Movie attendance is up, so talk of the death of cinemas is premature. That said, I wonder if theatre owners will have to re-invest in better equipment to keep up with iPads and computers.
People are still going to the movies.
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Almost all the cinemas near me in Australia have been changed to digital in the last one to two years. And they made all the projectionists redundant about 6 months ago at the cinem I usually go to
No studies, but in my experience, people who like to go to concerts continue to go to concerts. A very good friend of mine is 67 and goes to more shows than most people I know. He goes to the movies a lot too, but he does tend to go to the dollar theater (saves his money for shows). He's definitely the exception rather than the rule though (he currently fronts a local barbarian metal band). Certain styles of music, of course, will get an older demographic than others. I went to see Strawbs play a few years ago, and I was the youngest person there by about 20 year (they do prog-rock). And the older concert going crowd does tend to pay higher ticket prices. I mean, teenagers aren't paying $100+ to see Celine Dion.
Don't forget sports as well - people of all ages go to all sorts of games, as opposed to watching on TV.
Actually, if you look at the MPAA report I linked previously you'll see this isn't exactly true. Box office profits, overall, are up - 30% worldwide over the past five years.
In the U.S. 2001 (I'd call that around 'the time internet piracy started') box office receipts were $8.1 billion, 2010 was $10.6 billion - again, about a 30% increase.
While profits are up, attendance is down, but certainly not way down. The same report lists 2001 U.S./Canada attendence at 1.43 billion, and 2010 at 1.34 billion - a drop of about 6% over a decade. Except that it's not a steady decline - 2009 for instance was 1.42 billion, and the number has gone up and down 4-6% from year to year.
So considering all the other things you mentioned that are now available to distract audiences from going to the movies it looks like theatrical movies are actually doing pretty damn well if you ask me.
Okay, time for business 101..... an increase in Box Office does not correlate to an increase in Profit. It's the difference between NET and GROSS. The costs of making the films has increased, as well as P&A.
Sports and concerts are so different than movies I can’t quite
figure out how knowing the age range of sports/concert attendance
has any relevance.
The audience for the Journey/Styx tour will skew older than the
audience for Foo Fighters. I recently saw Berlin/Motels (I made
music videos for both) and a good 90% of the audience were people
my age. I saw Coldplay and was one of the oldest people there.
When Van Halen plays the Garden I know there will be the 20-30
audience but don’t you think most of the audience will be over 40?
Ones favorite team does not play five games a day, seven days a
week for four to six weeks and then play those same games again in
the internet several months later - movies do.
The competing experience is not movies vs. sports/concerts. It is
(and always has been) home entertainment.
figure out how knowing the age range of sports/concert attendance
has any relevance.
The audience for the Journey/Styx tour will skew older than the
audience for Foo Fighters. I recently saw Berlin/Motels (I made
music videos for both) and a good 90% of the audience were people
my age. I saw Coldplay and was one of the oldest people there.
When Van Halen plays the Garden I know there will be the 20-30
audience but don’t you think most of the audience will be over 40?
Ones favorite team does not play five games a day, seven days a
week for four to six weeks and then play those same games again in
the internet several months later - movies do.
The competing experience is not movies vs. sports/concerts. It is
(and always has been) home entertainment.
I agree sports and concerts are very different from movies, because they're live as opposed to non-live. But they are also social events, as in, people go there to watch something with each other. And, in this respect, sports and concerts share one common element with movies.
I understand that, but it's the best indicator we have of the health of the industry considering the way studio accounting can 'lose money' on a billion dollar box office success. Why do you think profits are way down? Where are those numbers coming from?
I just did a quick check of Viacom's annual reports for 2011 and 2008. They are currently the largest of the major studios, with almost 40% of their revenues coming from filmed entertainment under the Paramount name. In both years they reported increased net revenues from filmed entertainment of 13-15% over the previous years. The interesting thing about their annual reports is they are filled with pages and pages of warnings to investors that their profits could collapse due to new technology, media piracy, etc - and yet somehow they keep managing greater than 10% annual profit growth.
I don't have the time or the interest to track down the annual reports for all the big studios over the past decade, so if you've got a better source for identifying industry profits vs. box office I'd be glad to know about it. But as far as I can tell the studios are still making a profit, and still growing profits, despite the rise in both illegal downloading and the general expansion of entertainment options.
Clearly the rise of ticket prices, especially the premium on 3D tickets, helps increase profit to compensate. Ticket prices have gone up over 400% since 1985. According to the Hollywood Reporter, UNIVERSAL is down on annual profits, Disney is nearly flat lined and Fox is only increased in the 3-5% from 2010, but those reports are in GROSS not PROFIT.
The mid-to-low end production companies are where serious attrition is taking place. Subsidiary companies, like the WEINSTEIN COMPANY, MANDALAY, LIONS GATE, etc. are taking losses. You have to look at the whole picture and not just over simplify a complex business with a single example.
This is like saying "As far as I can see all retail banks are doing well because Chase Bank made profits between 2008 and 2011...."
The mid-to-low end production companies are where serious attrition is taking place. Subsidiary companies, like the WEINSTEIN COMPANY, MANDALAY, LIONS GATE, etc. are taking losses. You have to look at the whole picture and not just over simplify a complex business with a single example.
This is like saying "As far as I can see all retail banks are doing well because Chase Bank made profits between 2008 and 2011...."
I'd like to say something meaningful, but I can't, because sonnyboo and directorik have already said it. Profits may decrease, business models may change, but cinema will never die.
"Leap Year" an online series by Hulu, will be renewed for a second season. The online network is only available in the US and other territories, but it represents the future, or at least part of it. IOW, people will watch movies online, but they will also go to the movies.
In my head I read this in the voice of Art LaFleur as Babe Ruth in Sandlot.