M O N D AY, N O V E M B E R 2 0 , 2 0 0 6Hollywood Never Lost Its AudienceThe New York Times claims that this year Hollywood has reclaimed itsaudience? Why? Because movie attendance has risen nearly 5%.They're wrong of course.</p><p> Hollywood, since the Fifties or at the verylatest the Sixties has seen a slow and steady growth in its audience.Manic reporting on whether this weekend's box office is higher or lowerthan the box office one year ago ignores the simple fact that the moviebusiness has been pretty predictable for years.</p><p> Some years are up, someyears are down.</p><p> The US box office has hovered around $8 billion to $9billion.</p><p> And there are a lot of other factors: overseas, which used to bean afterthought, has risen dramatically in the last 25 years and nowoutgrosses the US, with more money to come once we get movietheaters in China.</p><p> And of course DVD -- another afterthought -- hasexploded.</p><p> It rocked Hollywood's world when VHS grosses matched theUS box office.</p><p> Now the grosses from sales and rentals of DVDs is morethan DOUBLE the US box office.</p><p> And while DVD sales have plateaued(quite reasonably) the result is that movies are astronomically moreprofitable -- even after adjusting for inflation -- today than they were30 years ago.</p><p> It isn't even close.</p><p> A $5 billion industry is now a $50billion industry.Finally, the NYT annoys me by repeating the lie that "Cars" didn'tperform to expectations.</p><p> Whose expectations? I'm certain Pixarrealized a NASCAR-themed film probably wouldn't catch fire overseasthe way it might here.</p><p> In the US, "Cars" grossed $244 million, whichfits right alongside "The Incredibles" ($261 million), "Monsters Inc."($255 mil), "Toy Story 2" ($245 million) and well more than "A Bug'sLife" and "Toy Story." The one movie that grossed significantly more is"Finding Nemo," which grossed $339 million and is their biggest hit ofall time.</p><p> Despite what was seen as a "soft" opening, it hit theremarkable sweet spot that Pixar has hit for years.</p><p> And EXPECTINGevery Pixar release to hit $250 million (whatever the budget) is absurd."Cars" grossed less overseas than their last few, hitting "only" $458million worldwide, more than "Toy Story" and "A Bug's Life," about thesame as "Toy Story 2" (at $485 million) and less than the $525 millionfor "Monsters Inc.," the $631 million for "The Incredibles" and therecord-setting $866 million for "Finding Nemo." But again, they surelyknew this would happen and that's why "Cars" had a $70 millionNext Blog»sal1mineo@hotmail.comSEARCH BLOG FLAG BLOGFOLLOW BLOGP O P S U R F I N G .</p><p> C O MS U R F I N G T H E WAV E S O F P O P U L A R C U LT U R EB Y M I C H A E L G I LT Z & F R I E N D SPOPSURFING.COM: Hollywood Never Lost Its Audiencehttp://popsurfing.blogspot.com/2006/11/hollywood-never-lost-it... 1 of 37/28/09 2:09 PMFAV O R I T E L I N K SAmericablogFive O'Clock Lightning baseball blogDeep Pop -- Lori Lakin's BlogThe Back Page -- Jason Page on ESPNRadioCine-Blog -- George Robinson's BlogDocuments On Art & Cinema - DarylChin's BlogBrucie G's Wondrous Blog OfAdventure and Mystery -- BruceGreenspan's BlogB L O G A R C H I V E▼ 2009 (17)▼ July (3)1939 -- The Greatest Year ForMoviesSwimming Bans Those Hi-TechSuits!Best Movies Of The Year -- TheMaster List► June (3)► May (1)► March (2)► February (1)► January (7)► 2008 (86)► 2007 (781)► 2006 (2412)► 2005 (5)C O N T R I B U TO R SBiboyAaronMichael in New York POPSURFING.COM: Hollywood Never Lost Its Audiencehttp://popsurfing.blogspot.com/2006/11/hollywood-never-lost-it... 2 of 37/28/09 2:09 PMPOPSURFING.COM: Hollywood Never Lost Its Audiencehttp://popsurfing.blogspot.com/2006/11/hollywood-never-lost-it... 3 of 37/28/09 2:09 PM
