NYT: Hollywood Worries as Decline Continues [View All]

[DeepModem Mom]

Hollywood Worries as Decline Continues
By SHARON WAXMAN

Published: May 10, 2005


....The poor box-office performance last weekend of the first major film of the summer, "Kingdom of Heaven," released by 20th Century Fox, made for 11 weeks in a row of declining movie attendance and revenue compared with last year, adding up to the longest slump since 2000 and raising an uncomfortable question: Are people turning away from lackluster movies, or turning their backs on the whole business of going to theaters?

The historical epic about the Crusades, which stars Orlando Bloom and was directed by Ridley Scott, took in just $20 million at the domestic box office, a puny opening for a film that cost about $130 million to make and was supported by a major marketing push. The film was helped by a stronger performance abroad, where it took in $56 million in 93 territories....

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Since 2002, attendance is down about 10 percent for the comparable period, to about 433.7 admissions from about 485 million. The decline has provoked speculation that a rising DVD market and the advent of more elaborate home entertainment centers, along with the shrinking window of time between a theatrical release and the appearance of the DVD, is causing moviegoers to stay home and wait for discs....

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Still, some of Hollywood's most seasoned executives insist that this year's problem is a simpler one: The movies have not been good enough. Usually, they said, a sleeper hit comes along in late winter or early spring to wake up the box office, like last year's "Mean Girls" or "Starsky & Hutch" - or the crucifixion blockbuster "The Passion of the Christ."...

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Others blamed last weekend's raft of R-rated films, which cut out a major segment of the audience, for the continuing drop...."R-rated pictures aren't working in this marketplace like they used to," said John Fithian, president of the National Association of Theater Owners. "They still seem to work overseas, but they're not as easy to sell in the U.S. Parents are more concerned. We're enforcing the ratings really hard. Anytime you have an opening weekend with all the opening movies rated R, you don't have the same demographic potential as you do otherwise."...


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/10/movies/10holl.html