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Topic: I ain't dead yet, you bushwhacker!: Boxoffice nearly $30 billion
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Mike Blakesley
Film God
Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99
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posted 03-10-2010 11:29 PM
So from this article we learn two things:
- "The single screen theater is nearly dead, making up just 4% of the nation's theaters." Well they could have worded THAT differently. Instead of "nearly dead" I would have preferred "less common." I'll bet in 10 years, the same 4% of us will still be kicking unless we get buried in some fashion by the digital revolution.
- All that crap about movie tickets being too expensive was apparently just a lot of talk, as people clearly don't mind paying a huge premium for 3-D films.
3-D screens lead box office to record $29.9 billion last year
By Scott Bowles, USA TODAY http://www.usatoday.com
LOS ANGELES — Worldwide box office reached an
all-time high last year of $29.9 billion, driven by a
slew of digital and 3-D screens that are bringing in
record repeat business — and driving up ticket
prices.
The Motion Picture Association of America's annual
study of film attendances paints a rosy outlook for
the movie business, an industry that has flourished
in the recession as families look for cheaper forms
of entertainment.
Moviegoing worldwide leapt almost 8% last year,
mirroring the 10% spike in the U.S. box office in
2009. The surge came despite an economic spiral
that shuttered production on many films. The study
says that 793 movies were released domestically last
year, a 12% decline from the 896 movies in 2008.
But 3-D films helped make up the difference.
According to the study, 3-D movies constituted 11%
of all business last year, compared with 2% in 2008.
Those funny glasses helped rake in $1.1 billion in
ticket sales last year, a 375% increase from the year
before.
Hollywood is responding with a larger slate of
high-tech flicks. Studios cranked out 20 3-D films
last year, compared with eight in 2008.
"The future of this business is digital (screens) with
3-D capability," says Bob Pisano, president of the
MPAA. "That's very clear from all the evidence we
have. People are flocking to see movies in 3-D and,
frankly, they are willing to pay a premium for it."
Indeed, ticket prices saw their largest jump in eight
years, fueled in part by 3-D films, which can cost
more than $15 a ticket. In 2009, the average cost of
a movie ticket was $7.50, a 4.4% increase from last
year.
Among the study's other findings:
•Moviegoers 24 and younger buy nearly half of the
movie tickets sold in the USA and Canada.
•Women bought 55% of movie tickets sold last year.
•Multiplexes (eight to 15 screens) make up the most
U.S. theaters, constituting 46% of movie houses. The
single-screen theater is nearly dead, making up just
4% of the nation's theaters.
"We've said for decades our industry is recession-
proof," says Bob Sunshine, managing director for
ShoWest, the annual convention of theater owners
that begins Monday.
Sunshine credits films such as The Hangover, The
Blind Side and Paranormal Activity with quietly
propelling ticket sales last year.
"You're always going to have great tent poles, but
you have to give a lot of credit to the smaller hits,"
he says. "It's what the people turn to in this
economy. We're really fortunate to be in the position
we're in."
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Tony Bandiera Jr
Film God
Posts: 3067
From: Moreland Idaho
Registered: Apr 2004
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posted 03-11-2010 06:22 PM
quote: Bob Pisano
"The future of this business is digital (screens) with
3-D capability," says Bob Pisano, president of the
MPAA. "That's very clear from all the evidence we
have. People are flocking to see movies in 3-D and,
frankly, they are willing to pay a premium for it."
What an asshole. 3-D is a fad, has been a fad in the past and will always be a fad. People will soon enough get sick of seeing the usual Hollywood ![[bs]](graemlins/bs.gif) ![[puke]](graemlins/puke.gif) stories "just because they're 3-D."
Digital will kill this industry in short order, mainly due to the fact that those who have invested in 2k machines now are facing (forced?) upgrades to 4k, then when 8k comes out, the 4k machines will have to be replaced, then when the 16k machines come out......
And you'll still have all the problems with faulty media stuttering, freezing or locking up, the KDM hassles, yada yada....
I'll either be retired or dead before film is thankfully.
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Frank Angel
Film God
Posts: 5305
From: Brooklyn NY USA
Registered: Dec 1999
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posted 03-13-2010 11:38 AM
And not for nuthin, but once the public sees that stuttering, freezing or shows canceled because playback can't be recovered, it won't take them long to make the connection that they are watching the same kind of digital anomolies they suffer with at home -- stuttering, freezing or DVDs that just stop and can't recover. That might have a fairly deleterious, psychological impact -- "Hey, they're just running a damn DVD. Why should we pay for this when we have the same thing at home?"
I ran a DVD video show and naturally you have to deal with cuing at the start if the movie instead of the gack up front, which I did, but they as the house lights dimmed, the player reverted to STOP, and now under pressure I had to cue it up again. I don't know how many times I railed at Swank that if they are going to charge $500 to play an old DVD title, the very least they should do is make CLEAN copies that can be dropped in the player and which will play from the first frame of the FILM. To no avail.
But I digress -- what happened at this particular show was that when I cued it up the second time with only seconds before it was to hit the screen, what came up was not the Walt Disney Pictures logo, but the Walt Disney Home Entertainment logo, basically telling the audience that they had just bought a ticket to watch a home video DVD of a title they could get for a buck at RedBox or Netflix. The displeasure was palpable -- some people actually walked out. You can fool some of the people some of the time.....
No one wants to feel like they are paying more for something they can get cheaper....MUCH cheaper. And as the studios keep shrinking the cinema-to-video window time-frame, and more and more people are going to be watching pretty impressive HDTVs in their homes, they may display less and less love for theatres if they perceive that they will be able to get the same or better presentation experience at home rather than at a movie theatre. And without the pesky danger of being stabbed in the neck with a beef thermometer.
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failure first hand for opening weekend of Alice: several shows canceled due to some sort of audio issue in the 3D house. The 35mm print I saw ran without a hitch. 
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