That 2019 was the last year that could be defined as “normal” is now beyond question. Of course, things in the world weren’t going so well because, upon closer inspection, there were some flaws around, but that’s how it was: we were all a little more serene.

From 2020 onwards we first found ourselves living the alternative version of an everyday life that seemed to be the result of a strange cross between The Last of Us, 28 days later and the “de noantri” version of an Orwell novel in which, to leave the house and go to a restaurant to eat a cacio&pepe, we needed self-declarations and QR Codes which were then followed by a whole series of international catastrophes of all kinds. We live in a sort of Cold War 2.0 in which world politics is made with memes rather than with political programs.

Better not to digress too much otherwise they’ll move the editorial from Vision to another section of Today and that’s not the case: better to stay anchored to the world of entertainment and cinema in this specific case.

Here, even for the seventh art, 2019 was the last normal year. The films were released in theaters and people went to see them regardless of whether it was ultra pop stuff like Avengers: Endgame or Frozen II or more classic offerings like 1917 or Murder Mystery. There was even a South Korean film like Parasite which, after the Palme d’Or and before the four Oscars, including Best Film, managed to gross more than 250 million worldwide.

There was also a gentleman named Leonardo DiCaprio who, together with another gentleman named Brad Pitt, starred in the work of a certain Quentin Tarantino entitled Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, bringing 377 million into Sony’s coffers despite that feature film not even featuring five seconds in which Spider-Man appeared.

Other times.

And even if Leo flops…

Leonardo DiCaprio himself is an excellent litmus test of how the relationship between people and the cinema has been deteriorating.

For several years, his name was enough for the Hollywood majors to approve any film. Ask Martin Scorsese for more information. Gangs of New York, The Aviator, The Departed, Shutter Island, The Wolf of Wall Street. Regardless of the well-deserved credit that a giant of cinema like Mr Scorsese has earned, having the King of the world of Titanic on his side was a godsend because no one has ever had too many problems in financing a film starring the star. But then in a context in which almost all the studios had begun to want to risk as little as possible by always insisting on this or that franchise, Covid arrived to make everything worse. And so did Mr Scorsese, to have Killers of the Flower Moon produced, even though DiCaprio had to go knocking on Apple’s doors. Which wrote a check for 215 million (recovered with half a second of AirPods sales in Ascoli Piceno alone) and ensured that, through Paramount, the film also arrived in cinemas. Except that four cats went to see it.

The same four cats who, more recently, went to see One Battle After Another at the cinema, the new film by Paul Thomas Anderson which not only has Leonardo DiCaprio in the cast, but also Benicio del Toro and Sean Penn. Who are not exactly unknown newcomers.

Yet, for the umpteenth time, we find ourselves faced with the case of a major which, between the budget spent to produce the film and the dollars allocated to its promotion, has taken at least two hundred million dollars out of its purse.

To date it has grossed 164 worldwide and, this being the case, it will generate a deficit of at least 100 million for Warner who produced it (from the cinema circuit because over time, between home video and the sale of streaming and TV rights it will still recover a lot of money). Consider that between the 50% percentage that is retained by cinemas (it is an average valid more or less for the whole planet) and what ends up directly in the pockets of the good DiCaprio, to break even it would have to at least generate a turnover of 300 million. On a financial level, the only one who can’t complain is the good Leo who is one of those very few stars who when he signs the contract to participate in a film can still claim the so-called “first dollar gross”. Translated into terms understandable even to the local baker: the actor retains a percentage of the box office starting from the first dollar that ends up in the cinema coffers and not from the moment in which the film’s earnings begin to be in the black. Not a small distinction.

The moment you stop thinking with a hint of envy about our bank account, you will realize that you too are reading an article that so far talks about a film that, in 99% of cases, you have not seen and which, perhaps, you have not even heard of.

Common pain half joy? Not much.

Everything has changed. Those who were once the so-called (in Hollywood) “bonafide actors”, those actors who, with their name alone, guaranteed tons of money no longer exist.

In addition to DiCaprio, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson also knows this well. In Benny Safdie’s biopic The Smashing Machine he plays Mark Kerr, MMA fighter and wrestler. At the Venice Film Festival Safdie won the Silver Lion for direction, The Rock’s interpretation was acclaimed everywhere and partly for this, partly for the nihilistic philosopher’s glasses that the former wrestling star now shows off during every interview as if to underline this committed career change of his after twenty years of adorable noisy blockbusters, everyone immediately pointed to The Smashing Machine as yet another coup by the Venice selectors with a view to the Oscars. The new film to see from the independent production and distribution company a24 with the Italian distributor I Wonder Pictures probably convinced that they have the new The Substance in their pocket, judging by the 1500 social activations with influencers of all kinds invited to Venice for the soirée of the feature film with the inevitable photo opportunities with an always very helpful Johnson.

Once the festival enthusiasm was over, The Smashing Machine arrived in American cinemas and some international markets (it will arrive here on November 19th) and immediately gave Dwayne Johnson the biggest failure of his career. With a cost of 50 million it has so far grossed 18. All over the world. Perhaps also making a24 itself understand that 1) they spent too much money to produce it, more than they normally spend 2) that many things went more than a little wrong in how it was communicated to the public that this film existed 3) that Mark Kerr is certainly an interesting person and no one doubts it, but that who he is and what happened in his life, and I say this with all the respect in the world, not a living soul or almost a living soul gives a stone even if The Rock plays him.

Is there a cure?

Ok, until 2019 we were used to living in a certain way and from 2020 onwards things have changed, especially in terms of how we experience cinema.

But observing that even people like Leonardo DiCaprio or Dwayne Johnson is no longer enough to move people from home is still impressive. And in and around Hollywood, faced with debacles like these, we wonder and scratch our heads without knowing exactly what to do.

More reels on Instagram? More TikTok stars to get involved in the promotion? Nobody knows for sure.

On the pages of Variety there are those who like it Shawn Robbins, box-office analyst for Fandango (the main North American platform for pre-selling movie tickets), gives a reading that I feel like sharing because I myself, who work with cinema, TV and entertainment and pay the mortgage for it, feel represented by his words, so imagine those of you who are reading that experience all of this not as a job, but as entertainment.

“These so-called prestige films” explains Robbins “have failed to create in people that feeling of missing out on something, the so-called FOMO (Fear of Missing Out). They weren’t treated enough as events. The public now expects these films to be available for viewing at home much earlier than in the past.”

Indeed it is so.

In a historical moment in which even Marvel comic films are struggling, people continue to reward well-known names like Jurassic Park, How to Train Your Dragon, anything with the word Minecraft in the title, and originality seems to succeed almost exclusively when it has to do with horror stories. Sinners and Weapons don’t belong to any franchise, but they did great. Everything else? Yes, it can easily be recovered with a digital rental or streaming when it arrives on this or that platform.

And in the midst of all this, the only one who continues to play in a category of his own is not an actor or an actress, but a director: Christopher Nolan. Only he can manage to set box office records a year ahead of release.