Hollywood, Once Again, Sets A Record At The Box Office
from the well,-look-at-that dept
Considering how much time the MPAA has spent arguing that the sky is falling, that jobs are disappearing and the movie industry is collapsing, you'd have to imagine that its PR people had to think long and hard about how they "spin" the news that global box-office receipts set yet another new record in 2011, as they rose by 3%. It really is quite the PR challenge, and the MPAA pulls it off with a bizarre press release patting itself on the back, and then insisting that piracy is right now... just about... this close... no, really... finally.... maybe... having an impact. How's this for awkward:"Innovation and technology continue to be a driving force for our business," Dodd said. "People are driven to fill theater seats by the promise of great films and a great, technologically enhanced movie going experience. But online content theft continues to threaten the economic success of our industry -- an industry that employs millions of Americans and brings money into the U.S. economy from around the world. We should protect that success, not undermine it by stealing products and cutting the revenue it puts into the U.S. economy."Yup. Love the spin, overpaid MPAA PR people: "protect that success"? Good stuff. "We're dying so bad that we're setting tremendous new records..."
Also, pretty much anywhere around the globe that you look, box office revenue is up. Over the last five years, box-office revenue from Europe, the Middle East and Africa is up a whopping 24%. Asia Pacific? Up 38%. Latin America? Up an astounding 86%.
Buried deep within the MPAA's report is the basic admission that the reason for the drop in 2011 certainly wasn't "piracy," but rather the lack of Avatar:
3D box office was down $400 million in 2011 compared to 2010, which contained Avatar’s record-breaking 3D box office performance, while 2D box office was consistent with 2010.Some keep trying to make a big deal out of the fact that the actual number of tickets sold has shown a steady decline, but that's silly. No business is focused on maximizing tickets sold. They focus on maximizing revenue. If the goal was to maximize tickets sold, that's easy, just lower the price to a penny and watch the number of tickets sold go sky high. Instead, as the report shows, ticket prices have continued to rise, though it rose by the smallest amount (1%) in 2011 that it has since 2002. That suggests, at least, that earlier in the decade they may have been underpricing a bit, but may have found something of a ceiling, for the time being.
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Filed Under: box office, chris dodd, data, global, movies
Companies: mpaa
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Wha...MPAA cries "Piracy! Piracy!" when their numbers are up?
Wake me up when they say something worthwhile and meaningful.
*Goes back to sleep*
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Question:
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Quick, sweep it under the rug!
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Next in the news: "After trying to push SOPA through the Congress, MPAA and RIAA ramp up the lobby efforts but this time they'll call the bill SOAP to try and trick people it's some sort of environment friendly bill."
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Even more points if you can drag in healthcare or abortion...
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Ahhh!
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I am so sick of spin
There has been no innovation and technology in the movie industry, except for 3D films, in many years. The technology is coming from the tech sector. This is Dodd's way of trying to imply that the industry is up on technology and using it as part of their business when in fact they are fighting technology with ever ounce of energy they have. It is the technology sector dragging them into the future, not them riding the technology wave.
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Re: I am so sick of spin
Ok, so this is the book industry and not the movie industry, but it is representative of what the tech sector is doing for the IP sector, not the other way around.
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Re: I am so sick of spin
"Innovation and technology continue to be a driving force for our business," Dodd said.
Meaning: "Innovation and technology continue to drive us to force horrible legislation on the people to protect our seriously outdated business models and to hide in terror because we have absolutely no idea how to adapt and improve."
People are driven to fill theater seats by the promise of great films and
...once in a blue moon we actually deliver on that promise.
But online content theft continues to...
be a convenient excuse to cover our ineptitude.
an industry that employs millions of Americans and brings money into the U.S. economy
despite our utter incompetence.
not undermine it by stealing products
We and our high-priced lawyers totally understand the difference between theft and infringement, but if we confuse enough people, we think it is okay to pretend they are the same.
