History AudienceAlienatingEra / Film

** For a while, TheEighties were thought of as an Audience-Alienating Era, especially among critics. Coming off TheSeventies, considered a GoldenAge for the genre, many fans thought that the genre turned back into BMovie schlock during this time, only now for the [[DirectToVideo home video]] market instead of drive-ins. {{Slasher movie}}s especially were regarded as having killed the genre's artistic and critical respectability and plunged it into a morass of cliches, plotless violence, one-dimensional characters, and pandering to teenage audiences. This view reached its peak in the early '90s when the slasher genre fell out of fashion and seemingly took the entire horror genre with it (as noted below), causing many horror fans to blame slashers for "killing horror". However, with the critical reappraisal of the slasher genre since then, the '80s are now remembered as, if anything, a Golden Age for horror, with its defenders noting the subversiveness and great special effects of '80s horror while highlighting the films (including some of its biggest hits and franchises) that went against the tropes associated with it.

The leading exception to this view is with the comedy genre, with the '80s often seen as a GoldenAge for Hollywood comedy. Relaxed censorship combined with the end of the UsefulNotes/NewHollywood era (with its focus on gritty dramas) allowed LighterAndSofter fare to reenter theaters, this time with far more edge than would've been permissible in the '50s or '60s. At the same time, ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' and ''Series/{{SCTV}}'' had been important training grounds for young comedic talent since the mid-'70s, and the former would continue to be so even as it recovered from its own audience-alienating era in [[SeasonalRot the 1980-81 season]]. '80s stars like Creator/BillMurray, Creator/HaroldRamis, Creator/DanAykroyd, Creator/EddieMurphy, Creator/RickMoranis, and Creator/JohnCandy are now seen as icons, with films like ''Film/{{Ghostbusters 1984}}'', ''Film/GroundhogDay'', ''Film/{{Stripes}}'', ''Film/PlanesTrainsAndAutomobiles'', ''Film/BeverlyHillsCop'', and more acclaimed as classics. SpeculativeFiction films were also robust during the decade; the science fiction boom that ''Franchise/StarWars'' kicked off lasted into the mid-'80s (and arguably never truly went away, even to this day), the horror genre saw the {{slasher|Movie}} wave, and there was a revival in fantasy films led by the likes of ''Film/ConanTheBarbarian1982'', ''Film/TheDarkCrystal'', and ''Film/TheNeverEndingStory''. 1982 in particular is a high-water mark, with the UsefulNotes/HugoAward nominees from that year all still seen as classics decades later - ''Film/BladeRunner'' beat out ''Film/TheDarkCrystal'', ''Film/ETTheExtraTerrestrial'', ''Film/MadMax2TheRoadWarrior'' and ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan''.

** The first era is the late '40s through the '50s. The Franchise/UniversalHorror cycle was sputtering out around this time, with only ''Film/CreatureFromTheBlackLagoon'', ''Film/ItCameFromOuterSpace'', and quite tellingly, the {{parod|y}}ies by Creator/AbbottAndCostello being all that fondly remembered nowadays. The rest of the genre, meanwhile, was descending into [[DriveInTheater drive-in]] BMovie hell as a slew of cheaply-made sci-fi and monster movies tried to copy the success of hits like ''Film/{{Them}}'', ''Film/TheBeastFromTwentyThousandFathoms'', and ''It Came From Outer Space''. Overall, the era provided quite a bit of material for ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'', and with the exception of the undisputed classics, most '50s horror cinema is remembered as [[CultClassic kitsch]]. As noted above, this era is remembered nowadays for being the height of American middle-class prosperity, and while the Soviets were a menace, the specter of WorldWarIII still seemed remote until the launch of Sputnik in 1957 and the Cuban missile crisis in 1962. While Film/HammerHorror, Creator/RogerCorman, and (on television) ''Series/{{The Twilight Zone|1959}}'' would provide the beginnings of a comeback, the genre isn't usually held to have fully gotten out of its Audience-Alienating Era until the late '60s, after which it's often seen as have entered a GoldenAge that lasted for [[TheSeventies roughly two]] [[TheEighties decades]].
** For a while, TheEighties were thought of as an Audience-Alienating Era, especially among critics. Coming off TheSeventies, considered a GoldenAge for the genre, many fans thought that the genre turned back into BMovie schlock during this time, only now for the [[DirectToVideo home video]] market instead of drive-ins. {{Slasher movie}}s especially were regarded as having killed the genre's artistic and critical respectability and plunged it into a morass of cliches, plotless violence, one-dimensional characters, and pandering to teenage audiences. This view reached its peak in the early '90s when the slasher genre fell out of fashion and seemingly took the entire horror genre with it (as noted below), causing many horror fans to blame slashers for "killing horror". However, with the critical reappraisal of the slasher genre since then, the '80s are now remembered as, if anything, a GoldenAge for horror, with its defenders noting the subversiveness and great special effects of '80s horror while highlighting the films (including some of its biggest hits and franchises) that went against the tropes associated with it.

