Well, it's autumn - the season when movie studios roll out intelligent, thought-provoking films featuring marquee stars in challenging roles. Movies like this are often referred to as "prestige projects," but they're more commonly remembered as box office bombs.
Everyone may talk about the award-bait films once the Oscar nominations are announced, though relatively few people actually pay to go see them. But why? Are we, as a nation, so dumbed down culturally that we can't bring ourselves to fork over $10.50 unless a film is based on a theme park ride or features robots who punch each other? Maybe, but there are several other reasons why low-budget films with big-name stars no longer draw us to the theater in droves:

1.) The American public doesn't pay to see actors. Johnny Depp recently drew fire for suggesting that his latest film, The Rum Diary, failed at the box office because the average American is too stupid to understand it. This coming from a man who's earned upwards of $25 million a movie for playing a drunken pirate in a succession of increasingly terrible blockbusters. What Depp fails to grasp is that it's not actors, or directors, or even plots that pack people into theaters. If I could say exactly what does sell tickets I'd be earning 9 figures as a studio head, rather than subsisting on a steady diet of Ramen noodles and canned beer. But I do know that big-name stars aren't much of a factor when the average American is deciding what movies are worth the price of admission.
This weekend marks the release of J. Edgar, a film in which Leonardo DiCaprio (the world's highest-paid actor) tests his dramatic muscle in the kind of decades-spanning biopic award season is made for. It will likely get trounced at the box office by Puss In Boots, now in its second week of release. Why? Because...

2.) People want to see their ticket money spent on effects, not salaries. Maybe you wanna see the latest installment in the Transformers franchise and that new Sundance favorite about the girl who falls in love with a balloon or some sh!t, but you only have the bankroll for one movie this weekend. Of those flicks - one is only worth seeing on the big screen, the other will look just fine on your laptop. So unless you're trying to impress the hipster you just started dating, you're probably gonna pay for Optimus Prime and download the balloon lover. Speaking of who you choose to take to the theater with you, another factor currently influencing box office numbers is the fact that...