3D box office was down $400 million in 2011 compared to 2010, which contained Avatar�s record-breaking 3D box office performance
We got lucky in 2010, and our failure in 2011 must not go unpunished. Obviously we can't punish our own, so that only leaves the customers (aka lousy thieves!)
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But...but..entitled generation, needs to learn the value, won't pay for free, ruined by internet, but... pirates!
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Why people stop going to a theater.
If you go to a theater and get 3D glasses that look like that I don't see many people going there for much longer.
America is the home of the disgusting theaters.
Not even in Europe I saw anything like that, in Asia everything you get comes wrapped in plastic and are clean, even in Latin America you don' t see that kind of thing except in the very very poor places.
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Re: Why people stop going to a theater.
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Re: Why people stop going to a theater.
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Re: Why people stop going to a theater.
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I get it
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Re: I get it
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The counter-argument is simple
"Bob, last year was awful, I lost $5 million!"
"Joe, that's horrible! What happened?"
"I only made $20 million, when I made $25 million the year before"
Making money isn't enough. Making more money than the year before isn't enough. There needs to be a higher % growth every year than the year before, growing into infinity to keep everyone happy.
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Re: The counter-argument is simple
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But but profits!
Hey wait a minute...*turns* guys why don't we just not spend money on the legislation if the actual piracy doesn't really seem to be, i mean the pirates seem to be our biggest paying demogr*hammer to the head*.....
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Re: But but profits!
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Follow baseball? They won't let up on tickets sold (despite the ludicrous number-fudging being an open secret - cue Marlins last year, often claiming 15k attendance when clearly there might have been 2k in the seats).
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Could it be?
Quick, save the link to this article so we can rub this in the face of piracy trolls next time they infest us again with their complaints of "Wah! You never back up your claims!"
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Re: Could it be?
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ftfy Dodd
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"Buried deep within the MPAA's report is the basic admission that the reason for the drop in 2011 certainly wasn't "piracy," but rather the lack of Avatar:"
Piracy in 2011 wasn't significantly HIGHER or lower than 2010. That doesn't mean piracy isn't involved in the decline in ticket sales for the last 7 years or so. It's a nice try to defect, but it would only be a valid argument if piracy was suddenly a new idea in 2011 (and it sure wasn't!).
I do like the report supports my feeling about the "best fans":
"Domestic movie ticket sales continue to be fueled by repeated visits by frequent moviegoers, those who go to the movies once a month or more. Frequent moviegoers represent only 10% of the population but purchased half of all tickets sold in 2011."
For me, it's the reason why piracy has such a significant effect on sales of movies and music in the long run, because each time someone decides NOT to buy a movie ticket, and decides to pirate instead, they can be lost... and since the biggest movie fans count for such a high percentage of ticket sales, losing even a few points there has a big ripple effect.
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Piracy: Constant
Revenue: Up (and increasing)
Economic atmosphere: Deep economical crisis*
And you are complaining?
Honest question: Are you stupid?
* You might not notice it from the top of your corporate castle, but here in Europe at least, some of us are struggling. And by struggling, I mean, you can't get a job even if you wanted one, because there aren't any.
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Secondly, the number of tickets sold most certainly is important; if ticket prices must be raised simply to equal the previous year's revenue, then the fact that fewer people are buying tickets adversely affects those that are. They pay more because other people don't want to pay at all. Hardly fair.
The above blog post is nothing but an intellectually dishonest and transparently false spin on what the numbers say and what the MPAA says. It's what everyone has learned to expect from this pro-piracy, pro-Google, anti-IP blog.
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This must be why internet piracy is so, so much higher outside the US than in, including in Europe. Seriously. Piracy makes up roughly double the proportion of internet traffic there as in the US.
"Stronger piracy enforcement"... massively higher piracy rate... higher movie revenue... Why, it's enough to make a completely clueless shill's head explode!
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"Revenue was actually down in the US."