** Some would argue that the genre's audience-alienating era continued into the 2000s, at least for Hollywood horror. ''Outside'' the US, the decade is remembered as a GoldenAge for European (particularly British, French, and Spanish) and East Asian (particularly Japanese) horror, and the '00s also produced a great many quality independent American films. In Hollywood, however, while there were some good films such as ''Franchise/{{Saw}}'', ''Film/TheRing'', and ''Film/DawnOfTheDead2004'', most other horror films were either slashers, remakes, or trying to cash in on the success of the former two films, and if one wasn't a fan of TorturePorn (a polarizing genre among horror fans), the pickings were often slim. The production company Platinum Dunes was often singled out for criticism as representative of the worst trends in the decade's horror, seen as importing a highly stylized music video aesthetic straight out of Creator/MichaelBay movies (Bay being one of the company's co-founders) into the genre while making mostly unwelcome remakes of horror classics that suffered in comparison to the originals. This period of Hollywood horror was ruthlessly satirized by ''Film/TheCabinInTheWoods'', which portrays it as caught in a rut and overly dependent upon [[StrictlyFormula worn-out, formulaic tropes and plots]] to the point of CreatorsApathy. The critical and commercial successes of ''Film/ParanormalActivity'', ''Film/DragMeToHell'', and ''Film/{{Zombieland}}'' in 2009 ended Hollywood's dry spell, but it wasn't until ''Film/TheConjuring'' in 2013 that this Audience-Alienating Era came to a definitive end. The following years saw an explosive rise in the popularity and critical acclaim of horror films, led by the production company Creator/BlumhouseProductions (behind ''Paranormal Activity'', ''Film/{{Insidious}}'', ''Film/ThePurge'', ''Film/GetOut2017'', and ''Film/TheInvisibleMan2020'') and the indie studio Creator/{{A24}} (behind ''Film/TheWitch'', ''Film/ItComesAtNight'', ''Film/{{Hereditary}}'', and ''Film/{{Midsommar}}'').

* At the TurnOfTheMillennium, the RomanticComedy genre was seen as neither particularly romantic nor particularly funny. While TheNineties are often remembered as a GoldenAge for the genre, the 2000s felt to many fans like a warmed-over retread of what worked in the past, with too many films relying on increasingly contrived MeetCute setups, forced CringeComedy, and outlandish HighConcept hooks, all while the characters got less interesting (this was when the term ManicPixieDreamGirl was coined to critique a particular type of shallow LoveInterest) and the actors had less chemistry. By the late '00s, this led to more serious romantic dramas coming into vogue, led by the ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'' films and the adaptations of Creator/NicholasSparks' novels, while films like ''Film/FiveHundredDaysOfSummer'' started [[GenreDeconstruction deconstructing the genre]]. The Audience-Alienating Era ended in the late 2010s with ''Film/CrazyRichAsians'' and ''Film/ToAllTheBoysIveLovedBefore'', which heralded a revival of the genre by hearkening back to its '90s golden age.
* American action movies fell into one from roughly 2005 to 2015. Many action fans like to blame ''Film/TheBourneSupremacy'', which, despite being a good movie, has been [[http://www.avclub.com/article/its-hard-not-hold-shakycam-against-otherwise-terri-257435 argued]] as a [[FranchiseOriginalSin Genre Original Sin]] for action movies due to its popularization of JitterCam, leading to a slew of films that [[FollowTheLeader copied its style]] without recognizing what made it work in that film. Others blame the success of Creator/MichaelBay's body of work, which employed the JitterCam technique extensively. Whatever it was, the result was that many action scenes were hard to follow to the point of incoherence, with the ''[[Film/TheExpendables Expendables]]'' franchise often cited as an especially egregious offender given that its AllStarCast (particularly writer and, on the first film, director Creator/SylvesterStallone) came mostly from the '80s GoldenAge of Hollywood action. To many of its critics, this style was being used as a lazy substitute for proper action choreography that let filmmakers turn anybody into an ActionHero, without actually requiring much complicated stuntwork from them or effort to conceal their {{stunt double}}s. The nadir for many was [[https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/taken-3-took-14-camera-cuts-in-6-seconds-to-show-liam-neeson-jumping-a-fence-a6890791.html a scene]] in the 2014 film ''Film/Taken3'' where Creator/LiamNeeson's character climbed over a fence, a seemingly ordinary action beat that the film nonetheless felt required ''fourteen cuts in six seconds''. In the latter half of the 2010s, films like ''Film/MadMaxFuryRoad'' and the ''Film/JohnWick'' franchise that favor long, stable takes have signaled a backlash against the style.

** [[NoOSHACompliance Poor working conditions]] and low pay as mentioned above also factor in. Many in the Japanese film industry [[https://www.vox.com/world/2020/3/3/21158315/parasite-oscar-south-korea-japan-film-bong-joon-ho blame the "Cool Japan" initiative]] that the government launched in 2012, which they feel is not only more about branding and funneling money to marketing firms than actually supporting filmmakers, but has also lured foreign film studios with the specific promise of lower costs and longer working hours to make movies with. The film industry in Japan is a hard, low-paying job with few opportunities for recognition and advancement, and as such, talent often either looks abroad or quits the film industry altogether for more stable jobs.

** On a related note, [[https://www.otakuusamagazine.com/why-are-recent-japanese-films-so-bad-asks-japanese-twitter/ television has played a big role in this well]]. In 2019, the top three highest-grossing live-action Japanese films in the country were ''Bayside Shakedown'', its sequel, and ''Antarctica'', all produced by Fuji Television. The ''Bayside Shakedown'' films are spin-offs of a popular television show at the time, which is stuck in NoExportForYou hell and as such has no real foreign audience. Moreover, Japanese TV is largely made for distracted viewing, meant to be watched while doing housework, homework or eating dinner. As such, most of the story is told in a simple, easy-to-digest manner, with actors giving melodramatic performances as they would on stage, rather than in a film. Even these tend to suffer from poor working conditions and low budgets.
** Speaking of which, [[NoOSHACompliance poor working conditions]] and low pay as mentioned above also factor in. Many in the Japanese film industry [[https://www.vox.com/world/2020/3/3/21158315/parasite-oscar-south-korea-japan-film-bong-joon-ho blame the "Cool Japan" initiative]] that the government launched in 2012, which they feel is not only more about branding and funneling money to marketing firms than actually supporting filmmakers, but has also lured foreign film studios with the specific promise of lower costs and longer working hours to make movies with. The film industry in Japan is a hard, low-paying job with few opportunities for recognition and advancement, and as such, talent often either looks abroad or quits the film industry altogether for more stable jobs.

