Last week, documentarian and anti-establishment agitator Michael Moore released his latest film “Slacker Uprising" on the Internet. Not only did Moore snub a traditional theatrical release in favor of the Web, he also made the film available to download for free. With box-office ticket sales in decline, one has to wonder whether Moore’s tactic doesn’t somehow point to the future of the movie business.
As much as the bigwigs in Hollywood want to deny it, traditional theater film-viewing is in trouble. Ticket sales have been on the downslide for a while now (“The Dark Knight” notwithstanding) and, as home-theater equipment continues to rapidly evolve and drop in price, the incentive to go to a movie theater dwindles. Hollywood and theater owners haven’t done much to help the situation either. Rather than act sensibly and lower ticket prices, they have instead raised them to the point where it doesn’t really make sense to see a movie in the theater. After all, a person can wait a couple months and pay less than the cost of two admission tickets to own the movie on DVD. And since the studios take up to 75 percent of the revenue from tickets opening weekend (when movies make the majority of their cash), theater owners resort to marking up concession-stand items and, even worse, playing commercials before movies. Essentially, instead of being proactive and looking to save the movie-theater industry, Hollywood is hastening its own death by looking at profit margins instead of bodies in seats.
And perhaps no one understands the greed and near-sightedness of corporate America better than Michael Moore, the man who went gunning for GM CEO Roger Smith in the 1989 documentary “Roger and Me”. With his latest bold and innovative move, Moore is (whether intentionally or unintentionally) taking on traditional Hollywood. Though he claims the idea to make “Slacker Uprising” available online was to give a gift to fans (similar to what Radiohead did with its last Album), the move may send a ripple through the film industry. The 97-minute film is the first by a major filmmaker (Moore’s 2004 film “Fahrenheit 911” is the higgest grossing documentary of all time) to be released only on the Net. While it’s a concept that probably won’t be repeated by the major studios anytime soon, it’s something they should seriously consider. Finding inventive ways to reach audiences may be the only way to save the movie industry from its version of the Great Depression. Since the Internet/film relationship is still in its infancy, Hollywood could use the platform to promote interest in movies (perhaps by providing films for free on the Web for a few days prior to their theatrical release) while they work on developing “Internet theaters”. That would be a thoughtful and intelligent approach anyway.
But while Hollywood’s ultimate response to the emergence of new media remains to be seen, Moore’s defiant move to circumvent established media distribution systems with “Slacker Uprising” should give the controversy-courter ever more notoriety. The film itself follows Moore's tour of the swing states during the 2004 presidential election, in which he tried to enlist young voters in his Slacker Army Against Bush. To encourage non-voters between the ages of 18 and 29 (or “slackers” as they’re often called) to show up to his events, Moore offered them a clean change of underwear, Ramen noodles, and a promise that no event would start before noon and no politician would be allowed to speak. The film includes a truckload of guest appearances, including Eddie Vedder, Joan Baez, Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine, and Viggo Mortensen. Regardless of what you may think of Moore's politics or style of filmmaking, giving up box-office profits in favor of pushing new online platforms is certainly an admirable deed. And, more than anything, it shows that a schlubby Michigan documentarian is more in touch with everyday people than the suits in Hollywood who just don’t seem to grasp the mighty power of the Internet.
“Slacker Uprising” is available as a free download until October 13th. A DVD version of the movie is also being sold on the Web site for $9.95.