Yes it was. Slightly. As mentioned in the article. Which even the report itself admits likely has sod all to do with piracy.
Your logical failure is the type that happens when you not only obsess with a single market, but over a single factor in that market. Those who deal with reality don't have a problem with the above figures, and the information on how to "fix" US theatrical revenue without legal sanctions is pretty clear.
"The US currently lags Europe in terms of piracy enforcement"
Bullshit, unless you think that France is Europe. Which, given the knowledge and logic you display elsewhere, would not surprise me in the slightest.
"Secondly, the number of tickets sold most certainly is important; if ticket prices must be raised simply to equal the previous year's revenue"
If the only way you can think of returning that "lost" revenue is to raise ticket prices, then you deserve to fail. Again, the way to turn the market back your way (if you imagine it's not already) is pretty clear from both the report and the outspoken demands of customers.
"The above blog post is nothing but an intellectually dishonest and transparently false spin on what the numbers say and what the MPAA says. It's what everyone has learned to expect from this pro-piracy, pro-Google, anti-IP blog."
You know, if you want to refute the evidence above, ad hominem attacks and blatant lies really aren't the way. Learn a new dance, monkey man.
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I have no idea why douchebags like you are obsessed with trying to defend such a blatantly and intellectually dishonest person.
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Oh right, you only take into account one half of the data when drawing your conclusions. That is a pretty good way to arrive at such a horribly ignorant position, I must admit.
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When the member studios of the MPAA file for bankruptcy and can have 100% verifiable proof that it was due to piracy, then you and I can talk.
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Read the report - if it wasn't for emerging markets, dollar sales would be way down. The US and Canada dropped 4% in the last year.
"When the member studios of the MPAA file for bankruptcy and can have 100% verifiable proof that it was due to piracy, then you and I can talk."
Ahh, so when you get a cut, you wait until you die from it before you go see a doctor? Nice!
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and
4%
Your definition of "way down" and mine differ significantly. Especially during an economic recession. If that second number was 40% I might agree with you.
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You mean that kind of mocking and ridicule?
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Considering that ticket sales have been sliding for many years, this is just another hit on top of many.
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The industry makes BILLIONS (with a B)? Obviously piracy can't be that damaging.
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The 4% downturn in the US, combined with the continued drop in ticket sales, is a solid indication of where things are going. Mike tries to hide this by pushing forward the "world" view, not taking the time to explain that growth in China is off the charts (35% in a year alone), as that market goes from almost nothing to full size is a short period of time. It's the old cherry picking of numbers routine. For this, Mike is a real talent.
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I love the way you reach deep into your colon to get your ideas and then assert them as though they were truth despite the mountains of evidence against you - in the very article you're responding, no less! But, this act is tiresome. I assume it's an act because nobody can be this stupid and type as coherently as you do at the same time.
"The 4% downturn in the US, combined with the continued drop in ticket sales, is a solid indication of where things are going.|"
Toward home media, streaming and portable media? A downturn in popularity of movies and toward other forms of entertainment? A public reaction against the poor quality movies that get $200 million wasted on them? A reaction against the high prices and poor experience in the theatres compared to home viewing? A lack of a high profile blockbuster like Avatar, that will be achieved this year with The Dark Knight Rises and thus push revenue even further upwards?
Oh, sorry, you too idiotic to think logically if more than one idea is presented, I apologise...
"Mike tries to hide this by pushing forward the "world" view"
Yes, because God forbid you should look at the reality of the entire market rather than a cherry picked single data point. Assholes like you would rather have the US as the only market and alienate the rest of the world, hence your utter failure to understand most of the arguments.
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Oh, and since you're obsessed with blaming piracy for everything... do you honestly think that China has no piracy? If not, how do you explain this growth in light of your accusations that piracy is responsible for the US downturn?