* Many Japanese moviegoers feel that their film industry has gone into this territory, especially during the 2010s. Even though certain movies have earned critical acclaim, such as the [[UsefulNotes/AcademyAwardForBestForeignLanguageFilm Oscar-winner]] ''{{Film/Departures}}'', ''{{Film/Confessions}}'', ''Film/ShinGodzilla'', ''Anime/YourName'', and the UsefulNotes/PalmeDOr-winner ''{{Film/Shoplifters}}'', many Japanese people feel that most locally produced films have cheap cinematography, cliched plots, low production values, and a general lack of ambition. Adding to this, most live-action movies produced are either based on manga series or light novels and have received backlash from fans of said series ([[AmericansHateTingle especially from North American fans]]). Big names in Japanese filmmaking have expressed their dissatisfaction with the drought of original movies, and Creator/TakeshiKitano in particular claims that the industry is in [[https://www.tokyoreporter.com/japan-news/national/the-delinquent-takeshi-kitano-rips-japanese-film-industry/ "a state of demise"]]. Critics often point to several reasons why the industry is going downhill:

** [[NoOSHACompliance Poor working conditions]] and low pay also factor in. Many in the Japanese film industry [[https://www.vox.com/world/2020/3/3/21158315/parasite-oscar-south-korea-japan-film-bong-joon-ho blame the "Cool Japan" initiative]] that the government launched in 2012, which they feel is not only more about branding and funneling money to marketing firms than actually supporting filmmakers, but has also lured foreign film studios with the specific promise of lower costs and longer working hours to make movies with. The film industry in Japan is a hard, low-paying job with few opportunities for recognition and advancement, and as such, talent often either looks abroad or quits the film industry altogether for more stable jobs.

* Italian horror cinema fell into an Audience-Alienating Era in the late 1980s, from which it has never truly recovered. By the end of the decade, the stylish, baroque horror flicks and ''{{giall|o}}i'' popularized by the likes of Creator/DarioArgento, Creator/MarioBava, and Creator/LucioFulci had begun to fizzle out and the cheerful, low-budget {{exploitation film}}s of lesser directors had given way to poor-quality NoBudget DirectToVideo releases that were typically regarded as SoBadItsGood at best. While some good films originated from this time period such as those of Michele Soavi, Lamberto Bava (son of the aforementioned Mario Bava), and Argento, they were few and far between, and even in the case of the latter his works from the later part of the 80s are generally seen as a step down from his previous successes, with ''Film/{{Opera|1987}}'' being regarded as his last true masterpiece.

* Creator/EddieMurphy had one starting with his 1989 flop ''Film/HarlemNights'' that lasted into the [[TheNineties early-mid '90s]], with his films, ''Film/TheDistinguishedGentleman'', ''Film/Boomerang1992'', ''Film/BeverlyHillsCopIII'', and ''Film/VampireInBrooklyn'' all bombing in theaters (''Boomerang'' has been VindicatedByHistory, while he's disowned the others). It was so tough for Murphy that in 1995, ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'', the show he helped save in the early 1980s, skewered him for his struggles, as castmember Creator/DavidSpade snarked, "Look, children, it's a falling star! Make a wish!", which made Murphy so mad he that swore off SNL for nearly 20 years. Afterwards, he made his comeback with his 1996 remake of ''Film/{{The Nutty Professor|1996}}'' and 1998's ''WesternAnimation/{{Mulan}}''. He entered another one in the 2000s, where, with the exception of the ''Franchise/{{Shrek}}'' movies, ''Film/{{Bowfinger}}'', and ''Theatre/{{Dreamgirls}}'', his films like ''Film/TheAdventuresOfPlutoNash'', ''Film/TheHauntedMansion'', ''Film/{{Norbit}}'', ''Film/MeetDave'' and ''Imagine That'' were all massive failures (''Pluto Nash'' has become [[BoxOfficeBomb one of Hollywood's biggest flops]], and many feel ''Norbit'', while profitable, torpedoed Murphy's Oscar hopes with ''Dreamgirls''). He got praised for starring in 2011's ''Film/TowerHeist'', but his 2012 follow-up ''A Thousand Words'' (although it was filmed in 2008) was universally panned, receiving a [[Website/RottenTomatoes Tomatometer]] score of ''0%''. He did star in the critically acclaimed ''Film/DolemiteIsMyName'', which earned him a Razzie Redeemer Award, and he won an Emmy for his 2019 return to SNL, so only time will tell whether he'll recover.

* Creator/EddieMurphy had one starting with his 1989 flop ''Film/HarlemNights'' that lasted into the [[TheNineties early-mid '90s]], with many unsuccessful movies including ''The Distinguished Gentleman'', ''Film/Boomerang1992'', ''Film/BeverlyHillsCopIII'', and ''Film/VampireInBrooklyn'' (''Boomerang'' has been VindicatedByHistory, while he's disowned the others), before he made his comeback with his 1996 remake of ''Film/{{The Nutty Professor|1996}}''. He entered another one in the 2000s, where, with the exception of the ''Franchise/{{Shrek}}'' movies, ''Film/{{Bowfinger}}'', and ''Theatre/{{Dreamgirls}}'', his films like ''Film/TheAdventuresOfPlutoNash'', ''Film/TheHauntedMansion'', ''Film/{{Norbit}}'', ''Film/MeetDave'' and ''Imagine That'' were all massive failures (''Pluto Nash'' has become [[BoxOfficeBomb one of Hollywood's biggest flops]], and many feel ''Norbit'', while profitable, torpedoed Murphy's Oscar hopes with ''Dreamgirls''). He got praised for starring in 2011's ''Film/TowerHeist'', but his 2012 follow-up ''A Thousand Words'' (although it was filmed in 2008) was universally panned, receiving a [[Website/RottenTomatoes Tomatometer]] score of ''0%''. He did star in the critically acclaimed ''Film/DolemiteIsMyName'', which earned him a Razzie Redeemer Award, so only time will tell whether he'll recover.

