Box Office Trends Over a 20 Year Period
There are many different mythes and theories that float around the modern film making society. I have decided that I want to research, analyse and finally answer some of these theories. Often within the film making community I hear things such as ‘Box Office Ticket sales aren’t as successful as they used to be’ and ‘Television and Online streaming is destroying a movies success’, Frankly I don’t think it would be right to speculate on these matters; clearly the facts and figures have been collected over the years and the answers are right in front of our eyes.
Alongside these common theories there are some theories of my own that I would like an answer too. I am very interested at the difference in film ticket sales between 1994 and 2014, which film genres have been the most popular over the time, whether or not there have been any clear trends that occur. I would also like to find out whether or not a film makes more money in todays modern society; to me as the technology has improved so should have the attraction of visiting the cinema. I am very keen to see what results my research into the Box Office records shows up; I am very interested to see whether or not there are any clear trends that occur. So in this blog post I will attempt to solve;
- Have Box Office sales deteriorated over the past 20 years, due to the sales of DVD’s and advancements in Online Streaming?
- Are there any particular Genres that have created clear trends over the past 20 years?
- Are there any clear trends that may occur during the research project that could help shape the history of the Box Office success stories?
The first thing I would have to do with these argument is find a reliable source of Worldwide Box Office figures for the past 20 years; I am going to be using two websites for my data gathering: BoxOfficeMojo.com and The-Numbers.com. Both of these websites are operated by data gathering companies and sight the truest worthy website IMDB as a source. I do feel like these websites are accurate and present a true representation of the facts and figures of the Box Office records.
I am going to present a list of films from 1994 – 2014 with several pieces of information that I am going to need to analyse in order to solve the questions and theories posed. I believe I need to pick the top five films from each of the 20 years; I need to collect the gross profit to date, worldwide ticket sales, Opening weekend ticket sales, the films budget, the genre of the films, the studio that released the movie and what part of the year the film as released. I believe these facts and figures will help me to the solve the questions posed; furthermore I believe that these research restrictions will help to define if there any other trends that I can discover.
1994 Records
| 1 | Forrest Gump | Par. | $329,694,499 | 2,365 | $24,450,602 | 1,595 | 7/6 |
| 2 | The Lion King | WD | $312,855,561 | 2,624 | $1,586,753 | 2 | 6/15 |
| 3 | True Lies | Fox | $146,282,411 | 2,561 | $25,869,770 | 2,368 | 7/15 |
| 4 | The Santa Clause | WD | $144,833,357 | 2,388 | $19,321,992 | 2,183 | 11/11 |
| 5 | The Flintstones | Uni. | $130,531,208 | 2,594 | $29,688,730 | 2,498 | 5/27 |
1995 Records
| 1 | Toy Story | WD | $191,796,233 | 2,574 | $29,140,617 | 2,457 | 11/22 |
| 2 | Batman Forever | WB | $184,031,112 | 2,893 | $52,784,433 | 2,842 | 6/16 |
| 3 | Apollo 13 | Uni. | $172,071,312 | 2,347 | $25,353,380 | 2,197 | 6/30 |
