Fantastic cure for studio slump
p2pnet.net News:- Hooray hooray.
Even Xinhua, the Chinese state news agency, says so.
Apparently, Hollywood’s latest, the Fantastic Four, “not only clobbered the competition this weekend, but it might have helped snap Hollywood’s attendance slide,” says USA Today.
And, “The Fantastic Four" muscled ‘War of the Worlds’ out of first place at the North America box office after a one-week reign, and managed to snap Hollywood’s longest box office slump in more than two decades, according to preliminary figures released here Sunday,” says Xinhua.
Of course, any idea that Hollywood is less than absolutely rolling in cash is ridiculous and claims that it’s being hard-hit by file sharing and that its support workers are suffering terribly as a direct result are pure hogwash.
Below is USA Today’s Top 10 box office $$ list for just one week – July 8-10:
1 Fantastic Four – Weekend gross: $56,000,000
2 War of the Worlds – Weekend gross: $31,300,000
3 Batman Begins – Weekend gross: 10,200,000
4 Dark Water – Weekend gross: $10,100,000
5 Mr. and Mrs. Smith – Weekend gross: $7,00,085
6 Herbie: Fully Loaded – Weekend gross: $6,300,00
7 Bewitched – Weekend gross: $5,00,005
8 Madagascar – Weekend gross: $4,00,003
9 Rebound – Weekend gross: $2,00,009
10 Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith – Weekend gross: $2,00,600
"Comic-book movies have recently become a way to explore deep psychological issues," says Paul Dergarabedian of Exhibitor Relations.
No, really. It’s a quote in USA Today.
And, "… this helps get the monkey off Hollywood’s back," Dergarabedian says. "It gives the studios some optimism about the rest of the year."
Hooray hooray.
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See:-
Xinhua – Fantastic Four stops Hollywood’s box office slump, July 11, 2005
USA Today – ‘Fantastic Four’ does a number on slump, July 11, 2005
July 11th, 2005 at 4:18 pm
Oh I’m thrilled. (notice the sarcasm). What I really love about this is that after only one week War of the Worlds was knocked out of first place. a 52% decline. a hit movie like that should stay up longer. maybe Tom Crusies Judgemental and arrogant antics is making a dent even though it’s not a big one. if so I hope Paramont and Speilberg take notice.
Rick
July 11th, 2005 at 6:37 pm
The only slump here is that folks are getting enough of the way the media is doing business. There is a reason that the movies are getting shorter lifespans at the theater. Word is getting around, people are looking at what they go through to watch a movie, they are looking at what comes out of their wallets vs. what they got in entertainment value for that money, and in the end they are coming away unsatisfied. Typically, not everyone has the same break point, so many continue to go. However one by one they are coming up with the same answers. As they do the volume is dropping off. That means the movie won’t have the same run life as hits of earlier years. The poor promise of miles a minute thrills that come with the trailers aren’t being fullfilled. The lack of continuing audience supports that. They can get the same movie later at the rental place, pay far less for it, and enjoy the movie in their home if they gotta watch it.
Many are doing this very thing. So what if the movie isn’t just out? After a while there are always new ones showing up at the same rate as at the box office. With the current theme of making a movie out of any rerun, remade remake, or comic book, there is hardly any reason to go spend on such. The plug in formula of boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl is sort of getting thin. You can only rehash that so long before everyone gets the idea. It’s been done to death as it is.
July 11th, 2005 at 8:08 pm
Audio rather than video. I keep seeing these stories about how EMI hopes that Coldplay’s latest album will rescue them from dire financial ruin and keep the shareholders off their back. I have to say it does nothing for me. But what went wrong that a record company as big as them ended up needing their one big signing to rescue them?
Just how big is their catalogue and what would happen if they actually made it available at a reasonable price?
July 12th, 2005 at 3:41 am
What they don’t mention is that most of the profits come from DVD sales. There were several articles on p2pnet.net not too long ago that lays out the numbers. They are staggering.
Speaking of movie DUDS, did you guys see the preview of “Willy Wonke Chocolate Factory” thingy — what the hell is that ??!!!R$#$%#%#$Q@%Q What his face, the main actor just gives me the chills. Fu$#%*#$# , this movie is by far the freakiest movie this year.
July 12th, 2005 at 12:20 pm
umm, The crying game, Depp?
July 13th, 2005 at 2:23 am
Divide the sales #s by the price of a movie ticket & you’ll see that WAY less people attend these crappy movies than in, say, the 1980s. The money Return Of The Jedi made is way more impressive than Return Of The Sith, for example.
Look @ CD sales & you’ll see the same thing. Why have sales slowed? Many reasons, but 1 big one not reported by the media is that people’s earnings have stalled, plateaued, or decreased relative to the cartels’ price fixed goods. The slumps are simple economics that will accelerate dramatically as global energy prices also inetiable soar. It’s all simpple economic theory that’ll strangle the goose that laid the golden egg.
July 13th, 2005 at 2:31 am
Also, I forgot, they were WAY more profitable in the theatre run because they cost way less to make. They recouped their money from box office, now they need DVD sales to do the same.
They are using, as George W. Bush accused Gore, “Fuzzy Math.”