** Many critics have argued that he fell down into another one during the 2010s, and that his recent works don't share the same quality and spirit with his previous acclaimed works, beginning with the divisive reception of ''Film/AmericanSniper'' and ''Film/TheFifteenSeventeenToParis'' and continuing with the AcclaimedFlop ''Film/RichardJewell'' (which saw CriticalDissonance for playing, to put it mildly, somewhat loose with the ''actual'' story it was inspired by) and the outright flop, critically ''and'' commercially, of ''Film/CryMacho''. It didn't help that, by the time he made ''Cry Macho'', he was '''91''' years old, such that many reviews argued that he was a bit too old to be the leading man in a Western. This also brings into question whether he can ''survive'' making another film, let alone come out of this specific Audience-Alienating Era.

* {{Slasher movie}}s specifically fell into an Audience-Alienating Era a fair bit earlier than the '90s. While the biggest franchises remained successful until the end of the '80s, 1985 saw the slasher genre as a whole start to succumb to SturgeonsLaw as the rise of home video led to a slew of DirectToVideo copycats and, with it, a general fatigue among both casual moviegoers and genre fans. They turned to more adult-oriented horror films and/or action thrillers which offered their own exciting thrills and kills -- sometimes with the bonus of higher production values and sophisticated direction, scripts, and acting. ([[https://www.boxofficemojo.com/year/1986/?ref_=bo_yl_table_34 In 1986]], ''Film/FridayThe13thPartVIJasonLives'' was the highest-grossing slasher of the year, but only ranked 46th overall. ''Film/TheFly1986'' ranked 23rd and ''Film/{{Aliens}}'' 7th -- and both won technical Oscars!) Many newer slashers, trying to [[FollowTheLeader follow in the footsteps]] of ''Franchise/FridayThe13th''[='=]s Jason Voorhees and ''Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet''[='=]s Freddy Krueger, focused less on the scares and more on the larger-than-life personalities of the killers in the hopes of building a franchise around them; inevitably, these new series would only get out one or two good films, [[StillbornFranchise at most]], before {{sequelitis}} set in. Tellingly, this was also around the time when a number of major slasher ''parodies'' started coming out, such as ''Film/AprilFoolsDay'' and ''Film/EvilLaugh'', and even franchise slashers like ''Film/FridayThe13thPartVIJasonLives'' were not immune to poking fun at the genre's cliches. By the end of the decade, even the big franchises had gone off the rails, taking the entire American horror genre with them (as detailed above).

** [[SturgeonsLaw There are too many locally produced films]]. [[https://www.tokyoweekender.com/2016/12/hirokazu-koreeda-on-the-problem-with-japanese-cinema/ According to the Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan]], the annual number of domestic films has more than doubled since 2000. While this may be seen as positive, producers and distributors are either uninterested in or unwilling to export most of them worldwide.

** With Creator/{{Disney}}'s purchase of Lucasfilm, the trend continued, with ''[[WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels Rebels]]'', ''Film/TheForceAwakens'', and ''Film/RogueOne'' all being commercial and critical successes (though TFA had its own controversy over various similarites to ANH). The [[ContestedSequel divisive]] nature of both ''Film/TheLastJedi'' and ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker'', the box office under-performance of ''Film/{{Solo}}'', and friction between Lucasfilm and [[DearNegativeReader the fanbase]] have created concern of another one however. Disney and Lucasfilm appear to be acknowledging this, as they officially put further cinematic installments of the franchise on hold for six years to focus on streaming series, most notably ''Series/TheMandalorian'', which has been well received across the board. %% As per the Rule Of Cautious Editing Judgment, DO NOT ELABORATE

** With Creator/{{Disney}}'s purchase of Lucasfilm, the trend continued, with ''[[WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels Rebels]]'', ''Film/TheForceAwakens'', and ''Film/RogueOne'' all being commercial and critical successes. The [[ContestedSequel divisive]] nature of both ''Film/TheLastJedi'' and ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker'', the box office under-performance of ''Film/{{Solo}}'', and friction between Lucasfilm and [[DearNegativeReader the fanbase]] have created concern of another one however. Disney and Lucasfilm appear to be acknowledging this, as they officially put further cinematic installments of the franchise on hold for four years to focus on streaming series, most notably ''Series/TheMandalorian'', which has been well received across the board. %% As per the Rule Of Cautious Editing Judgment, DO NOT ELABORATE

* Creator/MNightShyamalan fell into a bad one in the mid-'00s, to the point where his name became [[MandatoryTwistEnding a running joke about twist endings]] and many critics wondered if the filmmaker once hailed as "the next [[Creator/StevenSpielberg Spielberg]]" was just a one-trick pony. 2004's ''Film/TheVillage'' was the first film of his to meet genuinely negative reviews, 2006's ''Film/LadyInTheWater'' was seen as an ego trip that mainly amounted to him [[TakeThatCritics lashing out at his critics]] (and became his first BoxOfficeBomb), 2008's ''Film/TheHappening'' is regarded as SoBadItsGood (which, to be fair, [[StealthParody may have been the intention]]), his [[Film/TheLastAirbender 2010 adaptation]] of ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' was seen by fans of that show as a gross disservice to the source material, and he finally bottomed out in 2013 with ''Film/AfterEarth'', which earned unwelcome comparisons to ''Film/BattlefieldEarth''. Shyamalan seemingly got his groove back in the mid-2010s by returning to the low-budget horror films and thrillers with which he made his name, with 2015's ''Film/TheVisit'' and 2016's ''Film/{{Split}}'' earning him his first good reviews in over a decade, but that goodwill hit a massive speedbump with the critical drubbing of ''Film/{{Glass}}'' in 2019.

