'Pacific Rim,' "B Movies" And the Old Days of Movie Theaters

Pacific Rim is the latest in a growing list of movies that's changing the landscape of the "B movie" and we're living in that era, where what used to be cheaply put together and tolerated, are now box office busting hits.  Critics be damned no matter what they say.

The other day I came across a piece from my film club talking about "B Movies."  Funny, that phrase.

In the day, the "B movie" used to be the second feature played in the movie house.  Yes, second feature.

Back in the old days, moviegoers would get a cartoon, a news real piece, 2 movies and sometimes something like a dish commemorating your attending the movies.

Now a days, you get TV previews, ads for old movies the theater will be re-playing, previews of upcoming movies, then the movie.

How times have changed.

Now-a-days a "B movie" used to be thought of as a product of a low budget production, or a poorly acted, directed or written movie.

Or they're usually looked upon as the non-dramatic popcorn fare of late.

But popcorn fare has changed in a big way.  Like James Cameron, or the Michael Bay Transformers films, Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight movies, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with Joss Whedon's The Avengers and now I can add "Like Guillermo del Toro's Pacific Rim."

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The movies that used to be called the "B" movies have been evolving.  Actual talent like Christopher Nolan has grounded the Batman film franchise into something real-world, and believable. 

Michael Bay has created such a huge money-making film franchise with Hasbros Transformers, that these films rock the box office and are hard to ignore.  They get crap dramatic reviews, but destroy the box office, showing that the movie fans want to see fun  escapists movies like this, dissing dramatic reviews.

And now I can add del Toro's Pacific Rim to that list.

This is one film that is surprising me.  I've seen it and was amazed and impressed.  Then I hesitantly started looking at reviews from my "community peers," and I'm seeing nothing but glowing praise for the film.

Usually in my social circles, I see two sides or opinions to a movie between all my associates or friends.  But this weekend, every single person in any of my feeds, boards, groups or Twitter lists are all filled with praise for Pacific Rim.

That's very cool.

I do believe the internet and technology could have something to do with this new-found momentum for genre movies.  No longer does the public have to depend solely on TV ads and mainstream critics, but the web is full of energetic and enthusiastic fans who create and run websites to chat about their favorite movies or opinions of such.

The world has changed, there's more real-world word-of-mouth coming from sources like the web, Twitter, Facebook and the like.  And so to, I believe, has the landscape of the movies, the marketing of such, and the new end-consumer.  Or classic consumers are also being swayed, knowing that no longer are unknown acting talent behind sci-fi or fantasy fare.

No longer are they subjected to Syfy Channel like effects, but near real-world appearing experiences.  And I'm not even touching on large format or 3D movies.

It's a great time to be a movie fan.

Now fans have to take it easy this weekend, sit back and watch the box office battle and see if PacRim can give its competitors a run for their money. Unlike predicted tracking studies had suggested.

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