Quote from: Biomechanoid on Jan 14, 2019, 10:04:41 PM
Quote from: bb-15 on Dec 30, 2018, 08:53:09 PM
Good info. The slump in SF interest was mirrored by Roger Ebert reviews at the time. I remember Ebert bad mouthing Blade Runner, The Thing, 1989 Batman. Ebert didn't want dark then. He wanted ET and Indiana Jones.
To speculate further, I think many people were avoiding anything dark during that period. Keep in mind that was around a spike of baby boomer divorce. Starting in the early 80's, boomers just sort of sat up and said time to shake up my life, I guess...divorce was the popular avenue.
Hundreds of thousands of mothers/fathers found themselves no longer embedded in a family environment. Isolated. Alone. Now only limited time with their children. They are now an outsider, no hope of returning to that family environment for many.
ET catered to that emotion - the alien as the surrogate father Elliot had lost. A glimmer of hope.
The Thing.....well.....a reminder to those divorced, amplifying their dark, isolated, no hope new life style. If you were plopped into that life style in real world, the last thing you want to see is a film that rubs that demise in your face.
I can continue the speculation; mainly about why in science fiction; it's difficult for dark, horror SF movies to reach a blockbuster level which is what the studios want of course. Your examples of divorce and problems in life are good.
The mass audience is looking for an escape from that.
"Alien", "Aliens" and "Predator" have an excitement / energy which lead to some decent popularity.
But these are still set in a galaxy where space aliens are trying to kill us. They are hostile universe stories. That keeps a lot of people away especially families with young kids.
As franchises they were never going to be as popular as the original Star Wars trilogy or "ET".
And once the excitement is over with the first movies in this shock / horror SF, then the Alien/Predator sequels were not as popular as the originals. Fresh horror thrills could be found somewhere else in cheaper to make jump scare films.
Carpenter's "The Thing" has a negative view of the universe and the paranoia of human nature when order breaks down. Many people don't want to see that.
I enjoy watching these movies but I know my preferences are not typical.