* Creator/MNightShyamalan fell into a bad one in the mid-'00s, to the point where his name became [[MandatoryTwistEnding a running joke about twist endings]] and many critics wondered if the filmmaker once hailed as "the next [[Creator/StevenSpielberg Spielberg]]" was just a one-trick pony. 2004's ''Film/TheVillage'' was the first film of his to meet genuinely negative reviews, 2006's ''Film/LadyInTheWater'' was seen as an ego trip that mainly amounted to him [[TakeThatCritics lashing out at his critics]] (and became his first BoxOfficeBomb), 2008's ''Film/TheHappening'' is regarded as SoBadItsGood (which, to be fair, [[StealthParody may have been the intention]]), his [[Film/TheLastAirbender 2010 adaptation]] of ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' was seen by fans of that show as a gross disservice to the source material, and he finally bottomed out in 2013 with ''Film/AfterEarth'', which earned unwelcome comparisons to ''Film/BattlefieldEarth''. Shyamalan seemingly got his groove back in the mid-2010s by returning to the low-budget horror films and thrillers with which he made his name, with 2015's ''Film/TheVisit'' and 2016's ''Film/{{Split}}'' earning him his first good reviews in over a decade, but that goodwill hit a massive speedbump with the critical drubbing of ''Film/{{Glass}}'' in 2017.

* Creator/TomHooper gradually fell into one throughout the 2010s. While he started out strong with ''Film/TheKingsSpeech'', which was a massive financial and critical success that won Best Picture and earned him the Best Director Oscar, Hooper and his filmmaking style became more divisive with his next two films, ''Film/LesMiserables2012'' and ''Film/TheDanishGirl''. While both were also financial successes and earned Oscar noms and wins, their critical reception was decidedly more mixed albeit leaning positive, with Hooper’s creative decisions for ''Les Miserables'', in particular the live singing and the cinematography, resulting in massive BrokenBase, and ''The Danish Girl'' being criticized for being surprisingly toothless for a film involving sex reassignment surgery, while also spawning a minor controversy over casting the cisgender Creator/EddieRedmayne as its transgender lead. However, things eventually reached a breaking point at the end of the decade with [[Film/{{Cats}} his adaptation]] of ''Theatre/{{Cats}}'', which not only amplified the flaws of his ''Les Miserables'' adaptation but added on a whole new [[AdaptationInducedPlotHole slew]] [[FetishRetardant of]] [[SpecialEffectFailure problems]], the most notable being its infamous UncannyValley CGI. Not only did this lead to the film being ruthlessly mocked from the moment its first trailer dropped, but in a massive reversal of fortune for Hooper from the start of the decade, the final product was savaged by critics and became a massive BoxOfficeBomb that eventually “won” six Razzies including Worst Picture and Director, massively damaging his reputation in the process. Hooper, however, insisted that he was still being considered for a couple of projects after the release of ''Cats'', so time will tell if he can manage to end or prolong his audience-alienating era.

* Creator/SpikeLee went through this from the mid-2000s through the early '10s. ''Film/SheHateMe'' in 2004 earned the most scathing reviews of his career, and while his 2006 follow-up ''Film/InsideMan'' was a hit with both critics and moviegoers, many critics noted that it didn't particularly feel like a "Spike Lee joint" and that Lee felt more like a hired gun on the film (it was the first film of his since 1996 that he had no hand in writing or producing). After that, only his {{documentary}} work received much positive notice, as his next four fictional films (2008's ''Miracle at St. Anna'', 2012's ''Red Hook Summer'', the 2013 [[ForeignRemake American remake]] of ''Film/{{Oldboy}}'', and 2014's ''Da Sweet Blood of Jesus'') all received mixed-to-negative reviews and flopped at the box office, and Lee became [[OvershadowedByControversy better known for his controversial public statements]] than for his films. This losing streak would end in 2015 with the positive reception to ''Chi-Raq'', with the near-universal praise for 2018's ''Film/BlacKkKlansman'' (which won him an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay) suggesting that Lee's Audience-Alienating Era is well and truly over, as seen with the overall good reception of ''Film/Da5Bloods''.

* Creator/RobertZemeckis fell into one following the release of ''Film/CastAway'' in 2000, with many of his later films making losses or barely breaking even. While 2012's ''Film/{{Flight}}'' was a modest hit, his next two films ''Film/TheWalk'' and ''Film/{{Allied}}'' both bombed. With 2018's ''Film/WelcomeToMarwen'' tying for the worst opening weekend of the year, Zemeckis' career is on very thin ice. In the 2020s, in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, Zemekis' next two films were released on streaming services. ''Film/TheWitches2020'' was released on Creator/HBOMax while''Film/Pinocchio2022Disney'' was released on Creator/DisneyPlus. ''The Witches'' received mixed reviews while ''Pinocchio'' received even worse reviews.

