Hollywood's box office has hit the skids, and the entertainment media are in overdrive trying to explain why. The most obvious explanation for box office malaise is consistently overlooked: Hollywood's ruling liberal elites keep going out of their way to offend half their audience.

Constant gibes about Republicans, Christians, conservatives and the military litter today's movies and award show presentations like so many pieces of trash on theater floors....

--Govindini Murty, NewsMax columnist and co-director of the right-wing Liberty Film Festival, in the L.A. Times, 7/10/05

Er, no:

The North American box office is not alone in suffering a protracted slump.

...In Germany, box office admissions are off nearly 20% to 58 million in the first six months of the year compared with the same period last year. And Italian admissions have slumped 17%, sparking hand-wringing throughout the local industry.

French cinema attendance for the first six months plummeted 17%, while in the Netherlands, box office receipts are off more than 18% from last year. Spain looks to have gotten off relatively lightly, with a 12% drop to 49.9 million admissions....

--Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

Yeah, right -- the French are pissed off because our movies insult Republicans and Christians.

The actual, reality-based explanations seem to be: the DVD boom (naturally); economic weakness in countries such as Italy; and Hollywood's new habit of releasing movies at the same time worldwide, which doesn't for reasons someone in Hollywood should have a clue about:

"The big blockbusters all come out in the summer in the U.S. because in the summer in the states everyone goes to the movies because it is nice and cool and that's the tradition," said Eva Matlock, managing director of German independent exhibitors group AG Kino. "But in Germany, most of the theaters don't have air conditioning, and when it gets hot, we don't go to the movies, we go outside to the park and the beer gardens."

Oh, and, of course, crummy movies.