Box Office Drops 5% in 2014: What’s Behind the Fall

Variety ^ | January 1, 2014 | Brent Lang

[C19fan]

Without Iron Man, Batman or James Bond to bolster ticket sales, the overall box office plunged 5.2% in 2014, topping out at $10.3 billion domestically. Audiences cooled to Hollywood offerings, voting with their feet as attendance dropped by an estimated 6% to 1.26 billion, the lowest figure in nearly two decades.

“This was the most flabbergasting year ever,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst with Rentrak. “The good news is that the movie business had a great year in 2013. A record breaker. The bad news was that in 2014, it was measured against that success.”

Although there were some blockbusters such as “Guardians of the Galaxy,” “The LEGO Movie” and “Maleficent,” many of the big films and sequels didn’t give off as loud of a bang. Franchises such as “The Amazing Spider-Man” and “The Hunger Games” put up impressive global numbers, but showed some signs of age when they couldn’t match the domestic grosses of previous installments.

[Some Fat Guy in L.A.]

Bad PC and agenda-driven movies, lack of “star power” in Hollywood, high prices all contribute. I can’t think of a single “star” I’d pay to see these days, and the movies they are making are mostly mindless fluff. The wife and I used to go to the movies a couple times a year, haven’t been in over a year now.

[mrsmel]

You spoke for me also, in every word. All those reasons.

[mrsmel]

I think that the last time I went to see a movie was Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid, when it was a new release. That’s a long long time!

I’m mildly interested in the upcoming Hank Williams biopic, just to see what the British Tom Huddleston does with Hank’s thick rural Alabama accent. But I’ll surely wait for it to be on Netflix to watch it. Can’t stand the idea of being captive in a theater with God knows who.

[truth_seeker]

Because they make too many make-believe children oriented movies, and not enough olde fashioned adult dramas, imo.

But then folks of all ages can see a wider variety of movies at home, using streaming video and on-demand.

My wife and I like to go to the theater, as a casual dinner & entertainment date. Our night out.

I read rotten tomatoes sometimes, but I make mistakes. The frequent conversation with my wife on the way out of the theater, is her saying “I get to pick next time.”

New Years Eve, we saw “Fury” which my wife complained was too violent for her taste, although she knew ahead of time it was a war film.