ASK & DISCUSS INDEX

11 years ago - Stuart Wright

I can't find the charts but there was a website comparing Top 10 box office year on year. And in 1981 they were almost all original screenplays and no sequels. Whereas in 2011 there was maybe one original screenplay - the rest were sequels or reboots or adaptations

11 years ago - Napoleon Ryan

Here is my theory on the lack of films for adults in cinemas.

I have been told that most cinemas receive almost none of the money from the ticket sales of the major films they screen (which they generally don't produce and distribute themselves).

The big studios, who often produce the most commercial and audience-friendly film products, are able to negotiate very favourable deals with cinemas. Cinema managers are grateful to be able to host the often expensive-looking spectacle-orientated and star-driven vehicles that can help attract audiences to their screens even though they make practically no money from the ticket sales of those films. Why?

If they don't make their money with ticket sales since they don't own or have control over the most potentially lucrative film product profits, cinema theater income is reliant on sales at the concession stands. Popcorn, sweets or candy, fizzy drinks and soda are where the cinemas derive the bulk of their income. That is why the prices for any of these items are so expensive at the cinema. Also, that is probably why the stands where these items are sold are located inside the cinema beyond and separate to the place where you buy your tickets. If you are hungry or thirsty, once you have paid your money and are in the cinema complex, the only option you have is to buy the goods that the cinema is selling at whatever price they want to charge, or go without. It's the same reason why coffee is often more expensive in railway stations. As the products you want are scarce in that location and you have few options for purchasing them, the vendor can charge a higher price than people might otherwise pay when there are competing sources of coffee readily available to the customer. Back to cinemas.

A big tub of popcorn costs about 3 cents to make but, at the cinema, sells for $3.50 at least or more. My maths may be off, but that's about a 10,000% profit. Any business owner would want to maximise sales of a product that makes that kind of return on investment. However, not everyone eats popcorn equally at the cinema. Kids with their families probably eat popcorn and drink sodas or fizzy drinks as the children will ask for them as treats. Little kids will only be able to consume these goods in smaller portions though. Teenagers, with a higher metabolism and a greater disposable income than young children can purchase bigger portions of these snacks with little worry for their waistlines (particularly boys). Also, if they are at the cinema with their friends rather than their parents, there is no adult scrutiny to prevent them from bingeing on these items. It makes sense then for cinema owners to acquire and show films targeted at the demographics most likely to buy large quantities of popcorn and other snacks - families and teenage boys/young adult males. Teenage boys under the legal age for drinking also have fewer places where they can entertain themselves without adult supervision but with parental approval. The local cinema is one of the key arenas for this age group.

Adults who might come to see films for adults at the cinema (amongst a plethora of distractions competing for their money and limited leisure time), by and large, have no longer the metabolism or the inclination to consume popcorn and other snacks at the same rate and in the same quantities as a teenager. Since adults are less likely to buy the products that underpin cinema theater income, there is very little incentive for a cinema owner to target this sector of the market by programming films that would hopefully appeal to this demographic. As a result, fewer films for adults are screened. Eventually, adults (without kids) start coming less and less to the cinema because there is no content for them and films for adults are increasingly marginalised, not made and/or programmed in cinemas as the film industry perceives there to be no market for them at the cinema box office.

Effectively then, popcorn sales drive cinema and potentially define the limits of success for everyone working in the industry.

If cinemas produced and owned their own films and were therefore able to profit directly from the ticket sales of these films, they might have at chance at breaking the current cycle by rediscovering the underserved adult market and programming films for them. The profits from these movies might then support a new wave of more adventurous filmmaking and cinema screenings.

Perhaps if Britain had a national chain of cinemas that might help, although there could be institutional problems if it were run too directly by a future government, plus an adult audience might still not come to see the films programmed specifically for them.

11 years ago - Eric Colvin

Mark Harris's quote is stark and feels intuitive - but I'd love to see a full chart for, say, the top 100 movies, with a trend going back fifteen years.

A sample size of ten would not impress a statistician: random variation could easily produce a difference of five; was the eleventh highest grosser an original indie?; did he select two years which happened to fit the story?, etc. There are lies, damned lies...

