How many movies have you seen lately? I don't usually see movies in theaters, or rent them, or even watch T.V. for that matter. But guess how many movies I saw over break? Well, let's think...I saw, "Up In The Air," "The Young Victoria," "The Blindside," "Avatar," and "Leap Year." That is five movies! Five movies! That's more movies than I've seen in theaters in the last year!
This made me wonder about overall ticket sales and what the economy was doing to the movie-business. I had heard rumors that sales were way up because everyone wanted some form of escape from the economic crisis--a time to just enjoy themselves. I found the stats, and it's true. This year, with movies like "Up," "Avatar," and "Star Trek," movie ticket sales are "up about 13 percent compared to the same time last year," according to an NPR article titled "Movie Revenues Up, Concession Sales Down." Their explanation: the same as my thoughts. According to Mr. Jeff Bock (Box Office Analyst, Exhibitor Relations), "you know how troubling the world view may seem right now, escapism is always the highest order of the day. And the cheapest escapism is 10 bucks. And that's the price of the movies these days."
But, as the article title states, although movie revenues may be up, concession sales are down. In fact, "Bock says concession sales are down about 10 percent" from where they were this time last year.
These things aren't a form of escapism. Popcorn and candy aren't forms of escapism; you could buy those any day (and for MUCH cheaper than at the theater). No, people want to pay for the story, the chance to be someone else, somewhere else, in a fantasy world. They want to be thrilled without the pricey $100 dollar price tag of a ski ticket and rentals, or the $97 dollar price ticket of one day in Disneyland. In this economy, people are being more careful about how they spend their money, and as of now, movies still hold alot of value for people, because that is where their money is going, not the over-priced movie food.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I can see why they are more popular in the midst of a depression. They are cheap and let you avoid thinking about any of the economic problems for a little while, both because they are inexpensive (or at least relatively inexpensive compared to other sources of entertainment)and because they allow you to become drawn into another reality.
ReplyDeleteMovies have always been easy, accessible entertainment for all ages. In my hometown seeing movies was one of the few things we could do without needing a car or a lot of money.
ReplyDeleteDuring a time of great despair, the movies is something that make people forget. Forget for a couple hours out of the day the hardships that seem to be dragging you down. Many of those hardships today would be unemployment and financial problems that many Americans are going through at this point and time. Movies allow you to escape the anxiety of everyday life, something a lot of people are needing to do in order to keep their sanity. For those couple of hours you can be someone else and not have to worry about anything else. Life is too short to worry all the time, and movies give people time to stop worrying and give entertainment to those who usually don't get any fun out of a stressful week, whether it be working or trying to find a job. Movies just aren't a form of entertainment today, they are a means of survival. (E,A)
ReplyDelete