Editorials
Theaters Blame “R-Rated” Movies For Lower Ticket Sales, I Beg To Differ
If you thought that all it took was one Evil Dead remake, a Django Unchained, a Prometheus or a few mega-hit Hangover films to prove to everyone that R-rated movies can make money, you’d be wrong.
Take theater owners for example. Last weekend at the industry convention CinemaCon in Las Vegas many of them pleaded with the studios for less R-rated movies. Per The New York Times, John Fithian (president and chief executive of the National Association of Theater Owners) pleaded with studios, “Make more family-friendly films and fewer R-rated titles.”
While it’s true that box office revenues are up (due to ridiculously inflated ticket prices), actual attendance is down 12%. I’m sure that piracy is a part of this to some degree, but if there’s an actual content issue I’d say that Fithian is missing his target completely. While it’s true that nothing has the potential to perform commercially like a four-quadrant movie that adults and children can both connect with, plenty of those fail too. And you know which of those really bomb? The bad ones, typically (I’m making an exception here for the awesome and underseen Frankenweenie). Jack, The Giant Slayer, anyone?
Fithian claims that attendance has suffered, “under the weight of too many R-rated movies.” Wrong. It’s a QUALITY issue (in terms of both film and exhibition) – not a ratings issue. Movies today, especially studio movies, are drained of risk, personality and innovation to a startling degree. Studios are wrestling creative control away from all but their highest grossing filmmakers. Not only are audiences disappointed with the product, they’re practically harassed by cell-phone abusing jerks making it even more difficult to wring any kind of enjoyment they can out of whatever mediocrity they just paid $19 (before parking) to go see. There are many times I’m dying to see a film but decide against it because I’m not in the mood to yell at some guy texting in front of me that night. In fact, I’d say one of the reasons family films perform better is that families HAVE to go. What are you going to do with two screaming kids on a Saturday afternoon? They’re a somewhat captive audience. I imagine they don’t mind cell phone use as much because they’re just struggling to keep their kids still.
Mr. Fithian, please stop asking studios to further water down their product. Stop pleading with them to ignore risk and treat films like more of a commodity than they already do. I have another solution for you. Ask the studios to make better movies instead. Then, at the same time, do what you can to improve your end of the bargain. You don’t think you’re culpable in regard to falling attendance? If you’re going to charge those prices you should police your theaters and ruthlessly remove the *ssholes. Someone opens up their phone after the first 2 minutes of the movie? Boom. Kick them out. No second chance. Also, it might help to hire people who actually know how to project your DCP’s and get decent sound in the room. That’s what we’re ostensibly paying for, especially at the “premium theaters.” It’s offensive that you want to peg this issue on a rating. I guess you won’t be playing 21 Jump Street 2* or The Hangover 3* or The Heat, the next Tarantino film or the next R-rated horror film at your theater. None of those make any money, right?
Thanks to Andrew Gonzalez for point the NY Times piece out to us.
*I’m aware that I’m crossing the streams somewhat by adding sequels (especially the likely horrible Hangover 3) to the equation since sequels are “safe bet” thinking personified. Still, they’re R – so they must not be profitable.
Judging from the unprecedented box office success of Kane Parsons’ Backrooms adaptation, you’ve likely already seen the liminal horror hit that managed to make audiences afraid of empty hallways and bad wallpaper. And now that so many of us have already entered the yellow labyrinth (some of us more than once), the time has come to discuss the spoiler-filled details that make the movie so fascinating in the first place.
And if there’s one element here that makes the Backrooms movie stand out from any previous lore/mythology, it has to be the genius addition of the Still Life entities. Warped recreations of real people that somehow wandered into the Complex, these misremembered creatures are responsible for some of the most disturbing imagery of 2026 – as well as laugh-out-loud memes created by one of the film’s very own concept artists.
However, true to Parsons’ word that the movie would rely heavily on practical effects, each of these distorted monsters was brought to life by real actors under heavy layers of makeup and prosthetics (with the occasional splash of CGI enhancements). While Anora and If I Had Legs I’d Kick You actress Ivy Wolk wasn’t among these performers, despite what Letterboxd might have you believe, the creature cast did benefit from veteran players with plenty of genre experience.
For starters, Alien: Romulus alumni Robert Bobroczkyi (who previously brought that film’s horrific Offspring to life during its most memorable sequence) plays the flick’s main antagonist, the Still Life version of Captain Clark. And though there was some obvious CGI involved in making the character’s peg-leg and nightmarish face more believable, Bobroczkyi’s monstrous performance and his natural 7’7″ frame helped to make that final chase sequence a clear highlight among this year’s genre offerings.
The film’s Texas-Chain-Saw-inspired “dinner” scene also features a freaky collection of less-aggressive Still Life creatures in the form of the Bearded Man, the Red-Headed Woman and, strangest of them all, the cheekily named “Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life” (who earned this title among fans and crewmembers as a reference to his apparent affinity for lamps).
While this was the first major horror outing for both Patrick Baynham (The Bearded Man) and Dana Mahmood (Archibald), Rhiannon Roberts has worked as a stunt performer in everything from Yellowjackets to HBO’s The Last of Us adaptation – which is probably why The Red-Headed Woman is the most active out of Clark’s impromptu “family.” That being said, the Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life is my personal favorite of the bunch simply because his anachronistic outfit suggests that the Backrooms phenomenon might be a lot older than the Async Foundation. I also love how hard he tries to be helpful with that little light of his!
That might be it for the Still Life entities, but I think horror fans will also be pleased to hear that the film’s Found Footage prologue stars none other than Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City star Avan Jogia as Naren Warne – and American Mary herself Katharine Isabelle also shows up in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo at Mary’s house party towards the middle of the story (though I have a feeling that she originally had a bigger part that was likely cut for time).
At the end of the day, Parsons’ Backrooms may have been an auteur-driven project motivated by the young director’s unique take on the classic creepypasta, but film has always been a collective artform, so it’s fun to see just how many talented performers it takes to bring this kind of supernatural nightmare to life in a way that connects with so many people.
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