The Great Box Office Recession? -- Discussing the Up & Down Trends of the Box Office Market

[JB33]

16 minutes ago, tribefan695 said:

Tickets sold this year projected to drop to worst level since 1995

 

http://www.latimes.com/business/hollywood/la-fi-ct-box-office-challenges-20171223-story.html

I'm not surprised in the least. Almost everyone I talk to says things like "Why would I go to the theatre when I can stay home and watch Netflix or I can wait a few months and rent the new movies on cable?". It's depressing. It makes me want to give even more of my money to cinemas. They're basically my 2nd home and this prevalent attitude in society nowadays of "I want to be able to do everything now and in the comfort of my own home" could end up being the death of them.

 

It's sad. I go to so many movies alone because it's like pulling teeth to get some friends together and go. They just can't be bothered.

Edited December 23, 2017 by JB33

[AniNate]

There's a dine in chain in Texas called Studio Movie Grill that recently reported that it actually had the highest attendance in its history this year. If theaters hope to survive they need to make an experience worth paying a premium for; which can't just be a bigger screen anymore. I know in the Cleveland area a new "luxury cinema" is opening next spring in one of the affluent southeast suburbs.

 

 

Edited December 23, 2017 by tribefan695

[Walt Disney]

4 hours ago, JB33 said:

I'm not surprised in the least. Almost everyone I talk to says things like "Why would I go to the theatre when I can stay home and watch Netflix or I can wait a few months and rent the new movies on cable?". It's depressing. It makes me want to give even more of my money to cinemas. They're basically my 2nd home and this prevalent attitude in society nowadays of "I want to be able to do everything now and in the comfort of my own home" could end up being the death of them.

 

It's sad. I go to so many movies alone because it's like pulling teeth to get some friends together and go. They just can't be bothered.

There's a trend forming where people are mostly seeing blockbuster films in the movie theater. If it isn't a must-see movie, then people are skipping it in theaters and waiting for it to come to cable. Mid budget and small budget films are the casualties. It's tough to get people to see something in the movie theater, when they can see something comparable at home.

 

There is one group that will still go to movie theaters in droves, and that is teenage boys. That group can still be targeted with small and mid budget films like horror movies.

[AniNate]

MoviePass might help get people back for the smaller films if it somehow sustains itself

[Barnack]

53 minutes ago, Walt Disney said:

There is one group that will still go to movie theaters in droves, and that is teenage boys. That group can still be targeted with small and mid budget films like horror movies.

Less and less thought, they have less cars, less jobs, go out less, date less, etc... The 12-17 year's old were just 13% of the tickets sold (boy and girls), while in the past the 12-15 alone could go to 14%:

https://books.google.ca/books?id=qxynbtC3JQgC&pg=PA388&lpg=PA388&dq=mpaa+study+ticket+sales+age+group+12%3D17&source=bl&ots=K6ap0d0U9S&sig=gv5dxbb3ou7ItFe7nRVLrJgBBAk&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwid-suM06HYAhXLkeAKHXThCBUQ6AEIVjAI#v=onepage&q=mpaa study ticket sales age group 12%3D17&f=false

 

Last year, the 12-24 were 29% of the tickets sales, in 1985 it was over 50%, in 1999 it was 41%.

 

Smaller horror movie that get big let Get Out, their main audience were older female, Rings was mostly female, Split was mostly female, horror tend to have an over 50% female audience.

 

Under 25 male are I think the most expensive quadrant to convince into going to theater more and more at least that what I remember from an interview. Their per capita attendance is still above older people, but the general population is just getting older and older.

[CJohn]

Box Office is dead. Bury it.

[Apollo2xx]

2 hours ago, Walt Disney said:

There's a trend forming where people are mostly seeing blockbuster films in the movie theater. If it isn't a must-see movie, then people are skipping it in theaters and waiting for it to come to cable. Mid budget and small budget films are the casualties. It's tough to get people to see something in the movie theater, when they can see something comparable at home.

 

There is one group that will still go to movie theaters in droves, and that is teenage boys. That group can still be targeted with small and mid budget films like horror movies.

This is my case. I usually just get to see 2 movies per month because going to the theater is becoming very expensive, so I don't want to spend this money with "common" movies like Split or Get Out (which are great), but with films like Beauty and the Beast or Star Wars.

 

This December is an outlier because I'm on vacation so I got to see Murder on The Orient Express, Wonder and The Greatest Showman (which I consider "common" movies).

[Porthos]

Well, three new complexes are opening in Sacramento, so that's something.  One just opened yesterday (it was a remodel nearly lasting two years), and another is scheduled to open next month.

 

The third is a dine-in theater complex that will supplement/be an addition to an already existing complex that I believe is scheduled to open around September or so. 

 

So still some growth here in SacTown, though I suspect we might hit our limit soon.

Edited December 24, 2017 by Porthos

[filmlover]

3 hours ago, CJohn said:

Box Office is dead. Bury it.

[Lordmandeep]

I think the market will go down to Big blockbusters and smaller Scale Indie or Award films that target specific cities or markets.

 

I think the market for mid-level films is about to crash dramatically soon as a lot of films are underperforming lately in that range. Like a Tom Cruise movie about a drug cartel would have flown past 100 million 5-10 years ago. 

 

The reason is something like Sicario 2 for example. 

 

Will people pay 10-18 dollars to see that in theatres when there is no great yearning to see that right away when people can wait to see that on VOD services and at home legally or illegally?

 

As those films continue to underperform, I can see many being sold to Netflix and such services instead.  

[Eric Lasagna]

Seemed like an appropriate article to bump this back up

 

 

[Barnack]

15 minutes ago, Eric Madrigal said:

Seemed like an appropriate article to bump this back up

 

Number of the study mentionned:

https://thequorum.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Exhibition-At-A-Crossroads-11.29.21.pdf

[poweranimals]

That's a little bit concerning but it has somewhat confirmed my fears that it's not just Covid keeping the numbers down.

[Jamiem]

Didn't know this thread even existed was a decade too early 😅

 

I feel COVID kind of increased the trends already in place long term of less admissions, higher ticket prices and a little more recently increase in share of tickets and revenue coming from PLF. 

[Eric Lasagna]

 

[Brainbug]

Cinema is dead. Streaming brutalized it, Covid made its coffin and Morbius will annihilate any faith in true cinema ever coming back.

 

 

[dudalb]

1 hour ago, Brainbug said:

Cinema is dead. Streaming brutalized it, Covid made its coffin and Morbius will annihilate any faith in true cinema ever coming back.

 

 

I hope you are joking; one film that does not look the good flopping is hardly proof of the death of Cinema.

[dudalb]

I think that inflation is going to take a bite out of movie box office. People are going to have to cut their entertaiment budget.

Oh, the big favories like MCU films that have a must see factor will do fine, but a lot of the more borderline films are going to suffer.

[interiorgatordecorator]

On 11/29/2021 at 10:58 PM, Eric Says Trans Rights said:

Seemed like an appropriate article to bump this back up

 

 

 

What definition do they use for "for pre-pandemic ticket buyers" 

 

If it's the lost audience is mostly old men who only went to watch the annual clint eastwood movie or middle aged mothers who only came out for historical dramas then I think we'll survive

 

Yeah I know the pandemic pushed some people away, but id been interested to see how many of those are people who actually showed up for the occasional blockbuster

 

 

Edited March 25, 2022 by interiorgatordecorator

[Brainbug]

6 hours ago, dudalb said:

I hope you are joking; one film that does not look the good flopping is hardly proof of the death of Cinema.

 

Yes that was a joke