Batmania and the Bulletproof Movie Economy

Posted on July 18, 2008 in Filmmaking 360 | No Comments

“The Dark Knight” set a record during its midnight debut with $18.5 million from 3,040 theaters, and more records are sure to fall during it’s opening weekend.

All of this excitement leads us to ask, how bulletproof is the movie economy? Movie attendance in June rose 17 percent from last year and it seems July will be even bigger.

A study done by the National Association of Theatre Owners in Washington indicates that box-office numbers increased during five of seven economic downturns since 1965, suggesting that movie attendance rarely decreases during a slowing economy.

As The L.A. Times asks, ” If you’re struggling to pay the bills, why not let Angelina Jolie take your worries away?”

Here is more from the Times of London on the forthcoming summer season with an economy in the doldrums:

Coming soon: Great Depression ll (or how Hollywood hopes to profit from gloom)

…Hollywood loves a crisis. In particular, it loves an economic one. This isn’t because sub-prime mortgage meltdowns make for good screenplays – they don’t – but because cinema attendance booms typically during a recession.

— Times of London | Read The Full Article