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Not entirely, but it's a part of it. In my opinion, this opinion dates a little further back before the oft-cited Meteor to 1975 with a film they actually produced called The Wild Party, which has been given it's own chapter in the book Fiasco. The film may have had elements that connected with AIP's image, but what was aimed as an attempt to outgrow it's "B Movie" image flopped on it's face with weak reviews and a weak box office which must have crippled a bit of their staying power. Since of Corman's departure from the company, AIP tried to adjust to the times in terms of their business with some success, but after years of being the most iconic B-Picture company in The US for a long time (with a killer TV wing to boot), there was a bit of trouble trying to move into being more of a major if that was in the plans, and the continuing line of good films in it's comfort zone (a very comfortable zone for us, too!) was certainly keeping that image alive. With all of the success they were having in a time when the Drive In movies were starting to slow down, I'm sure that the blow delivered by The Wild Party was the start a very slow downfall that the company could not 100 percent recover from. It might have been that the success to OK performance ratio was not what they wanted it to be, and knowing that the market changing dramatically, it was time to end it's history as a theatrical movie company.

Keep in mind, that during AIP's final year as an active film company, it was turning out some big hits like The Amityville Horror and Love at First Bite. Possibly, this would be called ending on a high note before things got more tricky...Gorp (The low-rent variation on Meatballs) might have been a sign to stop.

That's just my guess.

I would say that by the very end of the late 70's, their line was seriously on a roller coaster. The good news was that their Action films that proved to be great programmers. By the end of The 70's, their Comedy films went down badly - Here Come the Tigers (Why see that when there's The Bad News Bears?), Record City (which I heard was VERY cheaply made), and Matilda (The boxing kangaroo movie) were possibly the worst of the bunch from the 77-79 period with C.H.O.M.P.S. being a Benji gone Bionic with tired humor that was their aim for a 1979 Comedy hit that did a little better, but not much. Their 60's Beach Party comedies captured a moment and a feeling, these 70's Comedies were riding on bandwagons in a very half powered fashion, weakening their standing a little as for every solid Action and Horror film that was their main Post-60's success, there would be an under performer that would take them back a space.

In 1979, their attempt to bring Joe Lewis into stardom with the Action flick Jaguar Lives (a pick-up?) proved to be an under-performer despite a great promotion featuring it's star-studded line up. In a way, this showed AIP's weakened standing in an era where it was decided that it was their time to go, with the often mentioned Meteor being the iconic under-performer that possibly was the last straw for them.

Still, I still have thoughts that they might have survived with better focus, proven with their successful line of Horror films, which sometimes makes me go into a speculation about what if they stuck around and caught on the Slasher ride. In the malls of The 80's, Horror was still a champ, and this was where most of their competition took over where AIP might have cleaned up if allowed to live longer.

madeleymade wrote:

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Here Come the Tigers is the Mac and Me to BadNewsBears' ET. It's an unofficial remake, goddammit!

The best review of the film, ever!