| 4 | Pocahontas | WD | $141,579,773 | 2,757 | $2,689,714 | 6 | 6/16 |
| 5 | Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls | WB | $108,385,533 | 2,705 | $37,804,076 | 2,652 | 11/10 |
1996 Records
| 1 | Independence Day | Fox | $306,169,268 | 2,977 | $50,228,264 | 2,882 | 7/3 |
| 2 | Twister | WB | $241,721,524 | 2,808 | $41,059,405 | 2,414 | 5/10 |
| 3 | Mission: Impossible | Par. | $180,981,856 | 3,012 | $45,436,830 | 3,012 | 5/22 |
| 4 | Jerry Maguire | Sony | $153,952,592 | 2,531 | $17,084,296 | 2,531 | 12/13 |
| 5 | Ransom | WD | $136,492,681 | 2,768 | $34,216,088 | 2,676 | 11/8 |
1997 Records
| 1 | Titanic | Par. | $600,788,188 | 3,265 | $28,638,131 | 2,674 | 12/19 |
| 2 | Men in Black | Sony | $250,690,539 | 3,180 | $51,068,455 | 3,020 | 7/2 |
| 3 | The Lost World: Jurassic Park | Uni. | $229,086,679 | 3,565 | $72,132,785 | 3,281 | 5/23 |
| 4 | Liar Liar | Uni. | $181,410,615 | 2,909 | $31,423,025 | 2,845 | 3/21 |
| 5 | Air Force One | Sony | $172,956,409 | 2,981 | $37,132,505 | 2,919 | 7/25 |
1998 Records
| 1 | Saving Private Ryan | DW | $216,540,909 | 2,807 | $30,576,104 | 2,463 | 7/24 |
| 2 | Armageddon | WD | $201,578,182 | 3,184 | $36,089,972 | 3,127 | 7/1 |
| 3 | There’s Something About Mary | Fox | $176,484,651 | 2,555 | $13,740,644 | 2,186 | 7/15 |
| 4 | A Bug’s Life | WD | $162,798,565 | 2,773 | $291,121 | 1 | 11/20 |
| 5 | The Waterboy | WD | $161,491,646 | 2,782 | $39,414,071 | 2,664 | 11/6 |
1999 Records
| 1 | Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace | Fox | $431,088,295 | 3,126 | $64,820,970 | 2,970 | 5/19 |
| 2 | The Sixth Sense | WD | $293,506,292 | 2,821 | $26,681,262 | 2,161 | 8/6 |
| 3 | Toy Story 2 | WD | $245,852,179 | 3,257 | $300,163 | 1 | 11/19 |
| 4 | Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me | NL | $206,040,086 | 3,314 | $54,917,604 | 3,312 | 6/11 |
| 5 | The Matrix | WB | $171,479,930 | 2,903 | $27,788,331 | 2,849 | 3/31 |
2000 Records
| 1 | How the Grinch Stole Christmas | Uni. | $260,044,825 | 3,256 | $55,082,330 | 3,127 | 11/17 |
| 2 | Cast Away | Fox | $233,632,142 | 3,061 | $28,883,406 | 2,774 | 12/22 |
| 3 | Mission: Impossible II | Par. | $215,409,889 | 3,669 | $57,845,297 | 3,653 | 5/24 |
| 4 | Gladiator | DW | $187,705,427 | 3,188 | $34,819,017 | 2,938 | 5/5 |
| 5 | What Women Want | Par. | $182,811,707 | 3,092 | $33,614,543 | 3,012 | 12/15 |
2001 Records
| 1 | Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone | WB | $317,575,550 | 3,672 | $90,294,621 | 3,672 | 11/16 |
| 2 | The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring | NL | $313,364,114 | 3,381 | $47,211,490 | 3,359 | 12/19 |
| 3 | Shrek | DW | $267,665,011 | 3,715 | $42,347,760 | 3,587 | 5/16 |
| 4 | Monsters, Inc. | WD | $255,873,250 | 3,649 | $62,577,067 | 3,237 | 11/2 |
| 5 | Rush Hour 2 | NL | $226,164,286 | 3,118 | $67,408,222 | 3,118 | 8/3 |
2002 Records
| 1 | Spider-Man | Sony | $403,706,375 | 3,876 | $114,844,116 | 3,615 | 5/3 | 8/18 |
| 2 | The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers | NL | $339,789,881 | 3,622 | $62,007,528 | 3,622 | 12/18 | 8/24 |
| 3 | Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones | Fox | $302,191,252 | 3,161 | $80,027,814 | 3,161 | 5/16 | 11/3 |
| 4 | Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets | WB | $261,988,482 | 3,682 | $88,357,488 | 3,682 | 11/15 | 5/4 |
| 5 | My Big Fat Greek Wedding | IFC | $241,438,208 | 2,016 | $597,362 | 108 | 4/19 | 4/13 |