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Oh, and since you're obsessed with blaming piracy for everything... do you honestly think that China has no piracy? If not, how do you explain this growth in light of your accusations that piracy is responsible for the US downturn?
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That China that you guys constantly blame as piracy heaven? Yeah, that makes sense.
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Do you realize that as prices go up there are people that are priced out of your product thus resulting in fewer sales? Any shrewd business knows this and prices their wares accordingly to maximize profit. Some find its better for higher volume of sales others do better by maximizing the price while keeping the reduced sales within acceptable limits. I believe the theater industry finds it is more successful with the latter, but you can't have it both ways, especially in a recession.
"Read the report - if it wasn't for emerging markets, dollar sales would be way down. The US and Canada dropped 4% in the last year."
So they found a way to create new sales in untapped markets. Good for them. US and Canada should be expected to be down- the economy is in the toilet and people have less money right now. I see no reason to expect entertainment spending to be up in this economic environment. Finding new markets and such is exactly what the industry should be doing to offset this.
Also, the quality of the movies do matter. More so when people have to be more choosy about what they spend. Only 3D was down. No surprise since it costs more and many people see it as a gimmick.
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And then there are those like me who decided a long time ago not to buy a movie tickets because of crappy experiences in theaters. I would have to say the last time I had an enjoyable experience in a movie theater was Aliens in the 80's. (Ok, maybe not quite - I did enjoy Tomb Raiders - but only because it was a mid-week matinee and we had the theater to ourselves). I don't pirate movies either. I simply wait for them to come out on Netflix or HBO/Showtime/Skinamax. Am I a lost sale?
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Do your homework, chubby.
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You probably missed out on a few thousand dollars in POTENTIAL sales, out of the bajillions you make every year or whenever-ever.
Boo hoo.
You might have to hold out on that 50th gold-plated toilet in your 500 room mansion for about a week.
Whatever shall you do? I guess you'll just shit on cold porcelain when you're in that side of the house, you poor thing you.
HMMM maybe if you melted down some of the coin in your money bin you might have enough to get the job done, a couple coins won't hurt you. You don't need all those coins... I could help you get rid of them.
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Second, while the dollar sales are up globally, almost all of that increase is coming in China, and that mostly because new movie theaters are coming on line and it's fashionable for the moment to go to the movies.
If Mike hadn't cherry picked so much, you would see that the US and Canada dropped, and that actual ticket sales (you know, actual customer counts) continue to drop.
Don't let the facts get in the way of your slamming of me personally or the movie industry.
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Once more for those in the cheap seats who apparently cant RTFA or understand the economics of business:
NO ONE GIVES A SHIT ABOUT THE NUMBER OF TICKET SALES!!
They ONLY care about REVENUE. Get this through your thick head. NO business cares about quantity of customers over quantity of REVENUE. NONE. Anywhere.
All they would have to do is reduce ticket prices to $1 and they would have hundreds of millions of ticket sales instead of tens of millions. But they wont do that because
IT'S
NOT
ABOUT
THE
NUMBER
OF
TICKETS
SOLD.
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That's hardly fair?
Weak.
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In related news, piano makers are still complaining that they have had made less sales again this year, because of 'pirate' competition from 'illegal' electronic keyboards.
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But, yeah, they have to raise prices even higher because... something... Any perceived loss can't be due to poor quality product that's not deemed to present value for money in a downturned economy, no sir. This can't possibly be fixed by releasing better quality movies and giving the customer a better experience. The only way out is to further rip off those customers who still attend theatrical screenings...
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Piracy Schmiracy...
The same kind of "mooching" activity can be enabled by the Netflix mail based service that's been around for more than 10 years already.
You really don't need BitTorrent to stiff Valenti's successor.
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So what about someone who decides not to buy a movie ticket because he isn't interested in the movie, and doesn't download it or watch its trailer, especially considering that the MPAA has been especially nasty to its potential customers?
