Box Office Figures

I think that box office figures are falling for many different reasons. People are finding it easier and more efficient to just stay at home and watch a movie as cinematic experiences can be replicated elsewhere. Also in the cinema there is no certainty of positive experiences due to expectations being met. Films are becoming a lot more definitive and generic as their is a huge increase in franchise. Franchise are now becoming a universe, there's as greater focus in expensive franchises and less 'risky' films are being produced. This is because producers know that their is a definite audience with franchise, however from 1998 to 2014 it was clear that stand alone films were a lot more popular, as producers offered more variety from Saving Private Ryan to Dr. Dolittle, making 1,462,967,591 ticket sales in 1998. Star power contributes to this a lot as maybe audiences seeing the same actor over again playing the same role just gets predictable. Also audiences are starting to see star failures as actors are playing unfamiliar roles that the audience are not used to seeing. For example Johnny Depp played a Sci-Fi role in the 2014 movie Transcendence. This will contribute to a decrease in box office figures as audiences don't want to see film stars playing unfamiliar roles. Franchise rely on, repetitive viewing and meeting expectation over a two year cycle. In 2014 roughly 1.26 billion consumers purchased cinema tickets, this is the lowest it has been since 1995. These figures represent that their was a 6% drop in ticket sales from 2013.

There is a greater focus on social media as their are a lot of alternatives to going the cinema such as, video games, music, or dancing. This means more time is spent playing video games or surfing the net than going to see the latest movie in the cinema. There is no excitement to make viewers want to go spend money on an over-priced ticket immediately after a film is released. Piracy has become a popular way of viewing the latest movies even before they are released on cinemas now. With subscriptions to TV and digital distribution such as xbox live there's no need to leave your house to go to the cinema. Piracy prevents potential profit for producers however it is beneficial. Audiences can stream some of the film to see if they like it before they go and buy it, therefore it can help producers and also benefit audiences as they get to test the film out, so they don't waste money. However if they like the film, audiences can go buy it therefore benefiting the producers.

2015 is known as a freak year, this is because it did so well with box office. All the big movies and franchise were released during this year, leading to a huge increase in box office sales. Star wars had a massive impact as well as the Marvel universe by towering the box office figures as soon as they were released.