RAINING CASH IN HOLLYWOOD!: The stock market is down, but the movie business is up 14% over ‘08 and 23% over ‘07!
by Steve MasonHollywood is off to a staggering, record-breaking start in 2009 led by Clint Eastwood’s most successful wide opening ever, a French action import and a chubby guy on a Segway. Hot on the heels of the biggest January in history with over $1 billion in domestic sales, February has exceeded $750M in the US. The industry’s all-time best January followed by the all-time biggest February on the books puts total domestic box office for the year at almost $1.8 billion.
“Everything is working.” That’s what one studio exec told me today. “With the exception of the Jonas Brothers, it seems like almost every release is out-performing expectations.” January 2009 has gone down as the all-time 8th-best month in modern box office history. It started with excellent holiday holdovers. Six movies, technically released in 2008, did major chunks of their business after New Year’s.
2008 RELEASES WITH MORE THAN $50M IN 2009 TICKET SALES
1. Gran Torino (Warner Bros) – $132.7M
2. Slumdog Millionaire (Fox Searchlight) – $92.8M
3. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Paramount) – $72.7M
4. Marley & Me (Fox) – $69.5M
5. Bedtime Stories (Disney) – $52.75M
Then there was the surprise phenomenon of Paul Blart: Mall Cop (Sony), a low budget comedy from producer Adam Sandler and starring former King of Queens star Kevin James. The movie opened to over $30M on the weekend of January 16, and it is now closing in on $130M. The other $100M hit so far in 2009 is Taken (Fox), the Luc Besson-produced French import, which delivered excellent grosses in Europe before landing in the US. With a star turn by Liam Neeson, Taken had already delivered $11.2M in the UK, $9.4M in France and $5.5M in Spain before it went wide in the US on January 30. The picture has held up extraordinarily well with $108M domestic to-date.
The movie industry is 14% ahead of last year’s January-February take of $1.5 billion and a full 23% stronger than the first two months of 2007, which posted just over $1.35 billion. It’s fair to start speculating about the possibility that 2009 will be Hollywood’s all-time box office high water mark.
March has a definite shot at topping $800M, which would be a third straight monthly record. Watchmen (Warner Bros) looks huge starting Friday (I’ll post a prediction later in the week), Last House on the Left (Universal) appears to be a solid genre pic on Friday the thirteenth along with Disney’s excellent family offering Race to Witch Mountain. On March 20, Duplicity (Universal) starring Julia Roberts and Clive Owen has 25+ appeal and Dreamworks/Paramount is sky-high about I Love You Man. And the month rounds out with Monsters vs. Aliens from Dreamworks Animation.
Back-to-back-to-back all-time monthly records and almost $2.6 billion in the bank by March 31 would be further proof that the movie business is recession proof. In fact, the more dreary the economic news becomes, the more Americans seek refuge at movies. Instead of the annual trip to Disney World or a getaway cruise in the Bahamas, people seem to be spending their pocket change at America’s multiplexes in droves.
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26 Comments
Instead of Government-funded Free Health Care we should instead have Government-funded Free Entertainment; this way everyone can be happy shiny people using their hard earned dollars to CHOOSE the health care they personally decided they want or need.
I am positive the wealthy entertainers and studio czars are very eager to SHARE THEIR WEALTH with all of America.
FREE ENTERTAINMENT FOR EVERYONE!!!!!!
Yeah, but let's be fair:
The dearth of *anything* to see has tended to guide people into seeing the few tolerable flicks out there.
Note to "slump" as opposed to "bump" the other best picture nominees experienced.
Gran Torino, Mall Cop, and Taken are the best of what's out there.
Good for them, including financially, but let's not imagine that just because everyone's eating the macaroni and cheese that it's filet mignon.
Feature production stumbled with the writer's strike in '07-'08, and with the slowdown due to SAG's non-contract signing since last June, late 2009-early 2010 cineplex selections are going to be even more humble-looking.
Didn't Hollywood really make out during the Great Depression? They were about the only segemnt of the working population that did. That steady influx of nickles and dimes for a dose of escapism and upbeat movies by Capra, et. al., went a long way to keep Hollyweird solvent. Conspicuous consumption abounded even then, as nowhere else.
Syn: Didn't SAG just announce the close down of the Hollywood Actor's Hospital? Just wondering.
[...] like in the Great Depression people are going to the movies to forget their troubles. LINK Back-to-back-to-back all-time monthly records and almost $2.6 billion in the bank by March 31 would [...]
Very impressive growth figures. So much for the 'piracy is destroying us' hysteria.
We simply loved both "Taken" and "Gran Torino," and may see "Mall Cop." However, we wanted to see "Watchmen" and now that I've read about it, we won't. Dark, nihilistic, lefty garbage. "Slumdog" is also NOT on our list.