2003 Records
| 1 | The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King | NL | $377,027,325 | 3,703 | $72,629,713 | 3,703 | 12/17 | 6/3 |
| 2 | Finding Nemo | WD | $339,714,978 | 3,425 | $70,251,710 | 3,374 | 5/30 | 12/18 |
| 3 | Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl | WD | $305,413,918 | 3,416 | $46,630,690 | 3,269 | 7/9 | 1/8 |
| 4 | The Matrix Reloaded | WB | $281,576,461 | 3,603 | $91,774,413 | 3,603 | 5/15 | 11/13 |
| 5 | Bruce Almighty | Uni. | $242,829,261 | 3,549 | $67,953,330 | 3,483 | 5/23 | 12/11 |
2004 Records
| 1 | Shrek 2 | DW | $441,226,247 | 4,223 | $108,037,878 | 4,163 | 5/19 | 11/25 |
| 2 | Spider-Man 2 | Sony | $373,585,825 | 4,166 | $88,156,227 | 4,152 | 6/30 | 12/19 |
| 3 | The Passion of the Christ | NM | $370,274,604 | 3,408 | $83,848,082 | 3,043 | 2/25 | 7/29 |
| 4 | Meet the Fockers | Uni. | $279,261,160 | 3,554 | $46,120,980 | 3,518 | 12/22 | 6/16 |
| 5 | The Incredibles | WD | $261,441,092 | 3,933 | $70,467,623 | 3,933 | 11/5 | 4/14 |
2005 Records
| 1 | Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith | Fox | $380,270,577 | 3,663 | $108,435,841 | 3,661 | 5/19 | 10/20 |
| 2 | The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe | WD | $291,710,957 | 3,853 | $65,556,312 | 3,616 | 12/9 | 5/11 |
| 3 | Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire | WB | $290,013,036 | 3,858 | $102,685,961 | 3,858 | 11/18 | 4/6 |
| 4 | War of the Worlds | Par. | $234,280,354 | 3,910 | $64,878,725 | 3,908 | 6/29 | 11/22 |
| 5 | King Kong | Uni. | $218,080,025 | 3,627 | $50,130,145 | 3,568 | 12/14 | 4/6 |
2006 Records
| 1 | Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest | WD | $423,315,812 | 4,133 | $135,634,554 | 4,133 | 7/7 | 12/7 |
| 2 | Night at the Museum | Fox | $250,863,268 | 3,768 | $30,433,781 | 3,685 | 12/22 | 6/24 |
| 3 | Cars | WD | $244,082,982 | 3,988 | $60,119,509 | 3,985 | 6/9 | 10/19 |
| 4 | X-Men: The Last Stand | Fox | $234,362,462 | 3,714 | $102,750,665 | 3,690 | 5/26 | 9/28 |
| 5 | The Da Vinci Code | Sony | $217,536,138 | 3,757 | $77,073,388 | 3,735 | 5/19 | 8/20 |
2007 Records
| 1 | Spider-Man 3 | Sony | $336,530,303 | 4,324 | $151,116,516 | 4,252 | 5/4 | 8/19 |
| 2 | Shrek the Third | P/DW | $322,719,944 | 4,172 | $121,629,270 | 4,122 | 5/18 | 8/9 |
| 3 | Transformers | P/DW | $319,246,193 | 4,050 | $70,502,384 | 4,011 | 7/3 | 11/8 |
| 4 | Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End | WD | $309,420,425 | 4,362 | $114,732,820 | 4,362 | 5/25 | 10/4 |
| 5 | Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix | WB | $292,004,738 | 4,285 | $77,108,414 | 4,285 | 7/11 | 12/13 |
2008 Records
| 1 | The Dark Knight | WB | $533,345,358 | 4,366 | $158,411,483 | 4,366 | 7/18 | 3/5 |
| 2 | Iron Man | Par. | $318,412,101 | 4,154 | $98,618,668 | 4,105 | 5/2 | 10/2 |
| 3 | Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull | Par. | $317,101,119 | 4,264 | $100,137,835 | 4,260 | 5/22 | 10/16 |
| 4 | Hancock | Sony | $227,946,274 | 3,965 | $62,603,879 | 3,965 | 7/2 | 9/7 |
| 5 | WALL-E | WD | $223,808,164 | 3,992 | $63,087,526 | 3,992 | 6/27 | 1/8 |
2009 Records
| 1 | Avatar | Fox | $749,766,139 | 3,461 | $77,025,481 | 3,452 | 12/18 | 8/12 |
| 2 | Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen | P/DW | $402,111,870 | 4,293 | $108,966,307 | 4,234 | 6/24 | 10/15 |
| 3 | Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince | WB | $301,959,197 | 4,455 | $77,835,727 | 4,325 | 7/15 | 12/17 |
