SSC Film Studies

Box office figures are falling. Why is that? Will it continue?

Box office figures are falling over the last decade for a number of reasons. Hollywood have, since 2014, focused on meeting the expectation of franchises and whats familiar but is that still what people want.

One reason box office figures are falling is because of  lack of creativity. Since 1998 to 2014, we have seen around $200 million decrease in ticket sales partly because of franchises which have no original ideas. In 1998 there were 7 original films in the top 10 whereas, in 2014 there was none suggesting a relationship between the decrease and type of film. This proves that Hollywood views its audience as stupid and therefore only produces the same type of film with no complex plot line or ideas involved. However, Hollywood is wrong and audiences are now more intelligent then before and they need longer, more complex ideas to follow to stay interested and they go out and find them for themselves which causes a rise in websites such as Kickstarter. Kickstarter allows people to post their ideas and trailers and if someone likes that idea, they can help to fund it, this system allows an audience to essentially choose what film they want to be made for them to see. It also allows for more audience involvement which we like and allows us to view more ideas that are different and can broaden are horizons. People also now create their own short films or clips and upload them to Youtube, an example of this is 'pixels'. In 2010, Patrick Jean uploaded this film and Sony has found this on Youtube and made a full length feature version in Hollywood starring Adam Sandler. This shows that studios are now understanding the rise in amateur movies and scoring the internet to find these unique ideas that people want to see. If the lack of creativity continues in Hollywood,more and more people will turn to the likes of Youtube to see what they want therefore, the fall in box office figures will continue.

Another reason for a decrease in figures is because of the price of cinema tickets. People have to now plan a cinema trip because they have to consider the cost. In 1999, a cinema ticket cost £3 but in 2015 it cost £11 and with a global recession going on, people wont pay that unless they can be guaranteed to like the film. This would support 2014 figures which were the lowest box office records since 1995 with a 6% drop in ticket sales from 2013. This is because people are now trying Netflix and other streaming companies which only cost £5 a month, a lot better value for money. These websites also feature TV shows that people are more attracted to now because of the longer complex stories that audiences look for in a show. If people don't want to watch TV shows but cant afford the cinema, they will download which is now more accessible to people thanks to the internet and technology. This helps with the decrease of ticket sales as it means that those people aren't going out to pay for the cinema and unless ticket prices fall then people won't stop illegal downloads. People also now pay for video games over cinema trips as they last for 100 hours plus meaning a better value for money and they allow a more personal experience of the universe involved.

With technology advancing, such as 3D Nintedos and 3D TV's and surround sound, people can easily replicate the 'cinema experience' elsewhere so don't feel the need to go out to the cinema anymore.  The likes of 'Avatar' when released the only way you could get the intended experience was by going to the cinema but now that can be replicated elsewhere. This leads to studios struggling to combat the alternative's to cinema and the fall in ticket sales.

However, ticket prices might not keep falling because of China whom are expected to take over North America as the highest growing territory by 2017. Hollywood studios are now realising that Asia is the place they need to sell their movies for more profit and sales. The new star wars movie Rogue One has cast one of the biggest stars in Asia, Donnie Yen which means that audiences there will be attracted to this film because of the star power.

Furthermore, 2015's global box office hit an all time high of $38.5 billion and that was done to the Marvel franchise and the latest Star Wars film. Star Wars: the force awakens and Avengers Age of Ultron both suppressed the $1 billion mark along with three other films which was the first time ever five films had done that in one year. This could be considered a one time thing however, I believe that this will carry on into 2016 because Captain America Civil War, part of the marvel franchise is being released along with another Star Wars film. The box office numbers should either remain the same or rise even more.