Businesses across the country have taken a major hit during the past few months because of the declining economy. But while many industries are suffering, Hollywood is staying strong.
According to box office tracking company Media by Numbers, ticket sales are up to $1.7 billion, a 17.5 percent rise from this time last year. While some of this increase can be attributed to higher ticket costs, movie attendance has also risen about 16 percent.
While ticket prices have continued to increase, seeing a movie is still one of the cheaper entertainment options available to consumers, associate professor of communications Michael Frontani said.
“Movie theaters, despite their exorbitant price, are still a relatively cheap night out, certainly cheaper than plane fare to London or Orlando – for that matter, it is cheaper than a meal at McDonald’s,” Frontani said. “People may well feel that they can splurge on a movie once a week or so, particularly if they feel consciously or subconsciously that it is in lieu of a more expensive recreation.”
Steve DeLoach, professor of economics, said he agrees with Frontani’s assessment. According to DeLoach, people may be substituting going to the movies for other forms of entertainment they no longer want to spend money on, like going out to dinner or buying electronics.
“Usually in a bad economy people will stop spending on things that aren’t necessary, “ DeLoach said. “If they used to spend $200 on entertainment, they may try to spend $100.”
According to a recent article in the New York Times, there has been little research about this trend. But the piece does cite a 2002 study from the journal Issues in Political Economy by Elon alumna Michelle Pautz, who graduated in 2003.
In “The Decline in Average Weekly Cinema Attendance,” Pautz said in 1930 about 65 percent of the U.S. population went to the cinema each week. That number dropped to about 40 percent during the Great Depression before peaking back above 60 percent during World War II. But in the 1960s attendance dropped again to about 10 percent and has remained in that range ever since.
“According to (Pautz’s) work, a recession should lead to fewer people going to the movies,” said DeLoach, who mentored Pautz on her research. “So it is a bit odd.”
Frontani said another factor in the recent box office increase could be that people are using the movies as a means of escape from the recent economic turmoil.
“When thinking about escapism, one shouldn’t view it solely as a longing for something better, more fun, more beautiful, et cetera,” Frontani said. “It can also mean the 90 minutes that you sit in a theater watching a film, no matter the content, when you are simply taking a break from the day.”
The kinds of movies that have generated the most box office success in recent months reflect Frontani’s view. The crowd-pleasing “Marley and Me” was a holiday-season sensation with a $141 million gross, the low-budget thriller “Taken” recently crossed the $100 million line and Zack Snyder’s dark and graphic adaptation of “Watchmen” earned $55.4 million in its opening weekend.
While there are many reasons behind this box office resurgence, DeLoach said if a key factor is indeed people using cinema as a substitute for other forms of entertainment, box office revenue will likely go back down once the economy improves.
But according to DeLoach, Hollywood should be able to reap the benefits of the economic downtown for many months to come as it might be awhile before the recession takes a turn.
“If we’re lucky we’ll start seeing some positive signs by the end of the year,” DeLoach said.
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