"Nearly every military-related film
to reach theaters this year has been a box-office
disappointment, leaving some in Hollywood to question how
much the 24-hour news coverage of the Iraq invasion has
dimmed the public appetite for images of combat," and "some critics suggest that
moviegoers are staying away because they have plenty of
real-time war action already on cable and network news
programs. 'When television came on with 24-hour news channels, it
changed what we needed,' said Jeanine Basinger, chairman of
film studies at Wesleyan University and author of The
World War II Combat Film: Anatomy of a Genre. 'During World War II you needed movies to help
people see and understand events they were hearing about.'
Now, she said, 'we are kind of inured; we have seen a lot
of blood and combat.' "