Lately when a movie is actually good, it's astonishing. There has been precious little to go to the theater for for years.
Based on the ticket receipts you posted, it's clear that most people who spend their hard-earned money at the movie theater want to be entertained, not lectured to. I must still be in the minority. If I want to see a movie, I'll usually wait to rent it.
http://the100mostannoyingthings.blogspot.com/
It could be short-lived. If SAG had any balls, they'd strike now, and shut this town down just as the money starts rolling in.
All the more reason to let people hang on to their personal health care money-take Big Government out of Health Care and put it in charge of the Entertainment Industry.
SAG doesn't run the Motion Picture Hospital, although many actors have retired their over the years.
While I don't doubt that escapism increases during hard times, I wonder how much of thsi record income results from increases in ticket sales. It seems to me that every year, they keep breaking records and producing "one of the highest grossing films of all time." But when ticket prices rise to $20 a ticket, and they used to be $3, $1 or less, how does that relate? Is Hollywood making more in real terms today than they used to? That would be the more interesting numbers.
My other question would be, are these profits all made by a handful of movies or is the entire industry earning more? Seems to me that there are fewer and fewer productions these days — at least in theaters.
I notice that juggernauts like "Milk" and "Frost / Nixon" are missing from this long and distingushed list.
For years now, the movie biz types have been saying, "Oh, theatrical exposition is a goner, we're doomed by the Internet. " I always thought that was wrong. Maybe it wasn't a matter of the technology but rather of people not having the time. With the recession in sway, more people have more time on their hands.
While it will never be 1948 again, the people who predicted the death of the movie industry and theatrical exposition are the types that thought we'd all be using the Internet to order pizza by now.
Likewise. If they could ban cell phones and teenagers from theaters I'd been in them much more frequently. I don't need the aggravation, and we'll rent them or more quickly buy them via pay-per-view. I works for us and the teenagers, so everybody's HAPPY!
Why is this a surprise? The Motion Picture industry has always been recession proof. Even during the depression of the 1930s, and no I was not there, the motion picture industry made money. Movies are a psychological escape from reality.
And especially now with the entertainment industry doing so well it is time for stars to help with this economy. I know from listening to so many that they want to do good and limiting their income and donating the remainder would be a wonderful way to help America at ihis time of need.
Taken was the absolute best and I am trying to set aside the time to watch gran torrino but I probably won't be able to see it until it hits DVD.
On Hollywood. It just amazes me that they still churn out movies that the public just doesn't want. I for one am thankful for this site because I can't stand dropping my cash on movies that have messages and agenda's that I don't agree with.
At least here I see a wide variety of reviews and responses that help me determine if a movie is worth watching in the theatres.
No, the Motion Picture Trust Fund, which administers the Motion Picture Hospital (which boasts precious few actors as patients) on behalf of everyone contributing to the Health & Pension Funds, announced its closure.
And if they had any brains, they'd sign a contract now before they're broken as a guild and locked out permanently.
Of course, these numbers are fairly meaningless, because they're not adjusted for inflation (in actuality, box office attendence — in terms of percentage of population — has been flat for decades); far more "real" money was made during the days when ticket prices were negligible. And second, those are only ticket sales numbers — not what the studios acutally make (which, when you factor in the ridiculous budgets of most films, isn't much until you factor in foreign sales and ancillary profits — and even then, at least 8 our of 10 films lose money for their studios). But then what would you expect from Steve Macionsky? He's a theatre owner, for chrissakes.
Wow. Somebody knows my real name. Cool!
[...] January in history with over $1 billion in domestic sales, February has exceeded $750M in the US RAINING CASH IN HOLLYWOOD!: The stock market is down, but the movie business is up 14% over ‘08 an… – bighollywood.breitbart.com 03/03/2009 Hollywood is off to a staggering, record-breaking start in [...]
Well, given how Slumdog Millionaire played, don't be surprised to see more Bollywood flicks in the cineplex. And I would humbly submit that the division in SAG is due in large part to concerns that Bollywood would put a crimp in the business model if a long strike ensued.
The division in SAG has more to do with a division between those who live in Fantasyland versus those who simply want to live in a house with a paid mortgage payment and food on the table.
Bollywood is self-limiting. Like the Australian film machine, they will continue to crank out decent product from time to time.
But in a decent year (by which I mean one where there were a lot more somethings worth watching), I doubt Slumdog Millionaire would have done as well as it has this year either.
4 out of 5 dentists recommend Trident gum, but what they didn't mention was that the other choices were gravel, broken glass, nails, and snail larvae.
The past year's movie choices were of a similar nature.
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