Perhaps you have not noticed. Maybe you have not been paying attention or, more than likely, you just don't give a damn anymore. But, unfortunately for Hollywood, the honeymoon very much seems to be over. Box office numbers tanked for the second year in a row in 2021. This may seem to be just a temporary situation due to the pandemic, but, as I am sure you know, people have continued to attend various events, many of them indoors, even when lock downs have been in full affect. This makes the argument that Hollywood's box office struggles are just a symptom of the pandemic seem much less sincere than they were in 2020. In fact, box office numbers have been declining for years. Hollywood was able to disguise this by making mostly short CG films (low cost green screen romps that last for about ninety minutes and leave the audience super bored...I mean, "wanting more", as the producers say); however, these short and often incomplete scripts have left audiences cold...at least on going to the theater anyway. Streaming services are booming. People just do not see the worth in making the expensive trip to the theater anymore. And, really, can you blame them? I have been saying for years that Hollywood has forgotten the key rule to entertainment: if the audience does not show up, you do not have a show, you have a liability. In the case of Hollywood they have thousands of liabilities that cost them billions of dollars to make, and with nothing but negative returns to show for it. This has been a long time coming. Hollywood spends most of its time marketing in movies now. You do not watch a Stephen Spielberg film anymore; you watch a ninety minute commercial Spielberg supervised for a few hours. You are not watching a movie preview; you are watching a very sophisticated marketing campaign based on the viewing habits Netflix records. You are not watching acting; you are watching pill pushers, lifestyle gurus, hellfire preachers, political pundits, and talking heads. None of it is original. All of it is the same. After awhile, people catch on. They realize that, if everything is just going to be a big advertisement anyway, then why not just stay at home? At least then you can fast forward through the commercials. The last movie I attended had about thirty minutes of commercials and previews combined! That's not advertising; that's some Guantanamo Bay shit. In fact, it's worse than torture; people don't make you pay eighty bucks for torture. I have also noticed that Hollywood is now becoming less and less progressive: offering less opportunities to LGBTQIA members, fewer opportunities for actors of color, steadily distancing itself from liberal causes. I mean where the hell were they on abortion? Voting rights? The constant abuse of trans women? Nowhere to be found. So, forget Hollywood. They don't want people like you and me anyway, so screw em. Come to think of it, it really hurt me when they raised those prices. I grew up dreaming of being in the movies and those constant price hikes made me feel like there was no place for the likes of me in a movie theater anymore. But hey, we all have streaming services now and some of us are even lucky enough to have backyards where we can build our own outdoor theaters and enjoy real acting that we want to see. You know, the good stuff, the real interesting stories that spineless marketing executives and cowardly movie producers will only ever ignore. So, pull up a bean bag, make yourself comfortable, grab some popcorn, and let the binge watching commence. Welcome to the new night at the movies my friend. It's been a long time coming.