Oh, wait, but I know exactly how you'll respond to this statistic of individuals. You'll accuse us all of being liars and being hopelessly addicted to content we don't wish to look at.
"First off, it's not "my industry". I don't work for hollywood!"
Haven't you heard? Everybody works for Hollywood, thanks to Chris Dodd-brand mathematics.
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Once more with feeling.....
IT'S NOT BINARY!
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With the increase in world population of course their profits are going to increase and if it wasn�t for all the piracy they would be even higher.
/sarcasm
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Boo hoo hoo
The pirates...[wipes wet eyes with a hundred dollar bill]
Have taken... [Blows nose with a 500 dollar bill]
All our business [wipes ass with a thousand]
Whaaa whaaa.
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Re: Boo hoo hoo
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Maybe there's a market for printing crap Hollywood scripts and crap RIAA song lyrics on toilet paper and marketing it :)
Think of the awards we could then dream up!
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Re: Re:I heard a 200 million write off (me too)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2012/m ar/20/john-carter-lose-disney-200m
It will be 600,000,000,000 by the time the studio accountants get through with it.
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You sunk my battleship!
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The following are also movies in the works based on other board games (I wonder what the story lines will be changed into when presented to the viewing public):
Monopoly
Candy Land
Risk
Hungry Hungry Hippos
Ouija
Clue (Yep, they're remaking it. Which is ridiculous because you can't beat the original. The cast was perfect.)
There are a couple of others I believe, but those are the ones I can list off the top of my head.
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I loved Tim Curry, Martin Mull and Christopher Lloyd in them!
Will it still be a comedy or are they going to go the emo, overly-romanticized Hollywood cliche route?
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I have no idea to tell you the truth. I see it going either of two ways. They're going to try to top the original but make it hip, which will of course make it suck (because hip nowadays means either parodying something or playing it over the top in a "that's not actually funny" kind of way) or they're going to go with some Hollywood cliche (take your pick of which kind, but the one you mention wouldn't surprise me).
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Psst. STOP.. LYING.
Psst. YOU KNOW... THE SUBSIDIARIES... DID JUST FINE.
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They go hand in hand, really. There were bad reviews, the trailers were terrible (making the film look like a rip-off of Avatar) and the word-of-mouth was similarly awful. Add to that a general lack of knowledge about the character in the general public, and the seeds for failure were pretty well sown.
Despite all of that, the film is still #3 at the US box office (according to the weekly stats at boxofficemojo.com) and has grossed $183 million worldwide. At a rough estimate, it will still gross around $250 million internationally by the end of its theatrical run. If the film had cost $150 million to produce, it would at least have broken even with this figure, depending on how much they blew on advertising, and would be into profit (by non-Hollywood accounting standards at least) with DVD and other sales. But, they spent $250 million, so instead of being considered a moderate success it's now a monumental failure.
The question for Disney is why they spent that amount of money. But, to try and pretend that a movie HAS to cost that much is rather dishonest. Sometimes, piracy has nothing to do with any losses. If you overspend on acquiring a poor quality product to sell, you risk losing money on that product. That's as true for Hollywood as it is for your local grocery.
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Funee
Now the actual producers and creators and movie theater folks can finally stand to make a bit more money. These *iaa segments that stand on the shoulders of creators and assume distribution are done. When they create they release and people go see cool new stuff, simple. The days of milking the controlled flow of what has already been released are passing rapidly. Cool.
create, release, make some dough, post a file, sell it and re-fuckin-peat! money money monay
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Not the whole picture...
Third, there is some failure to see the forest for the trees here: the major media conglomerates that own the movie studios are doing better than ever, certain divisions may have declined but big media is not hurting overall.
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box office is only piece of pie
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Re: box office is only piece of pie
Several economic studies, mixed results
Cannot explain most of the decline
Worst decline is sales
Relatively successful MPAA anti-piracy effort
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I love how this document says that the MPAA's anti-piracy effort has been successful in cannibalizing their sales...
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