* Creator/RobertZemeckis fell into one following the release of ''Film/CastAway'' in 2000, with many of his later films making losses or barely breaking even. While 2012's ''Film/{{Flight}}'' was a modest hit, his next two films ''Film/TheWalk'' and ''Film/{{Allied}}'' both bombed. With 2018's ''Film/WelcomeToMarwen'' tying for the worst opening weekend of the year, Zemeckis' career is on very thin ice. His following release, ''Film/TheWitches2020'', was released in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic on Creator/HBOMax and got mostly mixed reviews. His next release, ''Film/Pinocchio2022Disney'' on Creator/DisneyPlus was negatively received - receiving even lower ratings on Rotten Tomatoes.

* Creator/RobertZemeckis fell into one following the release of ''Film/CastAway'' in 2000, with many of his later films making losses or barely breaking even. While 2012's ''Film/{{Flight}}'' was a modest hit, his next two films ''Film/TheWalk'' and ''Film/{{Allied}}'' both bombed. With 2018's ''Film/WelcomeToMarwen'' tying for the worst opening weekend of the year, Zemeckis' career is on very thin ice. His following release, ''Film/TheWitches2020'', was released in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic on Creator/HBOMax and got mostly mixed reviews. Time will tell if his career can stay afloat, though his experience with special effects did get him tagged to make a live-action ''Pinocchio'' remake at Disney+.

* TheNewTens saw adult comedy films fall into this territory. Throughout the 2000s, comedies were one of Hollywood's most dominant genres, with the works of Creator/JuddApatow, Adam [=McKay=], and Creator/ToddPhillips often being some of the highest grossing films of their release years. 2010 however, marked a turning point, as stricter MPAA guidelines made it harder to portray borderline-vulgar material, particularly prominent in these films. Social attitudes towards humor in general also shifted early in the decade, especially regarding the constant use of certain actions and language that had come to be considered offensive. Not helping matters was the increasing importance of international markets for film studios causing them to scale back on mid-budget films such as these in favor of large budget blockbusters and modest budget films that carry less financial risk and are easier to adapt for foreign audiences. ''Film/TheHangover'' sequels, ''Film/BadTeacher'', ''Film/{{Ted}}'', ''Film/TwentyOneJumpStreet'' ([[Film/TwentyTwoJumpStreet and its sequel]]), and ''Film/Neighbors2014'' were among the few bona-fide comedic successes for the succeeding years. The rise of movie ticket prices and growth of streaming services also caused many people to save their movie theater experiences for event movies and blockbusters. Several A-List comedy stars, such as Creator/AdamSandler, also began to take their films away from theaters and exclusively to streaming services where they could maintain greater creative control. With the exception of the superhero comedy ''Film/{{Deadpool|2016}}'', as well as it's sequel, and the animated film ''WesternAnimation/SausageParty'', modestly budgeted female-geared comedy films became the only theatrical commercially-viable type films during the 2010s, beginning with the success of ''Film/BadMoms''. This focus on blockbusters has also affected the movie industry as a whole, with indie fare largely migrating to streaming services for the same reasons.

* In any case, the British got their revenge when Hollywood plunged into an Audience-Alienating Era of its own in [[TheFifties the 1950s]] and especially [[TheSixties the '60s]], during the UsefulNotes/FallOfTheStudioSystem. Hollywood spent the '50s struggling to keep up with mounting pressures from television, independent filmmakers, foreign (especially British) cinema, changing cultural norms, [[UsefulNotes/TheHollywoodBlacklist the Red Scare]], the collapse of the star system, and antitrust actions, and while they were still turning out quality films, a vast gap was emerging between the {{epic movie}}s that they hinged their box-office success on and the rest of their output. By the '60s, these pressures had collectively overwhelmed them and had started to impact the quality of their films. For every smash hit like ''Film/TheLongestDay'' or ''Film/TheSoundOfMusic'', there were a slew of copycats like ''Film/DoctorDolittle'' and ''Film/ToraToraTora'' that bombed, while old standbys like [[TheWestern Westerns]] and SwordAndSandal epics were hitting diminishing returns due to audience burnout. The Audience-Alienating Era ended with [[UsefulNotes/NewHollywood Hollywood's creative renaissance in the '70s]], though it wasn't until UsefulNotes/{{the Blockbuster Age|OfHollywood}} in the '80s when the studios fully turned themselves around from a business standpoint.\\\

* TheNewTens saw adult comedy films fall into this territory. Throughout the 2000s, comedies were one of Hollywood's most dominant genres, with the works of Creator/JuddApatow, Adam [=McKay=], and Creator/ToddPhillips often being some of the highest grossing films of their release years. 2010 however, marked a turning point, as stricter MPAA guidelines made it harder to portray borderline-vulgar material, particularly prominent in these films. Social attitudes towards humor in general also shifted early in the decade, especially regarding the constant use of certain actions and language that had come to be considered offensive. Not helping matters was the increasing importance of international markets for film studios causing them to scale back on mid-budget films such as these in favor of large budget blockbusters and modest budget films that carry less financial risk and are easier to adapt for foreign audiences. ''Film/TheHangover'' sequels, ''Film/BadTeacher'', ''Film/{{Ted}}'', ''Film/TwentyOneJumpStreet'' ([[Film/TwentyTwoJumpStreet and its sequel]]), and ''Film/{{Neighbors}}'' were among the few bona-fide comedic successes for the succeeding years. The rise of movie ticket prices and growth of streaming services also caused many people to save their movie theater experiences for event movies and blockbusters. Several A-List comedy stars, such as Creator/AdamSandler, also began to take their films away from theaters and exclusively to streaming services where they could maintain greater creative control. With the exception of the superhero comedy ''Film/{{Deadpool|2016}}'', as well as it's sequel, and the animated film ''WesternAnimation/SausageParty'', modestly budgeted female-geared comedy films became the only theatrical commercially-viable type films during the 2010s, beginning with the success of ''Film/BadMoms''. This focus on blockbusters has also affected the movie industry as a whole, with indie fare largely migrating to streaming services for the same reasons.

