My theory is that the movies (except Sith) weren't really that good , and the hype wasn't very good either (the hype is actually what sells the first round of moviegoers). Unlike you, most people don't buy their tickets on-line. Also, how would having so many screens reduce the total box office take? It should remain the same but spread amoung more theaters. The movies cost too much now & with refreshments are a fortune. Paying for a babysitter also cuts heavily into a budget. Unless it's guarenteed to be terrific, most married couples or families can't afford to go to the movies anymore. Obviously, the prices (and mega-saleries) need to go down. LLK
posted by LLK on 07/09/2005 20:22:03
Well, the reason why more screens can cause overall box office to go down is the reduction in the halo effect, which allows the big-performing movies to drive ticket sales for other movies. The key here are the people who, failing to be able to get tickets to their preferred movie, opt for a different one and then later go back to see the original movie, thus getting two ticket sales instead of one. This doesn't represent a huge portion of the weekends box office, but any decrease in this particular behavior should be noticeable amongst the films in the lower half of the weekends top 10.
posted by Mark Kawakami on 07/10/2005 03:15:41
Also, the same is true for online ticket sales. Even if the majority (70% - 80%) of movie-goers still buy their tickets the traditional way, online ticket sales can still have a reductive effect on the lower performing films by reducing the number of spillover customers.