The natural question of course is Why? Is it the product, competition from other leisure time activities, prices or what?

There were NO mega blockbusters, ie: No Titanics or even Sixth Senses! However there were a good number of films that did over $100,000,000 which in the past was considered a blockbuster or at least a smash hit.

Each week I continue to see accounts that state business was down 15%, 25%, 30% from the same period last year. Now let's consider the fact that ticket prices went up a good amount this past year...hefty hikes both before the Thanksgiving and Christmas Holidays at the end of last year and again before the summer this year. Putting the largest markets aside (NY, LA etc.)the average adult ticket price in most markets appears to be in the $7.00 range. The highest in my area are at the Regals with $7.25. Go just 50 miles east toward NY in mid New Jersey and you get $8.00 or more.

When business is compared for the present year against the previous it is by box office gross. I never hear anything said about admissions. Therefore if gross sales are down by 15% (or whatever) just think what that means in admissions. We now have more screens then ever, while at the same time less and less people going. No wonder the big guys are in such trouble...the pieces of the pie continue to get smaller.

My 35 years in this business has proven to me that whenever you put your price up,less people buy tickets. When you put your prices down, more people buy tickets. I have adjusted my ticket prices at many of my theatres over all those years numerous times in both directions...and EVERY time it follows that scenario. EVERY TIME! Maybe we are pricing ourselves out of business?

I believe that the megaplex may very well be hurting business more then it is helping it. At least for the exhibitor. There doesn't seem to be a great deal of difference in the overall grosses for most pictures, just a decline for per screen or per location grosses. For the movies in general, the same number of people going, but now divided by 37,000 rather then 25,000 screens, or on a per picture basis roughly the same people now going to see a given film on 3000 screens rather then 1500 screens as was the case not even ten years ago. Add to that the fact that with so many screens everyone who wants to see a picture can get in to see it whenever they want...first day, first week! Seldom do we hear of sellouts anymore. This creates two problems for exhibitors. The films may do about the same business overall, but now they get the same gross in two or three weeks in what took five or six, or even eight weeks or more a few years ago. The pictures are played out earlier which means more product is needed to keep screens covered profitably. And of course most of that gross is now brought in when the terms are at their highest...70 & 60%. No long runs when the exhibitor can do decent business at a 35% film rental.

Now here is the big one. The one that I think is really hurting business. One of the great aspects of the multiplex was the availability of a large choice of product for the consumer. If a moviegoer went to see something and it was sold out, they would make another selection and often see another film that in many cases they would not go to see. This happened often before pictures were run on 2 or 3 screens. Most people would not leave a multiplex when turned away from their first choice...and this helped the grosses of many lesser pictures. This seldom happens any longer in the megaplex as hardly no one is turned away. Therefore the secondary product now suffers for that, and of course the industry as a whole as well.

Let's review:
Ticket prices are up, admissions are down.
Runs are shorter due to too many screens, therefore film percentages are higher.
Sellouts are rare, therefore no overflow to help other product.

What was the question again...Why Is Business Down? Hmmmmm

The average length of time from date of intital theatrical to video release is now about five (5) months..... then three (3) months later (or a total of about eight (8) months from initial release) you can purchase the same video for 8 dollars (the cost of first run movie ticket). Why should anyone go the movies?

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If you get right down to it, movies are not that expensive. Compare movie prices to such things as professional sports tickets, live theatre tickets, etc.. Movies are cheap..

A couple of nights ago, as I posted in the Movie Reviews forum, I went to see "Whipped". I went to the first showing on opening night (Friday of Labor Day weekend) and there were 6 people there including me at the 7:15 showing in a large auditoriums that I've seen sold out before. That's pitiful! There aren't any movies generating much excitement these days. To not have any movies creating a lot of excitement on the long Labor Day Weekend is really going to hurt the industry.

I have heard many complaints about movie tickets going up. Tickets are at least 7 dollars everywhere in Huntsville, and losing our second-run theatres back in May caused some resentment because people can no longer wait for the movies to hit the second-run theatres to see them for $2.50 .

I think allocating 25 or 33 percent of auditoriums in the megaplexes having 12 or more screens for second-run movies at lower admission prices would help business. For example, in our Madison Square 12, using 4 of the smaller auditoriums for second-runs would draw more people in than would showing 4 first-run movies, especially with the quality of movies nowadays.

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I talked to 4 managers of first run theatres in various locations in California, not one of them was busy.

My favorite movie experiences this summer were seeing North By Northwest at a 3,000 seat restored movie palace, Theif Of Bagdhad, a silent film at the same place, and, believe it or not, the 1966 version of BATMAN at the local art museum.

With Batman, we saw vintage trailers, children in Batman costumes, and a pretty fair print of the film. The audience got involved in the film and everyone had a great time.

Sure would like to have that kind of experience at the multiplex.

I was also disappointed that my favorite local theatre, a Marcus 16-plex, seems to be losing its edge. They stopped using the curtains and the simple light show before the picture to show ads. What made this bad is that they didn't have much business yet, so most of the ads were things like "Buy more popcorn." The sound systems seem to lack impact too. No one seemed to care anymore. Tis a pity.

So, Mr. Big Time Cinema Executive, show me a good film and a good time, and I'll spend the money to go to your theatre. But, remember, for less than the price of 2 tickets, I can purchase a wonderful version of North by Northwest on DVD, and enjoy it as many times as I want.

So, anyhow, many of these folks told me things like, "These theatres are going to go out of business because I could rent a movie or watch one on cable TV and it'd be tons better than this." There were plenty of people who thought that in the early 1980s but it didn't happen... until...

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BUT...presentation quality MUST be better than anything you can have at home. Digital Cinema advertising proclaims "See the Movie, Not the film", implying that dirt, scratches and unsteadiness are inherent to film. Participants on Film-Tech know that "Film Done Right" isn't dirty, damaged, unsteady or dim, and do all they can to provide the superior presentation quality that film is capable of.

IMHO, until Digital Cinema can provide significantly more resolution than a laptop computer or home theatre, and offers true cost savings shared by all, "Film Done Right" in a theatre is still the best entertainment value.

What can be done about the horrid unsteadiness problem at the labs today? Specifically Deluxe Hollywood's prints. That rhythmic vertical "beat" on their prints is incredibly annoying. Horizontal weave has never been much of an issue, fortunately.