** Many critics have argued that he fell down into another one during the 2010s, and that his recent works don't share the same quality and spirit with his previous acclaimed works, beginning with the divisive reception of ''Film/AmericanSniper'' and ''Film/TheFifteenSeventeenToParis'' and continuing with the AcclaimedFlop ''Film/RichardJewell'' (which saw CriticalDissonance for playing, to put it mildly, somewhat loose with the ''actual'' story it was inspired by) and the outright flop, critically ''and'' commercially, of ''Film/CryMacho''; combined with the fact that by ''Cry Macho'' he was already '''91''' years old (indeed, many reviews, including Rotten Tomatoes' audience consensus, point out this was a bit ''too old'' for a Western). this also brings into question whether he can ''survive'' making another film, let alone come out of this specific Audience-Alienating Era.

* From the late '80s through much of the '00s, Creator/TimBurton became a {{goth}} icon thanks to his SignatureStyle that combined GothicHorror with childlike whimsy. Fatigue eventually set in, however, especially in his work on big-budget blockbusters, with many fans feeling that his style had grown {{Flanderiz|ation}}ed, that he was putting more emphasis on said style to cover for StrictlyFormula plotting, and that he was growing overreliant on [[ProductionPosse a select number of go-to actors]] (most notably Creator/JohnnyDepp and Creator/HelenaBonhamCarter) [[WTHCastingAgency whether or not they were suited to the roles they were playing]]. Precisely ''when'' his creative decline started is a matter of debate. In hindsight, some put it as early as 2005 with his adaptation of ''Film/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory'', a film that, while well-received at the time, has become far more [[BrokenBase divisive]] in the years since, though the following years also brought two of his most popular films, ''WesternAnimation/CorpseBride'' and ''Film/SweeneyToddTheDemonBarberOfFleetStreet''. The latest point that fans will cite is 2010, when he released an adaptation of ''Film/{{Alice in Wonderland|2010}}'' that, while a box-office hit, got mixed reviews and has only seen its reputation decline since. While he still made some well-received films afterwards like ''WesternAnimation/{{Frankenweenie}}'' and ''Film/BigEyes'', they were increasingly balanced out by the negative reception of films like ''Film/DarkShadows'' and ''Film/Dumbo2019''.

* From the late '80s through much of the '00s, Creator/TimBurton became a {{goth}} icon thanks to his SignatureStyle that combined GothicHorror with childlike whimsy. Fatigue set in, however, in the '10s, especially in his work on big-budget blockbusters, with many fans feeling that his style had grown {{Flanderiz|ation}}ed, that he was putting more emphasis on said style to cover for StrictlyFormula plotting, and that he was growing overreliant on [[ProductionPosse a select number of go-to actors]] (most notably Creator/JohnnyDepp and Creator/HelenaBonhamCarter) [[WTHCastingAgency whether or not they were suited to the roles they were playing]]. While he still made some well-received films during this time like ''WesternAnimation/{{Frankenweenie}}'' and ''Film/BigEyes'', they were increasingly balanced out by the negative reception of films like ''Film/AliceInWonderland2010'', ''Film/DarkShadows'', and ''Film/Dumbo2019''. In hindsight, some put the start of his creative decline as early as 2005 with his adaptation of ''Film/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory'', a film that, while well-received at the time, has become far more [[BrokenBase divisive]] in the years since.

** Many critics have argued that he fell down into another one during the 2010s, and that his recent works don't share the same quality and spirit with his previous acclaimed works, beginning with the divisive reception of ''Film/AmericanSniper'' and ''Film/TheFifteenSeventeenToParis'' and continuing with the AcclaimedFlop ''Film/RichardJewell'' (which saw CriticalDissonance for playing, to put it mildly, somewhat loose with the ''actual'' story it was inspired by) and the outright flop, critically ''and'' commercially, of ''Film/CryMacho''; combined with the fact that by ''Cry Macho'' he was already '''91''' years old (indeed, many reviews, including Rotten Tomatoes' audience consensus, point out this was a bit ''too old'' for a Western), and this also brings into question whether he can ''survive'' making another film, let alone come out of this specific Audience-Alienating Era.

** Some would argue that the genre's audience-alienating era continued into the 2000s, at least for Hollywood horror. ''Outside'' the US, the decade is remembered as a GoldenAge for European (particularly British, French, and Spanish) and East Asian (particularly Japanese) horror, and the '00s also produced a great many quality independent American films. In Hollywood, however, while there where were some good films such as ''Franchise/{{Saw}}'', ''Film/TheRing'', and ''Film/DawnOfTheDead2004'', most other horror films were either slashers, remakes, or trying to cash in on the success of the former two films, and if one wasn't a fan of TorturePorn (a polarizing genre among horror fans), the pickings were often slim. The production company Platinum Dunes was often singled out for criticism as representative of the worst trends in the decade's horror, seen as importing a highly stylized music video aesthetic straight out of Creator/MichaelBay movies (Bay being one of the company's co-founders) into the genre while making mostly unwelcome remakes of horror classics that suffered in comparison to the originals. This period of Hollywood horror was ruthlessly satirized by ''Film/TheCabinInTheWoods'', which portrays it as caught in a rut and overly dependent upon [[StrictlyFormula worn-out, formulaic tropes and plots]] to the point of CreatorsApathy. The critical and commercial successes of ''Film/ParanormalActivity'', ''Film/DragMeToHell'', and ''Film/{{Zombieland}}'' in 2009 ended Hollywood's dry spell, but it wasn't until ''Film/TheConjuring'' in 2013 that this Audience-Alienating Era came to a definitive end. The following years saw an explosive rise in the popularity and critical acclaim of horror films, led by the production company Creator/BlumhouseProductions (behind ''Paranormal Activity'', ''Film/{{Insidious}}'', ''Film/ThePurge'', ''Film/GetOut2017'', and ''Film/TheInvisibleMan2020'') and the indie studio Creator/{{A24}} (behind ''Film/TheWitch'', ''Film/ItComesAtNight'', ''Film/{{Hereditary}}'', and ''Film/{{Midsommar}}'').

