Foreign Audiences Love Big, Dumb American Blockbusters

Americans like our art served with processed cheese and Big Gulp-sized portions of diet soda.

It’s the image too often conveyed via mass media, that of a culture that disdains the high-falutin’ arts while preferring reality TV and brainless sequels.

Yes, there are plenty of folks who relish just those kinds of entertainment entrees, but our fellow citizens also pump plenty of coin into symphonies, theatrical performances, and opera. Just consider the “Met Live” category with Fathom Events, which lets movie goers watch performances by the Metropolitan Opera on the big screen.

And, as it turns out, Americans aren’t alone in their hunger for fast food-style entertainment. Forbes.com reports movie studios are now releasing blockbuster-type movies overseas before their stateside releases to help. It seems foreign audiences are even more eager for splashy special effects, inconsistent acting and dubious storytelling — the kind allegedly seen in the new film “Battleship” — than their American counterparts:

This is the new trend. If your movie is bad, play for it people who just need to see explosions and special effects.

It’s a meme buster of the first order, but don’t tell the U.S. based movie studios. They’re too busy counting the money flowing into their coffers from across the pond.