LETTERS

“The adult, star-driven drama is officially an endangered species.” Oh, really? And who gets to decide that? [“Behind Summer’s Cooling Trend,” by John Horn, July 9]

This is now the constant mantra of the Los Angeles Times. Do you really believe that the less than spectacular box-office returns on a few recently released films with intelligent scripts and gifted stars potentially means the end of “adult star-driven” dramas? . . . The idea that the stars alone were to blame for box-office failure instead of inept promotion and distribution is not a part of the equation. . . . This is such a pathetic premise. It’s as if you guys have become an adjunct to film studio management, helping them to justify new cost-cutting measures and low-ball offers to established actors using the economy as a smokescreen. It flies in the face of all logic. It’s a snapshot of an art form that is in a constant whirl of creative flux. . . . The depressing fact is that these articles tend to lend support to those risk-averse executives who are always looking for a way to avoid getting behind films like “Slumdog Millionaire” (even with no stars) yet will bet the farm on a dreary succession of sequels and adaptations of old TV shows.

Robert Bailey

Los Angeles

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I just heard on NPR that the big-screen TV market is doing great. People are staying home, they want HD, they’re cheap and cool. Whatever, the reason why people buy new TVs doesn’t matter. Now that people have the big screens, they have a vehicle for watching DVDs and HBO on a screen that can display films in a way that is emotionally involving. Just the ability to move your eyes across the screen from one side to the other changes the experience; it brings the screen to life.

With big high-def TV, movies delivered to your door, or even faster, via the Internet to your TiVo or XBox, the theater experience . . . just doesn’t matter anymore.

Bob Burlingham

Los Angeles