Box Office Figures Falling

Box office figures are falling. Why do you think this is and do you think it will continue?

In 2014 the US box office was at its lowest point since 1955, with ticket sales falling by 0.08 Billion from the year before (1.34 Billion 2013-1.26 Billion 2014). This amounts to a monumental 6% decrease; there were a variety of reasons to attempt to explain this. The general consensus was that “a number of summer tent poles underperformed compared to previous instalments” an example of this being The Amazing Spiderman 2 (TAS2) that underperformed only earning 709 Million dollars compared to its predecessor The Amazing Spiderman that earned 757.9 Million dollars at the box office. This was important as (TAS2) was considered to be a ‘tent pole’ film (a tent pole is a program or movie that supports the financial performance of a movie studio or television network.) due to this failure this meant the closing of the franchise causing another reboot to come underdevelopment. Tent pole movies are becoming more and more common, this occurs in the format of franchises and sequels. Due to franchises mass advertising this meant that independent cinema falls as many audience members may not know of its existence.

            Many also say that the declining appeal of stars is also to blame for the overall decline of ticket sales. A major example of this being Transcendence a movie that was marketed based of off the premise that Johnny Depp (The protagonist) having a mass appeals and star power. The movie had a budget of 100 million dollars and barley surpassed this with a box office result of 103 million dollars. The last time Depp was in a stand-alone movie was The Lone Ranger with a budget of 225 million dollars however earning a strong 260.5 million. Another example of this being Edge Of Tomorrow a movie being advertised for having Tom Cruise as the lead however as you can see below (FIGURE A) his domestic box office is in gradual decline.

Another reason told to explain the decline of cinema attendance is the advancements in technology going hand in hand with the recession, this is said as the global recession meant people never had much disposable income-leading to the money they did have being spend on the essentials (such as bills or groceries) rather than luxuries (attending the local cinema). Meanwhile Netflix (a online streaming site) began its first big original series House of Cards, this became extremely popular highlighting the other shows and movies present on Netflix. Due to this many families would rather spend $7.99 on a monthly subscription to unlimited streaming rather than the average price of a family of four to attend the cinema- $76 due to the steady increase in ticket prices.

Do you think it will continue?