Box Office Figures Falling - Why?

The cinema box office has seen a drastic decline in revenue in within the last 20 years; in 1998, the box office ticket sales was $1,462,967,591, whereas in 2014, it dropped to some $1,267,354,957. There are several reasons as to why people have seemingly become significantly less interested in visiting the cinema within this time.

The first reason is a deficit of variety within film's creativity. Statistically speaking, the top 10 films of 2011 consisted of 0 original films; they were all either adaptations of comics or novels, or direct sequels from other films. For example, the highest grossing film of 2011 was Harry Potter 8, unsurprisingly, and yet this was a part of a franchise. Studios are relying more heavily on what is known as 'tent pole films'; these are films that have a higher chance of grossing the most money due to notoriety or other factors. Even a decade earlier, in 2001, there were only 2 original films within the top 10 highest grossing films, one of which being quite close to the bottom of the list. Franchises have always posed a threat to the originality asset of film making, and this is because they are the safest bet for a studio. Disney, for example, are creating a Frozen sequel within the next few years because they have acknowledged how much the original film boomed in popularity, and thus made money. The sequel, therefore, will be expected to make an almost equal amount of money.

Franchises sell to an audience because;
- Audiences appreciate the concept of familiarity.
- Pre-existing universes allow for a broader canon.
- Characters have become vastly more important.
- There is little choice in regards to what films to watch.

This uprise of tent pole filmmaking, however, has treated the audience as passive, which 2014 completely disproves. People stopped visiting the cinema as much as the variation was greatly limited.

Another reason that explains the rapid decline in cinema popularity is the choice of other mediums. Television shows, such as Game of Thrones, offer hours upon hours of entertainment, whereas films, such as The Hobbit, only offer 2-3 hours of entertainment. It is therefore likely that the audience will take to the television show more than they would to the film as there is more on offer, and often for a lower price. Videogames are also another medium that are constantly increasing in popularity, as they actually allow the user to interact with the worlds created and they offer a level of immersion that films cannot.

Additionally, there are other mediums on which audiences can consume a film. The appearance of platforms such as Netflix make the cinema seem less appealing, and offer a broader range of films for a greater price. Audiences are less likely to rush to see a film upon release at the cinema, unless the film includes a character or universe they are heavily involved with (as seen with films such as Star Wars: The Force Awakens), as they will often wait for the film's release on Netflix on which they can watch the film for a cheaper price. This does bring into question, however, the value of the 'cinematic experience', which used to be valued greatly as it was unique, but I would argue that it is increasingly losing it's gimmick. This is likely also due to the boom of price of cinema tickets. For example, in 2001, upon the release of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, to see the film in the cinema would cost £3 per ticket. However, the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens saw a very different cost, of roughly £9. This drastic increase in price can often be daunting to an audience, and they may have a tendency to avoid using the cinema due to this.

The cinema itself also does not guarantee a good experience. Given that the cinema is a platform for several people to enjoy one film at one time, the behaviour of the other people in the room can scarcely be controlled. This means that there are other variables to take into account in terms of the enjoyment of the cinematic experience, and people may stop wishing to experience this with other people who have the potential to disrupt the film. (A visit to the cinema is more of a social occasion, and so people may have a tendency to make comments on the film, or start conversation.) On that note, there are alternatives as to what people do in terms of a social event.

There is also another, and possibly most important, reason for the decline in popularity for cinema. The rise of the online world has introduced a digerati of online content creators on sites like YouTube, known as YouTubers. These content creators often create short films or other forms of entertainment for free and earn money through advertisement and sponsorship, known as monetization. This new form of medium has opened a broad range of opportunity for creators and audiences alike, through crowd funding. Sites like Kickstarter allow these online producers to promote a film and ask for donations to put towards the budget of a film, a popular example being a short film called Kung Fury, which became so popular that David Hasselhoff starred in it.

