I think that recessions bring about better creativity and a desire for more competent "art" by the general public, where economic boom times leads to lots of crap. Mostly I associate this with music, but after reading this article I think it may apply to movies as well.
With music, my working hypothesis was that when times are good younger people (i.e. middle school, high school, and even elementary) have more disposable income and free time and are driving the entertainment industry, and that in rough times, that group's purchasing power decreases by the most and the main consumers are people in their 20s and 30s.
I think something similar may be happening with movies. People are not sending their kids to theaters every weekend, so the pop garbage that tends to dominate isn't drawing the crowds and repeat viewers that it would have five years ago. If the movie-going crowd becomes older and better educated, it could follow that their taste would be better quality films.
Of course I also think that there is a secondary aspect, call it the "misery loves company" theory. The films doing surprisingly well are not happy romps or clear-cut good vs. evil with no ambiguity thrill rides, but are movies that show flawed humans and difficulty and suffering. If the real world is depressing then escaping to some utopic world for a few hours may just make the real one seem even worse upon return. Seeing challenge and difficulty--overcome or not--in an escape can make a depressing reality somewhat less so.
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