Controversial movies prove content is king

Controversial movies prove content is king: "'Content is king' may be Viacom's Sumner Redstone's favorite mantra, but, in fact, most of Hollywood has forgotten the meaning of the phrase. Faced with feeding voracious distribution networks that need a constant flow of feature films, network programming and DVD releases, most Hollywood execs regard content as nothing more than product. And most of the product they turn out is virtually content-free. The entertainment equivalent of one-calorie soda. It fills you up, but it hardly satisfies.

"Passion" and "Fahrenheit," though their core audiences may come from the opposite ends of the political and cultural spectrum, speak the same language. They're about something. They've got moviegoers talking again, because they're not simply product, but movies that wear their content like a crown."


By Gregg Kilday