Movie studios want to make money off movies.

Action movies play well *around the world* as do cartoons which can easily be dubbed into any language.

But what about serious dramas? These basically have people sitting around with a lot of dialogue ... not too good if you don't speak English. These movies have most sales in the U.S.

Therefore, the lowbrow movies are popular not because tastes have declined, but from the perspective of the people who make them, they will make more money because they play well *around the world*, and not just in the U.S.

I don't know, I've seen some translated dramatic pictures, and some of them are fairly well done. French dramas have a reputation of doing well all around the world, most of which doesn't speak French. If you could name a few Hollywood dramatic US box-office smashes that didn't do well worldwide, that would be more convincing.

Cartoon movies were ALWAYS popular, starting around the forties when Uncle Walt Disney took over the joint.

Bambi, Dumbo, Pinochio, Alice in Wonderland...Sleeping Beauty, 101 Dalmations, Mary Poppins (partial), The Jungle Book...

Walt died in 1966 and Disney Studios struggled for a few years, even as the 70's counterculture of film pushed that kind of filmmaking out the door for a few "adult" years.

But Lucas and Spielberg came along and remembered the huge, constant, like-clockwork audiences that Disney had for his movies (live-action, too, like "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" and "The Absent-Minded Professor") and "Star Wars" , "Raiders" and "ET" pave the way towards the takeover of Disney, "The Little Mermaid" and...the rest is modern movie history.

As for action? Always popular The Magnificent Seven, Ben-Hur (the Chariot Race), North by Northwest, Goldfinger, Bullitt, The Omega Man, Dirty Harry, The French Connection, The Towering Inferno, Death Wish, Jaws, Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark, 48 HRS, Lethal Weapon, Die Hard, The Matrix...