11 years ago - Paddy Robinson-Griffin

I don't think we can blame the recession for this, a $200M movie could be 200 $1M movies. I think it's more to do with 1) fashion and 2) a pissing contest - the current vogue is to spend as much as you can on as low a common denominator as possible, and you don't get much lower than kids films.

Next year expect to see Bod vs Pob, or The Magic Roundabout Evolutions.

But if people will pay to see Transformers (and goodness knows why, I just can't care for any of the characters, even the human ones), you'd be mass not to make it. So they make the same film 50 times over, punters pony up their money, and so it goes on. I'd so much rather see what two hundred young hungry teams could do with a million bucks and distribution though - of those, 180 will be bollocks, 10 poor, and 5 good and 5 awesome films. But at least you have 5 awesome films.

11 years ago - Jan Caston

UK television has been seeing a return to productions which appeal to an older age group for some time now. If this trickle feed continues, it may be that it will finally infiltrate the psychi of those who put money behind major films.

I certainly hope so because I have a project about very old characters - as they are, real people with real lives which are of real use, not as Hollywood would wish them to be, i.e. ancient kids who slip back into stupidity - which has attracted a huge amount of interest and is even BAFTA Rocliffe nominated.

The seed change could be coming - but will it come soon enough?

11 years ago - Stuart Wright

Also it feels like the world is being shaped by an always on generation - a crude by product of the internet is that people who concentrate and consider stuff are left standing as tidbits and headlines are seeming enough for most blaggers... it really is Farenhuit 451 without actually having to ban books. Youth is an aspiration rather than a simple fact... see the recent news report claiming 29 is the optimum age to be written by a 29 in The Guardian yesterday ... Rant over ;)

11 years ago - Dan Selakovich

Yeah, I have to agree with Paddy on this one (as usual!). Studios have always been risk adverse, but now as budgets have exploded, even more so. Another thing that has changed is that Hollywood no longer invests in smaller films. They might distribute them, but forget getting any money at all for a grown up movie from them.

I once had the opportunity to talk with Jack Lemmon. In one of his many great stories was this: he asked the head of a studio, "If you could make a film and be guaranteed a million dollar profit, why wouldn't you make it?" (Keep in mind that he asked this when a million dollars was a huge amount!) The answer: "It's not enough." Thanks to "Jaws" the studios chase that blockbuster come hell or high water.

11 years ago - Dan Selakovich

Absolutely, Ellin. American action films do extremely well overseas. Studios are bending over backwards to meet China's story limitations to try and break into that huge market.

11 years ago - Alève Mine

The one thing we love to do most with father is go to the movies. So I can tell that he's more interested in popcorn than I am. :)

They only have sugar or salt popcorn. And other unhealthy things. They really could offer other stuff, why not, appealing to all sorts of people. Organic red wine or goat milk ice cream?

That aside, there seems to be a growing general interest in owning whole chains of businesses as opposed to just playing one part in them. For income, I suppose, reach, probably, and for data.

11 years ago - Gerry Byron

Apart from the 3 months leading up to the Oscars, don't expect any. For the other 9 months, dig into your box sets of The Sopranos, The Wire, Six Feet Under, Breaking Bad, Mad Men etc. - That's were all the top writers have gone. (P.S. Stop after series 2 of Homeland ... I did warn you...)

11 years ago - Michael Lebor

I think it reflects the risk aversion of the industry, wondering whether there will be enough money to keep making movies next year or the year after. The economy is still fragile so sure bets like sequels and remakes are more likely to get the green light... perhaps?

11 years ago - Stuart Wright

Once the size of budget became news itself you had critics and media commentators associating the cost of the film the value of the film... and sadly all the turkeys in the world don't seem to be lessening this perception of a movie.

11 years ago - Ellin Stein

It's partially about globalization. More than 50% of revenues on studio films now come from "international" (i.e. not the U.S.) and most of that is Asia as opposed to Europe. So subtle comedies or dramas that depend on knowledge of cultural references and norms do not travel well. Action (violence), sex, thrills, and gasp-inducing visual effects do. Stories need to be simple and universal rather than multi-layered and complex. Also, a significant portion of revenue is derived from ancillaries - T-shirts, action figures, X-box game, etc. As for Napoleon's observations, it's not for nothing that multiplex blockbusters are known in the industry as "Popcorn Movies" while arthouse films for mature audiences are known as "Cappucino Movies".