In the last three weeks, I’ve seen three new movies which have already grossed over TWO BILLION DOLLARS worldwide – Obsession, Disclosure Day and Spiderman: Brand New Day.

The truth is – I didn’t love any one of them.

It’s not that they were awful, it’s just that, well, meh.

I feel like I sound old.  And why not?  I guess I’m now on the old-er side.

But this doesn’t mean I don’t love those kinds of movies. 

Meaning ones that can make lots of money quickly and appeal to broad swaths of what movie marketers term the four-quadrant audience. 

This phrase has been floating around for decades and I’ve mentioned it before.  But for those unfamiliar, it means:

Quadrant 1: Males under 25

Quadrant 2: Females under 25

Quadrant 3: Males over 25

Quadrant 4: Females over 25

It can signal family-friendly, but not necessarily.  There are dramas, sci-fi blockbusters, superhero, heartwarming comedies and horror films all included.

Not to be defensive (Note: Though what can you expect when you’re really far away from the minimum requirement in even the third quadrant), but I did tremendously like and almost loved The Odyssey, which has already grossed over ONE BILLION DOLLARS worldwide on its own in the last month.

And then there was Project Hail Mary, an early hit this year I thoroughly enjoyed A LOT that is up to almost SEVEN HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS internationally at the box-office.

Both of these have my admiration because they tried something a little bit different, developed their characters, have very few plot holes, offer a few earned clever twists and deliver an ending that feels real and earned.

This is not the case for many films in the four quadrant system these days.  Often they have plot holes the size of 30 foot bagels (Note: Just where were all of the other victims of those One Wish Willow toys in that Obsession town?).  Or too many messy and unanswered pertinent questions (Note: Didn’t those Disclosure Day aliens have a planet that missed them?).  And far too many Easter Egg drops from previous films, and so many Irving The Explainer plot backstory moments, that the diffused present day action can’t sustain enough momentum for us to believe or care much about anything happening in the present day (Note: New Spiderman makes one long for a new origin story of something or someone else that’s super… simple).

And yet, who can argue with TWO BILLION DOLLARS?

That’s what the fans and the studios of these films could and would likely say.

The other day I flipped on to Turner Classic Movies and they were showing Annie Hall and I, like everyone since, was once again charmed by the wit, talent and originality of the forever missed Diane Keaton.

It’d been years since I’d seen this very simple yet unique love story that Hollywood and the country took to heart and I quickly remembered why it was a film I did love and continue to love.

It came out in 1977, a time when I was very much a member of that most desired QUADRANT 1 marketing demographic. 

This was a time when major studios made and offered movies in lots of genres.  Films that succeeded at the box-office that didn’t have plot holes the size of a giant baked good.  Or were not overstuffed with homages and unanswered questions.  And actually took the time, as some films that capture the zeitgeist do, to develop their characters and thoroughly earn their place in the hearts of millions.

Aside from multiple Oscar winning Annie Hall (including best picture), here are some other Oscar contenders that came out in 1977.

Other best picture nominees (there were the proper mere five back then) were: The Goodbye Girl (a Neil Simon character rom-com), Julia (a serious politically-based drama), STAR WARS (a character-based sci-fi blockbuster), and The Turning Point (a show business based relationship movie set in the world of ballet).

Contenders in other categories include other films that moviegoers talk about to this day and that, in their time and by contemporary dollars, would be considered blockbusters.

Try this duo:  Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Saturday Night Fever.

It was also the year of Oh, God!, Pumping Iron, Slapshot, Eraserhead and New York, New York.

Sure, the #2 film at the box-office that year was the paper thin, low rent Smokey and the Bandit and #6 was the semi-coherent, movie-star bloated A Bridge Too Far.  But there were lots of other offerings, SO many as a matter of fact, to even things out.

This is not a critique of the taste of the contemporary mass audience.  People love movies and want to get out of the house to see something new.  But they can only pick and choose from what the studios sell and the movie theatres offer them.  

It just seems that if 1977 could give us Annie Hall, Julia and Saturday Night Fever – as well as Star Wars, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and for god sakes, Smokey and the Bandit – that 50 years later it’s not too much to demand that studios, distributors and their billionaire patrons take the time to do a little bit better.

And that we all demand a hell of a lot more.

The Bee Gees – “Staying Alive” (from the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack)