AFTER THE NEAR APOCALYPSE OF 2023, A PRESENT FOR HOLLYWOOD: GRATITUDE WITH ATTITUDE

Let’s not sugarcoat it — 2023 was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad year for Hollywood. For starters, obviously, there were the strikes, which for nearly five months turned backlots into ghost towns, costing the industry an estimated $6 billion in lost wages and other collateral economic damage. Then there were the layoffs, beginning at Disney and spreading like an apocalyptic virus to Paramount, Amazon, NBCUniversal, Lionsgate and beyond. Box office, although up a tick from 2022, still lagged far behind prepandemic grosses, with even superhero movies like The Marvels tanking. Streamers began pulling back on original content, the incredible shrinking broadcast TV audience continued to miniaturize itself, and there were new fears over the rise of the machines (you know, AI and whether it’ll soon replace your job) — all of which made Hollywood in 2023 feel a bit like one of those doomsday landscapes in Max’s end-of-the-world drama The Last of Us.

But hold on. Take a deep breath before burrowing farther into your underground bunkers. Because despite all the abovementioned disasters and more — floods, fires, Matthew Perry’s death — there is still plenty about Hollywood to feel good about. In fact, I would argue that this town remains, for all its problems, the most powerful cultural center on Earth, still a golden land of dreamers that continues to set the entertainment agenda for the rest of the planet. Name another city that attracts so many talented, ambitious, hopeful young artists; even TikTok stars, who could ply their curious trade from any region they choose, have made Hollywood their unofficial capital. Name another city that churns out as much original intellectual property (and inspires so much IP theft), that triggers as many ideological attacks (from both the right and left), and that has enough creative heft and might to marshal an exuberant global cinematic phenomenon capable of bridging the vast cultural gulf between Christopher Nolan and an 11-inch-tall plastic doll (hooray for Barbenheimer!).

So, as a much-needed reminder of all this town still has to offer, this week THR is serving up “50 Reasons We (Still) Love Hollywood” (page 36), a pre-Valentine’s Day cover package designed to help jog readers’ memories about how lucky we are to live where we live and work where we work. No, Hollywood may not be what it used to be — nothing ever is — but it’s still unlike any other place in the world. As we make our way through 2024, that’s something we should all keep in mind.

Interspersed among iconic L.A. spots are the top moment makers of the past year, from strike mistress Fran Drescher and Succession star Sarah Snook to Barbenheimer’s men (Cillian Murphy and Ryan Gosling), the loss of Matthew Perry and the win that was The Last of Us.