| Movie Ticket Sales Down in 2003 |
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| Home Theater News Industry-Trade News | |
| Written by Jerry Del Colliano | |
| Friday, 09 January 2004 | |
 A
recent study released by Exhibitor Relations, movie ticket revenue in
2003 fell 0.5 percent to $9.27 billion, from $9.317 billion in 2002.
The exact number of tickets sold was lower by 4.5 percent to 1.5
billion from 1.6 billion in 2002. The study says it now costs on
average $6.03 to attend a movie, up from $5.85 in 2002, and the $10
threshold has been broken in many major markets.
The $10 barrier is a big deal for many lower income families who now opt to rent movies on DVD or watch them on satellite versus the $40 it cost to take a family of four to the local cineplex. As HDTV, 5.1 sound systems and satellite or digital cable all become more popular with mainstream consumers, and DVD releases quickly following their theatrical releases, the pressing urgency to see a feature film in the theater is becoming lower. Add in the additional stress and work load of the increasingly productive American employee and the temptation to stay home to watch a movie is stronger than ever. This is proven by the dramatic increase in DTV sales in 2003. This past September DTV (TVs capable of HDTV) increased in sales to over 550,000 total sets. That is up over 99 percent from 2002 (source: CEA). While the movie business has not seen an attack to their distribution model like the music business had with peer to peer file sharing, these lower numbers might mean a wake up call to studio execs to diversify the ways they distribute their entertainment products. With hundreds of thousands of consumers buying DTVs maybe now is a good time to adopt a better way to deliver “film quality” HDTV digitally via cable and satellite. Most cable and satellite cable boxes can not currently connect to DTVs like LCDs and plasmas digitally (DVI for example) in HDTV. This lack of connectivity is both picture quality and business model problem for Hollywood. The movie studios have been fearful of piracy of their copywritten property however lessons learned from the music industry over the past few years will tell studios that consumers want they want and will get it by any means necessary. Source: CNN.com Like this article? Bookmark and share with any of the sites below.        |
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