| 4 | The Twilight Saga: New Moon | Sum. | $296,623,634 | 4,124 | $142,839,137 | 4,024 | 11/20 | 4/1 |
| 5 | Up | WD | $293,004,164 | 3,886 | $68,108,790 | 3,766 | 5/29 | 11/5 |
2010 Records
| 1 | Toy Story 3 | WD | $415,004,880 | 4,028 | $110,307,189 | 4,028 | 6/18 | 12/2 |
| 2 | Alice in Wonderland (2010) | WD | $334,191,110 | 3,739 | $116,101,023 | 3,728 | 3/5 | 7/8 |
| 3 | Iron Man 2 | Par. | $312,433,331 | 4,390 | $128,122,480 | 4,380 | 5/7 | 8/19 |
| 4 | The Twilight Saga: Eclipse | Sum. | $300,531,751 | 4,468 | $64,832,191 | 4,468 | 6/30 | 10/21 |
| 5 | Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 | WB | $295,983,305 | 4,125 | $125,017,372 | 4,125 | 11/19 | 4/7 |
2011 Records
| 1 | Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 | WB | $381,011,219 | 4,375 | $169,189,427 | 4,375 | 7/15 | 11/24 |
| 2 | Transformers: Dark of the Moon | P/DW | $352,390,543 | 4,088 | $97,852,865 | 4,088 | 6/29 | 10/13 |
| 3 | The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 | Sum. | $281,287,133 | 4,066 | $138,122,261 | 4,061 | 11/18 | 2/23 |
| 4 | The Hangover Part II | WB | $254,464,305 | 3,675 | $85,946,294 | 3,615 | 5/26 | 9/15 |
| 5 | Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides | WD | $241,071,802 | 4,164 | $90,151,958 | 4,155 | 5/20 | 9/29 |
2012 Records
| 1 | Marvel’s The Avengers | WD | $623,357,910 | 4,349 | $207,438,708 | 4,349 | 5/4 | 10/4 |
| 2 | The Dark Knight Rises | WB | $448,139,099 | 4,404 | $160,887,295 | 4,404 | 7/20 | 12/13 |
| 3 | The Hunger Games | LGF | $408,010,692 | 4,137 | $152,535,747 | 4,137 | 3/23 | 9/6 |
| 4 | Skyfall | Sony | $304,360,277 | 3,526 | $88,364,714 | 3,505 | 11/9 | 3/10 |
| 5 | The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey | WB | $303,003,568 | 4,100 | $84,617,303 | 4,045 | 12/14 | 4/25 |
2013 Records
| 1 | The Hunger Games: Catching Fire | LGF | $424,668,047 | 4,163 | $158,074,286 | 4,163 | 11/22 | 4/3 |
| 2 | Iron Man 3 | WD | $409,013,994 | 4,253 | $174,144,585 | 4,253 | 5/3 | 9/12 |
| 3 | Frozen | WD | $400,738,009 | 3,742 | $243,390 | 1 | 11/22 | 7/17 |
| 4 | Despicable Me 2 | Uni. | $368,061,265 | 4,003 | $83,517,315 | 3,997 | 7/3 | 1/16 |
| 5 | Man of Steel | WB | $291,045,518 | 4,207 | $116,619,362 | 4,207 | 6/14 | 9/19 |
2014 Records
| 1 | Captain America: The Winter Soldier | WD | $258,923,934 | 3,938 | $95,023,721 | 3,938 | 4/4 | – |
| 2 | The LEGO Movie | WB | $257,709,556 | 3,890 | $69,050,279 | 3,775 | 2/7 | – |
| 3 | Transformers: Age of Extinction | Par. | $241,166,000 | 4,233 | $100,038,390 | 4,233 | 6/27 | – |
| 4 | Maleficent | WD | $234,711,000 | 3,948 | $69,431,298 | 3,948 | 5/30 | – |
| 5 | X-Men: Days of Future Past | Fox | $231,702,000 | 4,001 | $90,823,660 | 3,996 | 5/23 | – |
List of Highest Grossing Box Office Of All Time
| 1 | 2009 | Avatar | $2,783,918,982 |
| 2 | 1997 | Titanic | $2,185,672,302 |
| 3 | 2012 | Marvel’s The Avengers | $1,514,279,547 |
| 4 | 2011 | Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II | $1,328,111,219 |
| 5 | 2013 | Frozen | $1,267,837,000 |
| 6 | 2013 | Iron Man 3 | $1,212,692,272 |
| 7 | 2003 | The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King | $1,141,408,667 |
| 8 | 2011 | Transformers: Dark of the Moon | $1,123,794,076 |
| 9 | 2012 | Skyfall | $1,108,694,081 |
| 10 | 2012 | The Dark Knight Rises | $1,079,343,943 |
Have Box Office sales deteriorated over the past 20 years, due to the sales of DVD’s and advancements in Online Streaming?
