Why are we so obsessed with Box Office numbers as opposed to HV sales?

[KingoftheWorld]

I am mainly here because as a  young filmmaker myself I am interested to learn more about the financials of movies. But why are people seem to only care about Box Office and not other sources of revenue? Of course HV sales are so fragmented that they are harder to track, but still it's surprising that no one seems to even mention them.

 

Movies are basically deemed to be financial success or disaster in first couple of months, but surely good movie is able to make profit years and even decades?

In last couple of months I have seen lots of indications that Original Jurassic Park and Mad Max trilogies has also sold quite well because of new movies. I am quite sure that movies like The Godfather or Titanic still make decent amount of Bluray and VOD sales, but nobody even takes these thing in the account. In last couple of months I have seen lots of indications that Original Jurassic Park and Mad Max trilogies has also sold quite well because of new movies.

 

Does anyone know how much something super popular like Titanic might still do in revenues per year? I've seen it sometimes still to peak in iTunes Romance movies top 10 (at least in my country) so it has to made some what good revenue still. 

[grim22]

I think the main reason is that there is no way to accurately track home video sales. The best we get is first run estimated numbers by "The-Numbers.com". Apart from that, sources of sales like Walmart, Best Buy, Target etc. are not tracked by them and VOD sales remain a huge mystery even though they may overtake physical sales soon. Since there is no way to quantify the numbers, we instead point to box office figures.

[pepsa]

Yeah it's true that it doesn't get that much attention but like Grim said above their is no real good tracking of VOD and DVD sales. I don't think that The numbers has the video sales for movies like titan LOTR starwars because they are to old. So that probably why.

 

Also another point is: On this forum we talk about movies that are hyped, and those home video sales only start 4 months afther the release so the chances are that most movies won't be hyped anymore (some exeptions like Frozen were the sales were follow and reported frequently on this forum) so yeah movies prety much need to keep the hype up till the home release and almost no movie can do that so..

[Avatree]

Home video sales are not tracked to anywhere near the accuracy or level of detail of box office. They are sold through many different websites and stores, not to mention preowned sales, rentals etc.

 

It should be pointed out that home video sales are not ignored on the forum. People often bring them up as evidence for their points for how well loved a movie is.

[CoolioD1]

Pretty much every movie from the 90s that I own I still only own on vhs. And that's how I'll watch 'em too. I know that's not what this thread is about but fuck man.

[DeeCee]

Because there's meaningful numbers available for the whole world so why bother?

[dxmatrixdt]

numbers sometimes reflect the social and psychological mood of  current times and ultimately go into film history.

[Mango]

Have you seen HV sales recently? Leaves a lot to be desired.

[Dementeleus]

Pretty much every movie from the 90s that I own I still only own on vhs. And that's how I'll watch 'em too.

What is wrong with you?

[TServo2049]

Yeah, at least go with laserdisc. The bottom has fallen out on the used laserdisc market, you can go into any Half Price Books and get them for peanuts.

(I went to a used record store and bought the supposedly rare recalled Nightmare Before Christmas box set that had Henry Selick's MTV stuff in the bonus features without MTV's permission. I checked the liner notes to make sure they were on the set. Price? 15 dollars. I bought it even though I don't have a player.)

Edited July 3, 2015 by TServo2049