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\n\tThere is growing concern in Hollywood about the future of the flop.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe ability to create and absorb failure has always been a key resource in an industry whose losers historically outnumber its winners. But with production starts fading, assets flipping and AI looming, creators and corporatists alike are running short on resilience.<\/p>\n
\n\tAfter viewing five intriguing documentaries about Martin Scorsese<\/a> on Apple TV this week, my attention turned again to the fear-of-failure syndrome. The filmmaker is still mega-productive at 82, and his hits tower over those of his rivals \u2014 but Scorsese movies have also tanked with regularity.<\/p>\n \n\tFor every Goodfellas there\u2019s been a Silence. His fans were startled by Taxi Driver, then slept through Age of Innocence. The ever-avid Scorsese managed to shoot and edit one film (The Last Waltz) during a short production break from another big-budget film, New York, New York. Several critics argued both could have used more focus but his fans remained loyal.<\/p>\n \n\tScorsese\u2019s productivity rivals that of a Frank Capra who, a generation earlier, directed some 40 films under his healthy deal with Columbia Pictures. They included classics like Mr. Smith Goes to Washington as well as Platinum Blonde with Jean Harlow.<\/p>\n \n\tAlfred Hitchcock turned out 60 films under his Universal deal \u2014 hits like Psycho as well as programmers like Haunted Household. Hitchcock became a brand as well as a filmmaker.<\/p>\n \n\tAgain, their studio deals guaranteed generous promotional support and broad distribution, whatever the outcome. Today, no such cushions exist for filmmakers or even for actors like Seth Rogen, Channing Tatum, Colin Farrell or Daniel Day-Lewis, all of whose recent pictures have suffered in the box office downdraft. Overall, October was the worst box office month in decades.<\/p>\n \n\tThe failure of<\/a> After the Hunt directed by Luca Guadagnino (Challengers) reflects these hazards. A cerebral thriller starring Andrew Garfield and Julia Roberts, the film met with a curiously argumentative reception from reviewers. There were even angry op-ed pieces attacking its theme.<\/p>\n