There are obviously anomalies in the information I have collected when it comes to addressing this question; there are a few movies that grossed a lot worldwide which do not fit into any kind of trend. I have tried my best to ignore these anomalies and looked at the general takings of the five highest grossing films of each of the years. It would seem on first glance that the general box office sales between 1994 and 2013 are pretty much similar; however on closer inspection it is evident that the figures have actually occurred a slight average rise. This rise could simply be down to the inflation of money or it could point towards a general up turn in the ticket sales between these two years. I believe that ticket sales have improved during this time due to the huge amounts of national debt and recession in western society. I actually believe that had we not had such a downturn in the economy the more recent releases could have been a lot more successful; even taking into account the inflation of money and the growth of western society over the past 20 years.
It would appear that there was a sharp rise in Box Office ticket sales in 2002; Interestingly enough this was around about the time DVD’s were being made for Home Release. I think this is quite an interesting analysis as lots of people believed that DVD’s would hinder the sales of Cinema tickets as people would just wait for the DVD release. However it seems in fact that the DVD has helped to grow the Box Office economy, perhaps another platform has just made a film more saleable than the outdated option of picking up a VHS. Since 2001 the average gross of the Box Office over the top five highest grossing films has stayed pretty consistent until 2012 when there has been yet again another big upturn in the average gross profits. It could be argued that the introduction of Online Streaming sites could have also had an impact on this; another potential threat on the sale of Box Office Tickets. This trend has continued with the introduction of a new technology improving the saleability of the Box Office gross takings. You could argue that these new platforms of hosting movies have been a huge influence on promoting the original releases of films in the first place; I guess that because these platforms have to wait to gain exclusive rights to air the movies, people would rather not wait and go to the cinema to catch the film.
Interestingly the Opening Weekend takings for the movies released in 1994 were demolished by the takings from 2013; this continues to follow the trend that the Box Office takings for the movies is actually vastly improving. These figures also supports the idea that we live in a very fast moving consumer society and people simply cannot wait for the release to be available on DVD or on Online Streaming. I would be very happy in saying that both Online Streaming and DVD popularity has not had a negative impact on the Box Office sales of films and has actually improved the sales; this completely proves the common theory that they are destroying the Cinema experience wrong. I do fear in the future though that Online Streaming sites might start to compete with the cinema chains by gaining exhibition rights to a movie straight on release; this would pretty much void the cinema experience for a much lower fee and might have a heavy impact upon Box Office takings. For the time being however it would seem the Cinema concept is safe, in fact it is doing so well all of the top 10 highest grossing Box Office films have been released in the past 10 years with the exception of Titanic; with 8 of the films in the top ten released in the past 5 years! I would even predict that ticket prices will continue to increase (due to inflation) and Box Office records will continue to grow (due to film popularity) for some time yet.
Are there any particular Genres that have created clear trends over the past 20 years?
After having a detailed look through the Box Office records over the past 20 years it would appear there are plenty of trends that have occurred. For me the most interesting Genre is the Animation Genre, It seemed to start very strongly in the 90’s with a lot of success across the top five movies, this seemed to continue until about 2010. Interestingly enough most of the animation movies were original movies also; there were a couple of squeals that also managed to make it into the top five highest grossing years. This clearly shows the popularity of this type of movie style, it does die off abit towards recent years however which could be down to several reasons; perhaps the interest in the technology and the appeal has worn off after its seemingly unstoppable introduction into the Box Office with Toy Story. Another reason could be perhaps todays youth do not want to visit the cinema to watch animations; this could perhaps be a trend that will continue; the only option is studios are simply not releasing/putting enough funding into animation films anymore despite a need/want for them.
The other genre which has consistently improved over the past 20 years has been the Superhero genre. Incredibly since 2002 there has been 5 superhero movies which have grossed the highest Box Office for their respective year, the list actually starts off with Batman Forever which topped the Box Office in 1994. I feel as though this genre has grown dramatically over the years, there are as many as 7 top grossing superhero films over just the past 3 years. I don’t know whether or not this trend will continue to dominate cinema; my only worry towards the superhero genre is that it will run out of characters to make movies about. It also seems to be based upon fashion and style; maybe once another style of movie becomes popularised further in other forms of merchandising such as clothing this genre will become obsolete until its time to remake all of the movies once again!
