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

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

From 1997 to 2014 cinema attendance figures have fallen with 2014 being the lowest year. This was down to many summer tent-pole films underperforming. An example is Transcendence starring Johnny Depp which was a star driven film, this was down to the film not being simple enough for audiences as well as Johnny Depp not fitting the role. The big franchises used to have a two year schedule which meant every other year had big films and 2014 was one these gap years where there were no major films such as Avengers Age of Ultron (2015).

This is down to many reasons, one of the major reasons is advances in technology making cinemas less relevant. You can now get the cinema experience at home for free, or you can go to the cinema for about £11. There are many other platforms you can experience films on these days, e.g. laptops, phones and illegally online. Another reason why fewer people are attending cinemas is that the cinematic experience can be ruined by other people in the cinemas and if you were at home this may not happen. This happened in the 1950s when TV was introduced and people visited cinemas less, as it was an alternative form of entertainment.

One of the biggest threats to cinemas is piracy of blockbuster films and there is nothing they can do combat it. The MPAA have estimated that piracy cost US film industry $20 billion each year.  This has been disputed and is actually around $446 million. This does not take money directly from the studios but it stops them making money and prevents a potential profit. This may be a reason why box office figures are falling as there are more people illegally viewing these films instead of going to the cinema.

There are an abundance of games out there and so there is a lot of choice and people are choosing games over films. You can choose to either play the games or watch people play games using sites like YouTube and Twitch (which is the 4^th biggest contributor of internet traffic). If you play the games you take part in the story and have control but if you watch a film you have no control. Now there is a service called YouTube Red where you can pay $9.99 to have access to exclusive content and skip adverts. YouTube have invested in young filmmakers to go to university to learn to become a producer/director. An example of a film that came from YouTube is Pixels which was a YouTube video that was turned into a blockbuster film starring Adam Sandler.

There are now many series to watch that have over 40 hours worth of story, e.g. Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad, Orange is the New Black, Supernatural. These are perfect for binge watching and cheaper than going to cinema as the membership is quite cheap.

Another reason is the oversaturation of the market, in 2014 alone there were 9 franchise films and the tenth was a standalone film. In 1998, there was a mix of films. The oversaturation of the market is down to the companies making the films think that the audience is less intelligent and all the want is the same old film. The producers are relying more on tent-pole films because they always provide money for studios and are less risky than a standalone film that makes the audience think.

In Hollywood these days there are less stars that drive us to the cinema and it’s more about the characters in the franchise films. An example of a star these days that drives us to cinemas is Leonardo DiCaprio which his film The Revenant knocked Star Wars – The Force Awakens, a franchise film off the top of the Box Office.

Overall sales are falling in every type of market because of a global recession making it harder for people to spend money.

Last year was an anomaly in the trend, 2015 was the highest grossing year making an all time high of over $38.5 billion, there are many reasons for this, there were many popular reboots of old franchises. For example, Star Wars, Jurassic World, Fast and Furious, Fantastic Four. This attracted different types of people from the hard-core fans to new viewers. One of these films, Star Wars – The Force Awakens has made over $2 billion and is still making money. There is already an established fan base, which may explain why last year was an anomaly.  There was more money spent on the big tent-pole films than standalone films last year, last year there were more franchise films.

The big studios are trying to make big tent-pole films every year and get rid of the old two year cycle. This means that the trend of 2015 may continue into the future. In 2016 there are many franchise films, e.g. Finding Dory, Batman vs Superman, Captain America: Civil War, Deadpool. As well as rebooting old franchises for example, Goosebumps, Ghostbusters, BFG, Jungle Book, 10 Cloverfield Lane. All of these films may make 2016 continue in the trend.

The big studios are pleasing more international audiences by featuring more diverse stars. For example, in the new Star Wars film the main character is one of the biggest Chinese stars and also features stars from Korea and Japan. This will lead to the big films making more money overseas, an example of this is The Expendables series, which made more money internationally than in America. A lot of films this year are starring international stars and this may continue the trend. The Chinese Box Office rose 48% in 2015, predicted to be the largest market.