box office

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

In 2014 Box Office revenue hit its lowest point since 1995. This falling number of tickets being sold is the result of a number of reasons, one reason is the expense of going to the cinema, an average ticket cost £9 to £10, people now have more entertainment options such as games consoles which can give them a longer amount of time to experience a universe than a film can.  People have less money to spare to spend on going to see films

Another reason why ticket sales are falling is that we now have more entertainment options than previously. Another reason is that there is now less films being made and more reliance on the “tent-pole” method of film making, with big companies bringing out one or two high cost films per year whereas in past years they have made a number of lower budget films.

Cinema is now a place to go and see blockbusters and not a place where there is a lot of choice on what to watch. This is because Hollywood relies on franchises and re-makes, as they know these films will bring in fans of the series. For people who prefer to watch new, stand-alone films there is little choice.

People do not enjoy the cinema as much as they use to because of the risk of a negative experience. If people are talking or phones have been left on during a film it can ruin the whole film for people watching, because of this people prefer to wait to watch it at home or to just watch a film they already own.

The decline in star appeal is also a factor that contributes to people visiting the cinema less, actors and actresses are no longer enough to get people to come see a film as people are now more interested in characters than the person playing them, this means that even if a film has a well known person in it, it is not a guarantee that people will come to see it and people no longer want to go to the cinema just to see a specific actress or actor.

Home cinema is also a reason why less people are attending the cinema, upon its release the only way to enjoy the intended experience of avatar was at the cinema but by 2015 we were able to replicate almost all cinematic experiences from our own homes. New technology as a whole is responsible for part of the decline in ticket sales in recent years.  We know have wider options available for how we watch films, Netflix, streaming, DVD and Blu-ray.

Box office figures have risen in 2015, because of a number of popular re-boots being made; Star wars, Jurassic Park and Mad Max. The release of these popular franchises all in the same year means more people where going to the cinema than they would have to smaller films.

In my opinion box office figures will continue to rise in 2016, this is because big franchises are no longer operating in two-year cycles, instead they are bringing out new films almost every year which brings in bigger audiences and boosts ticket sales. They are able to do this now because franchises have become larger universes with a number of characters that can each be focused on in different films; an example of this would be the Star Wars franchise, with films scheduled to come out in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020. Two of which are solo films for already established characters.

Ticket sales will also be increased as international audiences are being targeted, and the Chinese box office total is up 48% since 2014 and China is predicted to become the largest cinema market by 2017.