This Weekend @ the Boxoffice: 2008.Sep.02

[Hand of Evil]

Topical Thunder may have taken the number one spot but the big news is Batman saves the summer movies! Beacause of it doing so well, the summer is above last year's take, before Batman came out forecast thought the numbers would fall short.

What has Batman done:
Domestic: $504,696,000 (54.8%) + Foreign: $417,000,000 (45.2%) = Worldwide: $921,696,000

 

[Mark]

Looks like people are getting over the "____ Movie" series.

 

[Mistwell]

Actually overall Paramount saved the summer. They did better than Warner Brothers, and all other studios, this summer.

http://www.azcentral.com/ent/movies/articles/2008/08/29/20080829filmtracking.html

How in the world is Paramount ranked ahead of Warner Bros., which released "The Dark Knight," now the second highest-grossing film of all time? Consistency.

No other studio claimed more than one movie grossing more than $200 million this summer, and Paramount had three: "Iron Man," "Kung Fu Panda" and "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull."

What's noteworthy about Paramount's summer is how few of its films were purely homegrown. "Iron Man" was made by Marvel Studios, "Indiana Jones" was co-produced by George Lucas' Lucasfilm, "Kung Fu Panda" came from DreamWorks Animation and "Tropic Thunder" hails from DreamWorks' live-action division. That leaves Paramount in sole custody of ... "The Love Guru," the studio's one true bomb.

 

[Brown Jenkin]

Dollar figures are up, but adjusted for higher ticket prices attendence is down 3.5%

 

[Mistwell]

Dollar figures are up, but adjusted for higher ticket prices attendence is down 3.5%

Sure, but the goal is dollar figures adjusted for inflation, not tickets sold. I think the whole point is to find the perfect ticket price in relation to seats, so that you make the most total money, not the most total seats sold. And they did that better this time.

And doing that actually results in higher DVD rental and sales figures, since if you price people out of seeing it in the theater (but still make more overall money from the theatrical release), then people who could not afford it but wanted to see it will often end up renting or buying the DVD.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Just some figures.

 

[Brown Jenkin]

Sure, but the goal is dollar figures adjusted for inflation, not tickets sold. I think the whole point is to find the perfect ticket price in relation to seats, so that you make the most total money, not the most total seats sold. And they did that better this time.

Was there a larger increase in ticket prices this year than just inflation? I don't know so I can't say. So unless that is the case fewer tickets=fewer dollars.

And doing that actually results in higher DVD rental and sales figures, since if you price people out of seeing it in the theater (but still make more overall money from the theatrical release), then people who could not afford it but wanted to see it will often end up renting or buying the DVD.

It would seem to me that if they made more money on DVD rentals and sales then they don't need the theaters at all. Yes, I know they make money off both because people watch both. It seems to me that saying that overpricing theater tickets helps the bottom line because those people now will make it up in sales/rentals is just trying to cover for a decline in attendance by any means possible.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Was there a larger increase in ticket prices this year than just inflation? I don't know so I can't say. So unless that is the case fewer tickets=fewer dollars.

Number of tickets.

 

[Trickstergod]

It would seem to me that if they made more money on DVD rentals and sales then they don't need the theaters at all. Yes, I know they make money off both because people watch both. It seems to me that saying that overpricing theater tickets helps the bottom line because those people now will make it up in sales/rentals is just trying to cover for a decline in attendance by any means possible.

I would wager theaters still act as advertising. How well do purely DVD movies do in comparison to those with a theater release? Sure, movies in the theater also come with a heap ton of television advertising and the like, but they're also typically better date fare than sitting at home, social gatherings, and other activities that should help the word of mouth.

I'm not sure movies are really at the point that they can go straight to DVD and still do as well if not better.