2018 had one of the most interesting climates for cinema in the last decade. We got some the greatest movies ever made but also some of the worst. What was most surprising though was the amount of bad movies that did extremely well in the box office even though the were flops critically. Now whether you like a movie or not you can agree whether a film actually is a piece of art or when it is a poorly made cash grab. And if you enjoy a movie but also acknowledge how bad it is then that is fine. But it is important to keep in mind the more money you spend watching a film or purchasing its merchandise; the more you support that kind of movie, its tropes, special effects, stereotypes.

For the past decade movies like Jurassic park and Toy story pushed the limits of what was possible with special effects and changed cinema for the coming decades. People flooded to watch these movies and loved the CGI special effects that more importantly did not look creepy. In the next few years more CGI movies were released and for the most part this trend was helpful and offered a way to touch up scenes or create entire scenes with this animation. But with this trend came some downfalls.

As more of these CGI-laiden flicks were released and people paid for them the market was over saturated with bad movies that spent most of their budget on CGI. And studios began to prioritize this. For example when A prequel was produced to the 1982 movie The Thing the studio insisted that the practical effects be covered with CGI because it ¨looked too 80s¨. But the practical effects were the highlight of the original and the new movie bombed at the box office.

In the last year alone we’ve had at least 2 movies that have made millions of dollars worldwide but aren’t considered good by critics and have many obvious issue, Venom and Suicide Squad. Though these movies may be fun to some they are not good movies. They made plenty of money and due to their Blockbuster status many people will defend these movies due to being fans of the franchises.

Suicide squad made 746.8 million USD in the box office but was given a 27% by rotten tomatoes, in the same month Kubo and the Two Strings released and only made 77.5 million USD in the box office and has 97% on rotten tomatoes. Last year Venom made 855.8 million USD but has a rotten tomatoes score of 29%. But A Star is Born was released at around the same time as Venom and has a 90% on rotten tomatoes and only made 409.2 million USD.

It is important to keep all of this in mind. Your money is what decides what studios will produce in future movies.