[Movie] Attendance Crumbles in 2010

Box Office Mojo ^ | 1/11/2011 | Brandon Gray

[Dr. Scarpetta]

2010 closed as the second highest-grossing year of all time, but it still couldn't shake an air of disappointment. Not only did 2010 end with a whimper, estimated ATTENDANCE was the LOWEST in 15 years.

The box office tally for 2010 was $10.57 billion, or around $30 million shy of 2009. That translated to an estimated attendance of 1.27 billion, which was off eight percent from 2010.

1995 was the last year to have sub-1.3 billion attendance. Since the modern attendance peak in 2002 (1.58 billion), attendance has been trending downward, but 2010 marked the second severe drop-off, following 2005.

Hollywood often failed to offer an appealing slate of movies, and there were fewer movies made available than before. In 2010, 141 movies reached nationwide release (600 locations or more), down from 158 in 2009 and the smallest number since 2001.

The top-grossing movie of 2010 was a holdover from 2009: Avatar, which made $476.9 million of its $760.5 million lifetime total in 2010.

Toy Story 3 was the second-biggest movie in 2010, drawing $415 million. Alice in Wonderland ($334.2 million), Iron Man 2 ($312.4 million) and The Twilight Saga: Eclipse ($300.5 million) rounded out the Top Five.

Animation business was up 16 percent over 2009 to $1.49 billion, while movies presented in the 3D illusion surged to $3.27 billion (an estimated $2.1 billion of which from 3D alone).

All of the major animated titles of 2010 were shown in 3D, and the industry shoved 3D down people's throats in the wake of Avatar's success, adding enough screens to the point in December when several movies had simultaneous nationwide 3D runs.

All those 3D movies contributed to the gross, but they boiled down to more money from fewer people.

[GadareneDemoniac]

My daughter, granddaughter, and I went to eat at a fancy place at Atlantic Station in midtown Atlanta. We had food left over, and the wait staff bagged it up for us. Then we went to the theater to see some forgettable movie in 3-D.

After we got there, the ushers took the food from my daughter and threw it in the trash!!!

I didn't find that out until the movie was mostly over, otherwise I would have asked for my money back. As it was, we walked out with their damn 3-D glasses in our pockets, not in their stupid “glasses return” bucket.

I'll see ‘em in hell before I'll go to that theater again.

[ballplayer]

Waiting for “Atlas Shrugged”,should be Interesting to see how that Draws

[ballplayer]

Where is this theater?

[Eye of Unk]

I have not been to a theater since just about when obama started to pretend he was being POTUS.

I used to take the family on a 100 mile round trip drive to Anchorage to see a leading opener like Harry Potter, well we have a loacl theater but its antique dated.

Since we have Bluray and a plasma widescreen we just wait for it to come out on video now. The theater novelty just doesn’t wow us anymore.

[ballplayer]

Where is this Theater?

[bcsco]

That sounds neat. We have a local theater on the level with that, but they charge standard prices.

[RayChuang88]

Think of all the things that are killing movie theaters:

1) Increasingly exorbitant ticket prices.
2) Totally exorbitant concession prices.
3) Often subpar picture and sound quality.
4) Often uncomfortable seating.
5) Audiences that talk during films and don't bother to turn off or switch to "vibrate" mode on their cellphones and pagers.
6) The price of home theater systems taking a nosedive lately--including big flat-screen TV's and Blu-ray players.
7) The movies coming out on DVD/Blu-ray about 3-4 months after theatrical debut, often in the uncut original version that the director intended for the film.
8) The availability of video streaming services from NetFlix, Apple and Amazon--in some cases in resolutions as high as 1080p.

Small wonder not only do I watch a lot of movies on my 40" flat screen, but also am watching a lot of TV shows, too. Also, if you've seen the article from Fast Company magazine I mentioned in a post earlier, the arrival of the iPad and the cheap cost of e-book readers are also starting to hurt both TV and movie viewership, too.

[bcsco]

Yeah, but the adults have the big money, and they’re opting out.

