Expert Professional Advice

Overheard in the office:

A male worker in his mid-twenties swivels his chair around and turns toward a female worker, early twenties, the newest employee and probably her first time working in an office.

Male: Would you go on a date with Tiger Woods?

Female: No.

Male: What if you hadn’t heard about his past – then would you go out with him?

Female: No. He seems like a boring person.

Male: Boring?

Female: Yes, him, as a person, boring.

Manager: You realize you come in here at nine o’clock in the morning and you leave at six at night, right? And he’s the one who’s boring? He has sex all over the world. He definitely knows how to have fun.

CinemaCon allows exhibitors and studios to present new developments in the theatrical business. The theme of the convention is unity and it is carried out by having what was previously known as the ShoWest convention that occurred simultaneously in two separate hotels, unified into one hotel convention.

Marketplace data:

Global box-office receipts reached an all-time high of $31.8 billion in 2010, according to the Motion Picture Association of America.

I could easily contend that the fact that gross receipts are higher globally is due to inflation, a greater quantity of theater outlets compared to twenty years ago, and more films being offered, perhaps with a greater marketing emphasis. Here’s my response to a cinema marketing email invitation:

Did you know that the Box Office is breaking records?

·         2009 was the highest grossing year in box office history and had 8 of 12 top grossing months of all time

Box office revenues are higher due to inflation (I trust that they haven’t adjusted for inflation) and perhaps premium 3-D add-ons helped and perhaps that there are a greater quantity of films being released and more distribution locations.

The top three films of 1980 represented around 410 million dollars. In today’s dollars we’d need around 1 billion to 1.2 billion dollars in revenue just to match the top three films of 1980. The top three films in 2009 had combined revenues of 1.45 billion, 2008 = 1.16 billion, 2007 = 997 million.

A year without Avatar (2009) or Batman (2008) and revenues are below 1980 just comparing the top three films. 1980 had one sequel film in the top three (Empire), while the last few years of blockbuster films have relied on a built-in and well developed audience from sequels, something earlier periods were lacking.

Concerns:

Studios have less revenue due to a decline of DVD sales. According to media-tracking firm IHS Screen Digest, U.S. sales of DVDs last year dropped 43% from the 2006 peak of $13.7 billion.