ubiquitous presence in American homes, as highlighted by the latest findings. An overwhelming 99% of U.S. households now subscribe to at least one or more streaming services, with Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV+ topping the charts. This near-universal adoption is a testament to the shift in how entertainment and media are consumed, moving away from traditional models like cable TV to more flexible, on-demand streaming options.” (https://www.forbes.com/home-improvement/internet/streaming-stats/)
So, I still like books. People still READ books. So, how do I compete with the upturn in the number of media consumers and the slow decline in readers?
What if I start WRITING what people are WATCHING? This question leads then to another: WHAT should I be writing?
Below you can find a visual link to a YouTube that shows the shift in the movies that have made the MOST money from 1976 to 2022.
You know, if you’ve read this far, that I mostly write Science Fiction (SF, NOT SciFi!!!!), with a bit of fantasy tossed in there for interest. My science fiction ranges from a focus on aliens to a focus on the impact of technologies.
What I discovered is that I’M WRITING IN THE CORRECT FIELD!!!
Watch the video. If you don’t want to take the time, here’s the end result: as of 2022:
In case it’s not clear, the TOP SEVEN ALL TIME (as of 2022) grossing movies are: Avatar, Titanic, Avengers: Endgame, Star Wars VII, Avengers: Infinity War, Jurassic Park, and ET: The Extraterrestrial.
The first involves aliens and virtual reality; the second is a plain, old-fashioned romance that takes place during one of the most identifiable disasters of all time; the third and fifth both involve numerous aliens, some of whom are the Avengers themselves (and an AI in human form (which is also what Star Trek’s Data was…)); the fourth has literally COUNTLESS aliens and takes place in a far-away galaxy; the sixth involves futuristic and (literally) MASSIVE epigenetic manipulation, and the seventh, a "soft" alien invasion movie.
All of which, I might add, are science fiction – except for Titanic, which (let’s be honest) is probably mostly “fantasy set against the backdrop of an essentially unwitnessed event”. [UNWITNESSED???? WHAT??? Really?] It was dark and even though there were 706 survivors out of the original 2200 passengers and crew, few of those were interested in watching the ship sink – and they couldn’t see what was happening once the generators stop and the lights went out.
So…what should I be writing? Let’s see what I can parse from this list:
1) I need aliens.
2) Three of the seven had “war” as a backdrop. The others include crime, history, and alien invasion (of an admittedly mild sort – and how DID ET’s people survive in the wide universe? Or were they the sole sapients beside Humans in our part of the galaxy)?
3) ALL of them involve exceptional characters, usually as part of an ensemble “cast” – the only loner being ET, and that was accidental…Aliens, war, crime, history, alien invasion, and exceptional characters usually as part of a coherent “group”.
A surprisingly prosaic list, I think. Virtually every science fiction story I’ve read in the recent issue of ANALOG fits this “formula”. So, if the PARTS aren’t what’s important to hit the multi-gazillion-dollar movie bracket then…what IS?
Food for thought!
Inspiration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXRA9s-A-gA
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