I would say in all there are definitely common trends in this list, I would say that the Animation and Super Hero genres of movies have dominated the Box Office over the past 20 years. I do think this will continue for sometime yet; Technology continues to develop and I do believe this is the main reason CGI heavy superhero films and the new animation styles of movies continues to be successful. There are other film genres that have been consistent over time also, but have died out over a couple of years; such as the disaster movie which was popular from 1995 – 1999. The only other major trend that is evident seems to be the idea that a film can be a brand; this was created by the star wars movie and seems to have been implemented the most during the first 10 years since the year 2000. Harry Potter, The Lord Of The Rings and Spiderman show great success in promoting a series of films; it does seem in recent times this technique may have played itself out however, then again it could perhaps just be the beginning of a long series of films that have yet to be released.
Are there any clear trends that may occur during the research project that could help shape the history of the Box Office success stories?
As mentioned there seems to have been several formulas for striking a Box Office success. Overall the Superhero movies have preformed exceptionally well over the past 5 years and have gradually developed to being this successful over time; I do think that this trend has played about as much as it can although I could be wrong. There are many films still in the pipeline with Walt Disney after the acquisition of Marval Studios, Generally over the research results there have been a lot of releases of a popular genre, and then there has been some extraordinary hit movies of that genre. I do believe this is probably the middle of the wave for the popular genre of the time; from here there is a gradual decline in that genre. The most recent example of this would be the Adventure genre. Harry Potter, The Lord of The Rings and The Pirates Of the Caribbean had huge Box Office returns for this genre, however after 2011 and the final release in the Harry Potter series Adventure films haven’t preformed very well with only The Hobbit having slight success; which could have sold primarily because of the Lord Of The Rings saleability as a brand.
Because of these huge successes and then very sudden declines I would predict that the Superhero movies will loose Box Office positions over the next 10 years or so. I would also make the prediction that the disaster movie will make its return to the top of the Box Office as it was in the beginning/middle of the 90’s, this would be down to the boredom of seeing the same genre of movie and having been given the peak of these movies (In Iron Man/Batman). I do think that the attraction of the Disaster movie will remain in the popularity of the CGI heavy nature of movies at the minute, and the interest in the new technology and just what can be achieved produce new original visuals for the audience to view.
Interestingly enough there seems to be a slight revival in the Animation genre also, perhaps this is also down to more developments in the technology making the films appealing to the market. A lot of the new popular animations also appears to be from the comedy genre; this is an interesting fact as back at the start of the 90’s comedies were huge. It seems as though just like my prediction with the disaster movies this genre of movie is on the comeback and is grossing higher ticket prices more recently. If the new comedies follow the trend of the 90’s we could well be seeing the top grossing movies of the year being comedies; possibly animations due to their popularity; including adult animation with shows such as American Dad and Family Guy.
Conclusion
In conclusion I do have three answers for the questions posed. There has been distinct trends in the Box Office that can help predict and analyse what the film audience is interested in seeing. I do think the development of technology in Film over the past 20 years has reinvigorated the business; Box Office gross records and Opening Weekend records are much larger than they have been 20 years ago. The films that are having the most success recent have also been very active in using and promoting the new use of technology within their pictures. I do think this trend will continue to develop and perhaps we might even see a development to the outdated fashion of how we watch movies, 3D has been a recent attempt at trying to redevelop Cinema and this may well have also had a heavy impact on the improvement of a films gross.
There seems to be plenty of common trends when looking at the recent Box Office records, clearly the film business has been and is currently dominated by Animation and superhero films. I do think this will continue to happen, although the public at some point may loose interest in how good the new technology is making these movies; perhaps at this point the public will start seeking out more independent films with strong plot lines; which in the extended lists it would seem independent movies are on a huge comeback themselves, possibly proving this theory right.
I think my research however has probably thrown up more questions that it has answered. I think more elements of a films release would need to be monitored to get a better understanding of how a film would preform if released today. Things such as marketing budgets and production budgets have been left out; this does not dictate what the audience choose to watch. I do think that a well marketed film could help the film sell despite the popularity of the genre and plot of the film. More information would be needed to definitely expand on my questions; I think that I can offer an answer to each question however and definitely say that Box Office records have grown despite common dispute. I think that there are a lot of trends that can be analysed in the past 20 years of Box Office hits; a lot of which I haven’t looked into, but predictions could be made in the future performance of the Box Office, these could not be defines however as the audience will ultimately watch whatever they please.
Unit 4 SSI
thomastudgefilm 