With January now upon us, the obligatory rehashings of the 2008 box office have started to be hashed out, and, well, the news is mixed. Happy new year, Hollywood! Variety, for example, trumpets the studios’ collective ability to avoid the brunt of the recession, but a deeper read reveals that ticket sales actually declined. In other words, fewer people spent more money to visit their local multiplex. Now, that doesn’t sound too good.
Figures vary a bit depending on your source, but a fair tally from
tracking firm Nielsen EDI holds that domestic grosses amounted to
an all-time high of approximately $9.8 billion last year, up about 2 percent from 2007 and
up 7 percent from 2006. Which is laudable. Meanwhile, however, 2008 was definitely a loser as far as admissions were concerned. According to tracking firm Media By Numbers, the average domestic ticket price exceeded $7 for the first time ever (making it easier for studios to set the aforementioned gross-revenue record), while attendance dropped about 5 percent. Recession-proof? Really?
Let’s be honest here: It wasn’t a particularly great year at the box office. To which I say: So be it. You’ve got a lot of company with, uh, the rest of the economy, Hollywood.
Yes, overseas revenues continued to rise: In 2008, a total of $9.9 billion was spent on movies outside of the U.S. and Canada, up 4 percent from 2007. But, I wonder, at what cost? Grosses may increase but fewer
and fewer moderately budgeted dramas (which rarely play well globally) are likely to get made.
Yes, The Dark Knight was a big winner, scoring the best opening weekend of
all time, becoming the second $500 million domestic grosser ever, and
winding up as the fourth movie in history to cross the $1 billion mark
worldwide. But our friends over at E! Online make a good point when they note that, looking at pure return on investment, something like Twilight
(which nearly quintupled its $37 mil production budget in banking more
than $175 mil domestically) was a more impressive success than The Dark Knight
(which cost possibly well in excess of $200 mil to make and market). It
looks great when there are a lot of big grossers on the calendar, sure,
but profitability definitely matters.
That’s why the year’s less-expected/less-heralded/less-flashy box office successes like Cloverfield, the Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana concert film, the dog flicks Beverly Hills Chihuahua and Marley and Me, Get Smart, Twilight, Sex and the City, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Mamma Mia!, Role Models, 21, What Happens in Vegas, 27 Dresses, Baby Mama, and (lest we forget the film that looked like a question mark back when it was greenlit) Iron Man,
all deserve applause. They helped bolster the industry during tough
economic times — and they kept from suffering the same fate as major
flops like Speed Racer, The Love Guru, Meet Dave, and The Spirit, or expensive underachievers like The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, The Incredible Hulk, and The Mummy 3.
Suggested New Year’s resolution: Bring ticket prices and movie-making costs down, already! In this tough economic climate, doing that makes even more sense than ever — especially when, as 2008 showed, cheaper films can get the job done just fine.
Yes, overseas revenues continued to rise: In 2008, a total of $9.9 billion was spent on movies outside of the U.S. and Canada, up 4 percent from 2007. But, I wonder, at what cost? Grosses may increase but fewerand fewer moderately budgeted dramas (which rarely play well globally) are likely to get made.
Yes, The Dark Knight was a big winner, scoring the best opening weekend ofall time, becoming the second $500 million domestic grosser ever, andwinding up as the fourth movie in history to cross the $1 billion markworldwide. But our friends over at E! Online make a good point when they note that, looking at pure return on investment, something like Twilight(which nearly quintupled its $37 mil production budget in banking morethan $175 mil domestically) was a more impressive success than The Dark Knight(which cost possibly well in excess of $200 mil to make and market). Itlooks great when there are a lot of big grossers on the calendar, sure,but profitability definitely matters.
That’s why the year’s less-expected/less-heralded/less-flashy box office successes like Cloverfield, the Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana concert film, the dog flicks Beverly Hills Chihuahua and Marley and Me, Get Smart, Twilight, Sex and the City, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Mamma Mia!, Role Models, 21, What Happens in Vegas, 27 Dresses, Baby Mama, and (lest we forget the film that looked like a question mark back when it was greenlit) Iron Man,all deserve applause. They helped bolster the industry during tougheconomic times — and they kept from suffering the same fate as majorflops like Speed Racer, The Love Guru, Meet Dave, and The Spirit, or expensive underachievers like The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, The Incredible Hulk, and The Mummy 3.
Suggested New Year’s resolution: Bring ticket prices and movie-making costs down, already! In this tough economic climate, doing that makes even more sense than ever — especially when, as 2008 showed, cheaper films can get the job done just fine.
Comments (1-28) of 28 Add your comment
Here’s another idea: make BETTER movies. Stop market-testing things to death, thereby neutering all fun and innovative creativity out of things. Stop trying to target things to certain demos – soccer moms, NASCAR dads, hipsters, etc. Just write and make a good movie. Stop greenlighting ideas that are easy to market. JUST MAKE BETTER MOVIES.
I paid $12 yesterday to see Milk. The movie was good and I’m glad I saw it but I feel like an idiot. If I had waited five months I could have bought it for about that price or justed rented it. They continue to raise prices without improving the moviegoing experience. Yet TVs and video equipment keeps getting better. I used to watch about 90 movies a year in the theaters. Now I watch about ten. This year it will probably be less. I need to eat.
Screw that. I like my special effects movies. It’s the only reason I see a move in the theatre.
There were at least three times that my husband and I wanted to go to the movies but NOTHING looked appealing. Perhaps if they made more films that people actually wanted to see.