Nobody ever said making movies was easy, and sometimes, it takes a certain period of time, whether it be short or long, to reinforce that. The following is a list of examples of AudienceAlienating era from films.

* The beginnings of the Franchise/DCExtendedUniverse were widely considered to be an Audience-Alienating Era for DC superhero films as a whole, for what many perceived to be Warner Bros. trying to replicate the success of ''Film/TheDarkKnightTrilogy''. The first three films released, despite receiving decent commercial grosses, had less-than-stellar receptions. The first entry, ''Film/ManOfSteel'', received mixed reactions, and the subsequent ''Film/BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice'' and ''Film/SuicideSquad2016'' were both critically panned. ''Batman v Superman'', which was intended to launch several DC solo movies, was heavily criticized for trying to tell several stories at once, which led to unfavorable comparisons to UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks and the movie falling short of Warner Bros.' (quite lofty) expectations. ''Suicide Squad'' was criticized for [[TroubledProduction clearly being reworked]] in an effort to avoid the excessively dark tone of ''Batman v Superman'', with terrible editing, tonal issues, a soundtrack whose placement of songs throughout the film was clearly [[FollowTheLeader an attempt to emulate]] ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'', and underdeveloped characters. The fallout resulted in Warner Bros. [[AuthorsSavingThrow trying to course-correct the initial direction taken with the DCEU]]; a process which included hiring new producers to try re-working later films to be LighterAndSofter, and causing a majority of the planned films within the universe -- ''The Batman'', ''Flash'', ''Cyborg'', etc.-- [[DevelopmentHell to see their development stalled]].\\
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The DCEU would later score its first real triumph in ''Film/WonderWoman2017'', which became the first critically-acclaimed DC film that wasn't centered around either ''Superman'' or ''Batman'' and performed far beyond expectations at the box office, but ''Film/JusticeLeague2017'' would prove that the DCEU wasn't out of troubled waters yet. A toxic combination of [[TaintedByThePreview lackluster marketing]], [[SoOkayItsAverage lackluster reviews]], a notoriously TroubledProduction (which included a change in directors following the tragic death of Creator/ZackSnyder's daughter Autumn, and costly rewrites and reshoots under Snyder's replacement Creator/JossWhedon that resulted in massive SpecialEffectFailure and [[MoodWhiplash a wildly inconsistent tone]]), some people involved (most notably producer Creator/BrettRatner) becoming implicated in several sexual harassment scandals that started with Harvey Weinstein getting exposed as a sexual predator in that year, the negative reception of previous DCEU films (as well as [[ToughActToFollow following after the well-received]] ''Wonder Woman'' and competition from the MCU's acclaimed ''Film/ThorRagnarok'') as well as the fanbase that was onboard since ''Man of Steel'' feeling betrayed ultimately crippled the film's box office intake, which opened under $100M domestically and made a total of about $650 million worldwide, about the same as ''Film/ManOfSteel''. For a film that has a estimated budget at '''''$300 million''''', reshoots included (which easily makes it one of ''the'' most expensive films ever produced), it was an outlook that spelled potential disaster not only for the film, but for the entire cinematic universe as a whole.\\
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Things have improved as far as reviews are concerned for the franchise since, with several changes in management. In 2018, WB appointed Walter Hamada (producer of the acclaimed ''Film/TheConjuring'' films) as president of DC Films, and fan-favorite comic book writer Creator/GeoffJohns took a more hands-on approach as a writer and creative consultant (he had helmed the studio before stepping down from that position after the ''Justice League'' fiasco). The first film released under restructuring was Creator/JamesWan's ''Film/Aquaman2018'', which received relatively positive critical reviews and grossed over a billion dollars worldwide. Likewise, Creator/DavidFSandberg's ''Film/Shazam2019'' was a moderate financial success but was critically acclaimed. Since Hamada had previously worked with Wan and Sandberg on the ''Conjuring'' movies, production on their DC films went seemingly smoothly since (though still with ExecutiveMeddling as several directors would admit later on). The franchise would however hit a new roadblock in 2020, as ''Film/BirdsOfPrey2020'' was warmly received but made middling numbers, while ''Film/WonderWoman1984'' was both [[ContestedSequel divisive]] and had the Usefulnotes/Covid19Pandemic shooting down box office aspirations, followed by an unlikely comeback -- that of ''Film/ZackSnydersJusticeLeague''. The latter's overall good-to-great reception marked the end of an Audience-Alienating Era in Snyder's own DC movie cycle and the series' first well received ensemble picture, but this time Creator/WarnerBros and Creator/DCFilms still decided to not continue from there with sequels. The first proper theatrical release afterwards, ''Film/TheSuicideSquad'', was seen as an ''immense'' improvement over the first film, but also got knee-capped by the pandemic (along with other factors, most notably Warner's infamous decision to release their entire 2021 output in theaters and on HBO Max for their first 30 days in theaters) at the box office.