[Alberta's Child]

I think this is just the continuation of an ongoing trend that began years ago.

About ten years ago I was working for several real estate developers who were in the process of building new big shopping centers. Right around the same time, nearly every one of them revised their development plans to eliminate the multi-plex theaters from their sites. I suspect they had all been privy to something in the movie industry that led them to do this.

In my opinion, it's a combination of three things that is driving this: (1) bad movies, (2) high prices for tickets and food/beverages, and (3) dislike of dealing with ill-mannered moviegoers.

[Condor51]

*** Glad I didn't see that one. ***

You are lucky.

It's available through the Comcast's 'On Demand' feature. I clicked 'Action Movies' and that trash was in the category. Why I watched the whole thing beats me. (maybe I wanted to see how morally depraved the movie could go)

But other cable co's might have it too, so be wary.

[hopespringseternal]

The last movie I saw in the theater was Batman: The Dark Knight and I intend to make the last I ever see in a theater.

Should have known it was utter dreck when everyone was praising it so much. It's Batman, it should be a kids' movie, and they turned it into the darkest, most depressing turn-off I have ever witnessed in a theater. There were ten and twelve year old kids balling watching that movie.

On top of it is having to pick a fight with people to get them to stop kicking your chair or putting their feet up right next to your face or quit talking on their cell phone or....ad infinitum.

Investing in a modest entertainment center is an easy payback over even occasional trips to the theater.

[righttackle44]

. . . and Angelina looks shockingly anorexic.

Poor Angelina Jolie can't win with some of you guys. She was attacked mightily by some for the size of her naked backside in Wanted.

[RayChuang88]

I spent about US$1,600 on a Sony KDL-40EX500 40" LCD TV, TiVo HD XL DVR, Sony BDP-S370 Blu-ray player, and Bose CineMate II speakers. Best investment I've ever made, in my humble opinion. I get sharp video and theater-quality sound, the ability to stop the video if I need to do something else, I get to sit in my own comfortable sofa and I can make my own snacks at way cheaper prices.

Small wonder why movie theaters are suffering nowadays.

[pbear8]

DH and I loved ‘The King’s Speech’ and ‘True Grit’.

[WilliamHouston]

I can’t remember the last time I watched a movie. Maybe it was the Dark Knight or Terminator Salvation. I haven’t watched a Hollywood movie in a theater since.

[tiredoflaundry]

The King’s Speech was wonderful!

[Dr. Scarpetta]

The Roxy Theater is in Northampton, PA.

http://roxytheaternorthampton.com/

[SkyPilot]

In 1998, one of the greatest movies ever made, "Saving Private Ryan" - was snubbed by the liberal activist wack job voting academy members.

They didn't want to "glorify war", so they voted for an insipid, conceited, smug movie, "Shakespeare in Love" as Best Picture.

Thirteen years later, "Saving Private Ryan" has established itself as the best and most realistic depiction of battle ever put on screen, and "Shakespeare in Love" is a forgotten film whose DVD sales are below that of "The Secret Life of Bacteria: A Documentary."

Hollywood is still capable of great things, but it seems it cannot get out of its own atheistic, liberal, Marxist, misguided world view long enough to remedy the situation.

My daughter gave me this as a Christmas present (I refused to see it when it was in the theaters).

I listened to part of the story line when they had it on the home theater while I was in the kitchen cooking. It was drivel: Dances With Wolves Via Pocahontas Meets Native/African American Global Warming Earth Worshiping Pagans Against White Capitalist Marines And Republicans.

I couldn't enjoy it. I don't know, maybe my problem is I am not a stupid mindless Democrat with an IQ of 70 who thinks this kind of claptrap is so great.

But, then again, I remember an anti-Nazi who attended a rally in Germany in 1936 saying he "desperately wanted to be like the crowd, and be caught up in this swoon of joy, but my rational mind kept getting in the way."

[Dr. Scarpetta]

Angelina has lost a lot of weight and is lucky if she weighs 90 lbs.

[Dr. Scarpetta]

Thanks! Looking forward to it...