Teenage boys and young men lead disillusioned US movie-goers in staying away from cinemas as ticket prices rise and the quality of home entertainment soars, a new survey showed.
As Hollywood wages an epic battle against falling ticket sales, the poll revealed that one of the industry's most crucial audience groups, males aged between 13 and 24, are opting to stay home to watch DVD and play video games.
Boys and young men in the key demographic group reported watching a whopping 24 percent fewer films in the all-important summer cinema season in 2005 than they did over the same period in 2003, consumer research firm Online Testing eXchange (OTX) said.
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Hollywood haters shouldn't rejoice at this news. For starters, Hollywood is creating junk right now. The movies aren't as good as they were a mere five years ago. In a few years, a better cycle will (presumably) come around, and attendance will increase, at least a little.
More important, (i) Hollywood doesn't depend on the box office for its money and (ii) the box office is still doing well, in historical terms. In 1980, the major studios earned 53% of their revenue from the box office. In 2003, that figure had dropped to 18%. Yet even adjusted for inflation (using 2003 as the base year), the box office was far greater in 2003 than 1980 ($7.48 billion v. $4.4 billion; in 2000, the figure was only $5.87 billion). Even with the drops in 2005, the box office is doing fine, historically speaking.
And when you add video/DVD sales, the sales are great. Video/DVD earn more than double of the box office. The revenue from regular TV licensing also exceeds the box office, and the pay-TV revenues are almost half of the box office.
No, it's not time for Hollywood Haters to celebrate. The Big 6--Viacom, Fox, NBC Universal, Time Warner, Sony, and Disney--are fine and strong. They'll take notice when movies like The Passion and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe take off, but if they think they can sell a few tickets with skin shots and shots at family values, they will, knowing that any protests at the box office will be offset with gains from the DVD.