That being said, 2015 seemed to be a 'freak year' in terms of box office sales - it broke the record of highest gross in box office since 1995. There are several factors that contribute towards this.

The first of which is that the year mainly consisted of franchise films. In 2015, as previously mentioned, no original film made it into the top 10 highest grossing films. Disney boomed with the release of Inside Out, which then went on to selling merchandise and the likes. The largest franchise addition by a stretch, however, would be Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens boomed at the box office, naturally, and served as the highest grossing film of 2015. This is because of several reasons. I would argue that the main reason for this hugely successful gross would be down to the aforementioned idea that franchise serves of high importance within film consumers. Franchises offer an in depth insight into a different universe, and allow audiences to explore elongated character arcs (bearing in mind that star power has lost its value almost completely, and has been replaced by largely character based films.) The Force Awakens was the return of a classic - film fan or not, it is safe to say that most, if not all, people in the Western world will have heard of Star Wars at least once in their life. It quite literally revolutionized the way in which sci-fi stories were told, produced and sold to an audience - even now, 30-40 years on from the original films, the canon is still being expanded on, and original merchandise is still being sold.

As it stands currently, Star Wars: The Force Awakens is the second highest grossing film in the history of cinema, behind Avatar. The difference between these films is the fact that Avatar sold due to its marketing, Star Wars sold because of its preconceived expectations. Although marketing played a huge factor in the success of The Force Awakens (an acclaimed 'hype' had to be built somehow), the film sold mainly because of how prominent the original franchise was - children nearly half a century later are still playing with lightsabers and imitating the main antagonist's voice.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens wasn't the only classical return of the year, however. Jurassic World made its mark mid-way through 2015, with many of its assets paying homage to the original Spielberg films, which, although didn't sell as much as The Force Awakens (not as profound in the industry), did still succeed in the box office. The Force Awakens acts as a prime example as to how audiences accept franchises on and can continue their involvement in the canon, hence why there are several more Star Wars films to come. In fact, the next addition is expected to gross more than The Force Awakens. To understand why, we must first explore globalization in film and international audiences.

2015 was a revolutionary year in terms of appealing to international audiences. China became a large part of the demographic for US box office releases, being the most populous country therefore having a larger audience to aim for. China made huge hauls in terms of box office figures, and so films are now equipping themselves to suit Asian audiences. For example, the next Star Wars film will star Donnie Yen, an acclaimed Chinese actor renown for being the most profound in the industry. It is, therefore, assumed that his presence within the film will appeal to said Asian audiences, thus raising the box office figures. Star Wars was also marketed heavily in Asian countries, though the marketing was adapted to fit the demographic, for example the acute racism towards black people meant that John Boyega, a lead actor in the film, scarcely appeared on posters. This was an attempt to sell to more people without having prejudice become a factor in people avoiding the film.

International audiences wasn't the only reason 2015 was such an anomaly - the second factor contributed equally. Studios relied on films known as 'tent-poles'; these are films that are effectively guaranteed to make copious amounts of money because they are based off of well-known characters, or already have a media presence. A prime example of this would be The Avengers: Age Of Ultron. Given the mass success of the first Avengers film, Marvel were almost promised a large success on their sequel. (This was also supported given the recent boom in popularity of superhero films.) Tent-pole films act as a safety net for studios - if one film fails, there will always be a tent-pole in place to regain any profit lost and sell to an audience. Of course, marketing still plays an important aspect of the selling of tent-pole films, for example Avengers: Age Of Ultron used the social media to share clips of the film, acting as 'teasers' for potential audiences.

Given that there are several tent-pole films waiting to be released in 2016, several of which being comic-book based, I believe that 2016 will also break box office records. I also believe, however, that in years to come, audiences will not act passively towards franchises, and will stop paying to watch sequels. The cinema offers a unique experience that, at this moment in time, cannot be recreated equally anywhere else. For that reason, I believe that cinema will never become an extinct concept, but I do believe the numbers will keep dropping if studios keep relying on franchise.