Introduction

For years, the Cineplex was a wasteland, a barren no-man’s land. Then came the Rednecks — a whole new breed of moviegoers eager to see films filled with action, sex, death, violence and explosions – but only if they were funny, too! Films like Super Troopers, Talladega Nights, Harold & Kumar and Anchorman were just what the country needed to keep it laughing all the way up to its tear ducts.

And then somewhere along the way, these monstrously successful lowbrow comedies got even more serious – and along came an army of Oscar winners like DiCaprio and Winslet who suddenly discovered that shooting blow at Sundance was a whole lot funnier than waiting around for another paycheck from Steven Spielberg. And now Hollywood is turning to the great unwashed en masse to provide box office success. If you’re not sure what we’re talking about here – watch last summer’s bomb comedy The Campaign: It ain’t no Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

God

• God was a big deal in the South.
• He was everywhere, and you couldn’t escape him.
• He was literally everywhere. In the trees, on your car dashboard, in a picture frame hanging on the wall.
• Every time you turned around there he was again.
• It’s not that God didn’t exist anywhere else in America; it’s just that they didn’t like to talk about him very much, especially not where people could hear them talking about him all the time like rednecks did.

Rednecks took God seriously because they believed he was real and would punish them if they did anything wrong (like eat pork). They also believed that if they prayed hard enough for long enough then maybe someday he would come down from heaven with his arms open wide ready to give them hugs! And then…he would make everything okay again because everything always gets better when God comes down from heaven with his arms open wide ready to give hugs!

Loves Rednecks

You are the backbone of this country. You are the backbone of the film industry. Without you, there is no American cinema.

Rednecks have saved Hollywood through their love of movies and their ability to see past all its posturing, self-indulgence, and empty promises to find something meaningful within its celluloid confines. They’re not nearly as pretentious as they think they are; they know that just because a movie has a big budget or stars famous actors doesn’t mean it has anything worthwhile to say beyond “Hey look at me! I’m rich and famous!”

They understand that some things aren’t meant to be taken seriously: Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice is supposed to be fun action-packed entertainment—not an Oscar contender! And don’t even get me started on The Lone Ranger…

The Dukes of Hazzard

The Dukes of Hazzard, a 2005 box office success, was directed by Jay Chandrasekhar and starred Johnny Knoxville and Seann William Scott. Based on the 1970s television series, it tells the story of cousins Bo and Luke Duke, who are constantly in trouble with their Uncle Jesse and his girlfriend Daisy. The movie follows these characters as they escape from the law after stealing a car that belongs to Boss Hogg (a corrupt local politician).

Smokey and the Bandit

This movie was a huge hit, and it’s easy to see why. It’s the second film in what would become a trilogy (the first was Smokey and the Bandit), it stars Burt Reynolds, Sally Field and Jackie Gleason (who won an Oscar for his performance), and it was directed by Hal Needham. The success of this movie helped launch Reynolds’ career as a leading man in Hollywood.

Needham also directed other movies that are considered classics today: The Cannonball Run (1981) starring Burt Reynolds; Smokey and the Bandit II (1980); Hooper (1978) with Burt Reynolds and Sally Field; Stroker Ace (1983). He also worked on many projects with stuntman-turned-director Buddy Joe Hooker such as Cannonball Run II: The Death Race 2000 (1984).

Batman Begins

Before Christopher Nolan’s franchise reboot, Batman Begins, there had only been one other film based on the caped crusader. “Batman Forever” was released in 1995 and starred Val Kilmer as Bruce Wayne/Batman. Despite having a catchy theme song by Prince, it wasn’t very well received by fans or critics alike. The next installment was even worse (and made less money), so Warner Bros decided to end their involvement with the franchise until they could figure out what went wrong with Joel Schumacher’s films and how they could make it work again.

The decision to reboot Batman came down to Christopher Nolan himself—a director known for his dark sensibilities who wanted nothing more than to bring back Bruce Wayne’s superhero story in all its brooding glory

How Rednecks saved Hollywood

The redneck movie genre has been around since the 1970s, but it was mostly confined to independent films until recently. In fact, before the 2000s, you could count all of the major studio releases that featured a redneck in a leading role on one hand (okay, maybe two).

That changed with the release of 2006’s “Cars,” which grossed $462 million worldwide and won an Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film. Suddenly studios were more willing to give money to movies about rural America—and by extension, rural Americans themselves—and suddenly there was a huge demand for scripts featuring characters like them. Not long after that came “The Blind Side” (2009), “Bridesmaids” (2011) and numerous other successful comedies that made audiences laugh at rednecks’ antics or empathize with their struggles for acceptance in society. The success of these films helped pave the way for future projects like “The Big Bang Theory” and even this year’s surprise smash hit musical comedy from Disney Studios called “Pitch Perfect.”

Facts

For years, the Cineplex was a wasteland, a barren no-man’s land. Then came the Rednecks — a whole new breed of moviegoers eager to see films filled with action, sex, death, violence and explosions – but only if they were funny, too! Films like Super Troopers, Talladega Nights, Harold & Kumar and Anchorman were just what the country needed to keep it laughing all the way up to its tear ducts.

And then somewhere along the way, these monstrously successful lowbrow comedies got even more serious – and along came an army of Oscar winners like DiCaprio, Penn and Winslet who suddenly discovered that shooting blow at Sundance was a whole lot funnier than waiting around for another paycheck from Steven Spielberg. And now Hollywood is turning to the great unwashed en masse to provide box office success. If you’re not sure what we’re talking about here – watch last summer’s bomb comedy The Campaign. It ain’t no Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.

In a recent interview with the Hollywood Reporter, director Adam McKay said that his new comedy The Big Short was made for “rednecks” – and we have to agree. For years, he explained, “Hollywood has been making movies for everyone but rednecks. They’re like this underclass of people who go see all these dumb movies.”

“Everyone else is getting smarter,” he continued, “and they’re still watching Pirates of the Caribbean and Transformers 5 or whatever it’s called.” But now the Cineplex is full of these monstrously successful lowbrow comedies that got even more serious — and along came an army of Oscar winners like DiCaprio and Penn who suddenly discovered that shooting blow at Sundance was a whole lot funnier than waiting around for another paycheck from Steven Spielberg… Now Hollywood is turning to the great unwashed en masse to provide box office success.”

If you’re not sure what we’re talking about here watch last summer’s bomb comedy The Campaign. It ain’t no Ferris Bueller’s Day Off!

Conclusion

If you want to see the future of Hollywood, just look around at your local mall. Take a deep breath, then go check out some movies. There are plenty of rednecks in every audience – and they’re laughing along with everyone else!