During these early exchanges of big-screen entertainment, facial furniture even began to invade the language of film itself.
It is all a far cry from the days when the studio's lion logo before the opening credits was a guarantee of the best in big-screen entertainment.
Periodic exceptions — last year's "Enchanted," say, or even "Juno" — have a way of proving that, especially in the world of franchised, big-budget, big-screen entertainment, boys rule.
However you tilt, there is no denying the durability of a story involving a group of rugged individualists who join forces in bloody brotherhood to fight for right, or at least for your big-screen entertainment.
Manohla Dargis wrote in The Times in April, "There is no denying the durability of a story involving a group of rugged individualists who join forces in bloody brotherhood to fight for right, or at least for your big-screen entertainment".
Though Ms. Fey shows occasional flashes of the smart, anxious sarcasm that drives Liz Lemon through the showbiz tumult of "30 Rock," and though you can't look at Mr. Carell's face without inferring the antic cluelessness of Michael Scott in "The Office," both performers are constrained by the drab formula demanded by long-form, big-screen entertainment.
Budget-conscious consumers can enjoy big-screen entertainment as long as they shop smart and keep their eyes peeled.
People supposedly want adult-skewing, star-driven and diverse big-screen entertainment, but they don't actually show up when Hollywood releases such movies into theaters.
This isn't to say that Chinese moviegoers (as a generalization) are exceptionally progressive or deeply appreciate of inclusive big-screen entertainment.
The major U.S. studios are forced to salivate from a distance over a rapidly growing audience for big-screen entertainment here, able to share in the box office receipts of, at most, only 20 of their films in any given year.
