I see. Kinda shocked by those numbers. Guess I was thinking mostly of my fathers stories, who grew up in western NC and a trip to a theater was a treat.
361 million counting foreign box office
Yeah those are amazing numbers, but keep in mind the limited entertainment choices, radio and the movies. Prices to go to movies was pretty low and most people might go twice a week.
All the movie studios had their own theater chains and there was steady product coming out.
The demarcation line in movie attendance was about 1965. That marked the last year there was overwhelming family movies out, movies without gross profanity, nudity, etc.. You can see the very real dramatic decline in attendance after that.
It is sad that the average movie attendance is what it is and what does that say. It says that the film industry has forgotten it’s roots and putting out a product people want to see. Then of course there are so many other entertainment choices out there.