Over the past two years the film industry has seen a spike in box office revenue. With James Cameron’s Avatar, 2009 saw the first time since 1998 that a film broke the all time gross. The film grossed over $750 million at the box office. And in 2010 the top two grossing films were Toy Story 3 and Alice in Wonderland, seemingly, the industry is at an all time high with all this added revenue. However, I have been noticing reports on varied websites that theater attendance is at an all time low, and that the studios have been compensating for this to off set the numbers.
Over the past decade ticket prices have been raised from an average of $5.33 to an all time high of $8.01. The fact that the price of tickets has almost doubled has been a considering factor in why attendance is so low. The cost of going to the movies plus concession has reached points of unreasonable prices. Another tactic that studios have been utilizing over the past few years to off set the record low attendance is the implementation of 3D. In recent years, it has become a craze among tent pole movie releases to be produced and released in 3D.
The incentive of releasing a film in 3D is the added spike in the already high ticket prices. 3D tickets can run upwards of $15, and that’s not even considering additional IMAX fees, or online and taxing fees. It’s in my humble opinion that if more attention was given to content, there wouldn’t be a need to pull a runaround with the numbers. Original films like 2009’s The Hangover broke records and expectations for standard R rated comedies, showing just how hungry the audience is for a well made big original film. Even Avatar, which despite it’s obvious inflated numbers was an original ideas, and earned milestones on it’s own merits. In fact the last time an original film was the number one film of the year before Avatar was 1998 with Saving Private Ryan, and one could argue that the down turn in the following years could be attributed to that fact.
References: http://boxofficemojo.com/yearly/
I have definitely noticed a change in movie go-ers. I for one used to frequent the theater practically on a weekly basis. My habits changed when I decided to treat my mom to a movie and ended up spending $50 for both our tickets and food at the concession. Although she was appreciative, she did not see that the experience matched the value according to the cinema. From that day on I realized the same thing. The rise in theater prices is to that as the rise of gas. Now, I will only got to the movies if its a movie or actor I really want to promote. Otherwise, I will rent or watch online.
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