I’m with you on lowering prices. I’m one of those people who brings his own food and drink from home rather than the theater. I live in Fargo and the prices are outrageous for this area. AND they charge more for a movie that’s on their “ultra screen.” I’m becoming more particular about which movies I need to see in theaters rather than wait for the DVD, which is becoming more prominent since I now have a blu-ray player. Theaters and the studios need to get with the times and respond.
Uhh . . . Twilight was more profitable than Dark Knight? Well, yeah, it made 5 times it’s production cost, but that is a false indicator that small movies use to prop up their grosses.
Twilight: 278 mill worldwide – 60 mill production and marketing = 218 profit.
Dark Knight: 1 billion worldwide – 300 million production and marketing = 700 million.
So 700 million vs. 218. Which movie would you rather have released.
By the way, DVD sales will likely add another few hundred million to Dark Knight’s tally.
Yes, ROI is a stat, but it doesn’t tell even half the story when you are talking Dark Knight vs. Twilight.
By the way, which franchise do you think will make more money going forward?
I love it how the box office number crunchers make their year-to-year comparisons each weekend like making 15% less this weekend compared to last year portends the death of Hollywood. It’s not, and nobody cares.
to “to Lisa”: um, NO. that is beyond a horrible, not mention completely unnecessary thing to say. shame on you, seriously.
The movie going experience needs to be improved to justify those prices. I only saw 3 movies in the theater this year, and each one was a bad experience. All were crowded, which in itself is not a problem, but ushers never came in to remove unruly people. When I figured how much money the theater made off of this one showing, it’s crazy that they can’t pay an usher to come in now and then and tell disruptive people to shut up or leave! I’ll just order it from netflicks and enjoy it at home.
My last trip to the new Regal that opened in Asheville, NC had individual ticket prices at $9.50 per person for an evening show, with no student discounts. With that kind of pricing for two people, one night at the movies costs as much as our monthly cable bill. Unless the costs come down, those dinner and a movie dates will be even fewer and far between.
inflation people….inflation grossly exagerates movies income when compared to movies in the past. so 500 million in 1980 would be like 750 million today
Movie ticket prices definitely need to come down, even if that means as the writer says lower the money spent on production itself. I love watching movies in the theatre but I can see that in the next year or two I will be very picky. So many people have nice LCD screens in their cozy living rooms and it makes sense for them to forgo the moviegoing experience either through rentals or on demand where a group of people can enjoy a $6 movie together. I still think there’s nothing like being in the theatre but compromises must be made. I have a feel next year will be much worse for the studios.
meant to say feeling. Also, quality of TV has gotten so much better. You can get great stories of all genres every week.
What happened to the prior comments? The one That talked about how I went to the movies and a woman with a bucket of chicken and 5 kids sat in front of me and talked, ate, texted and threatened to beat up anyone who shusshed them. It was the truth. Are the movie theatres censoring this site? Or is the truth racist to you?
I am sorry, but you weren’t there. Every word (including the name which may be mispelled) is true. And it was horrible. Especially since I paid for my tickets and the children, including an infant that cried for 1/2 hour, got in free.
Using Return on Investment as a yardstick, arguably the most successful movie of 2008 was Fireproof. It ended up as a 33+ million dollar grosser — that’s 66x its production budget of $500,000!
What about comparing box-office AND same-year DVD/Blu-Ray sales? Just because attendance was down 5 percent at the BO, buying the movie in 4 months for your own family’s home viewing for only $20 kept a lot of recession-strapped people up on the best (and the worst) of 2008.
I think there just weren’t as many good movies released this year. I was pretty disappointed.
I am done paying exhorbitant prices for movies and popcorn and then sitting in a theatre surrounded by talking people, screaming children, phones lighting up and Yao Ming sitting down in front of me immediately after the movie commences.
there’s a way around high movie tickets prices and crowded theaters if you have the patience. just wait till the movie has been out for about 3 – 4 weeks, then go to a matinee ($5-6), the theater is pretty much empty.
Since when is not setting a box office record a disappointment? First off, think of all the blockbusters that got bumped from 2008 release (Star Trek, Harry Potter) this left fewer holiday blockbusters so the fact that people still went to see movies like Marley & Me is a huge indicator that the film industry is mostly recession proof. Obviously there will be some decline but it will be much better off than other sectors of the economy.
I saw 55 movies in theaters last year, and some of the movies like Meet Dave, Australia, and Narnia shouldn’t have been bombs. I don’t know why a lot of people saw them, NO ONE listens to what critics have to say anyways!
I used to do that. Unfortunately I seem to be a rude people magnent. If there are three other people in a theatre, 2 are sitting right behind me, kicking my chair.
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what’s the point of having cheaper tickets if there are no blockbuster, popcorn fare to go see? the vast majority of Americans (as the grosses clearly show) prefer big budget flicks over Marley and Me. Plus, think about future sales: I’ve watched Iron Man on dvd over and over, but hardly anyone watches tearjerkers till they’re blue in the face.
Yeah, it was Listen 2 This. I liked those, but then they started not being exclusively about music, (they started to include video games & comic books too) http://cleaning.emenace.com/upholste2b/45.html steam cleaning undefined
The author of this article clearly does not understand the big picture in business. In no way is a movie that profits 140 million far more successful then a movie that profits 300 million. It would be nice if people at ew actually understood what they were talking about.