Why Is the Film Industry Floundering?

Even though it appears that new life has been breathed into cinema ticket sales thanks to the openings of films such as Saw II, Chicken Little, and the Legend of Zorro, movie revenues for 2005 have continued to be below comparable weekend draws from previous years. Studio directors are left scratching their head and pointing the finger at piracy, foreign film unions are laying the blame on the cultural usurpation of the big North American studios, and movie-goers really couldn’t care less.

A simple explanation for the ongoing slump is unlikely, and there are several factors that may be influencing the lower numbers.

Theatre Experience: Cost

Firstly, and this is particularly applicable to myself, who used to go to the movies at least once a week, is the rising cost of having an in-theatre movie experience. Movies are no longer a cheap date, and to properly treat your better half, you can expect to blow close to $20 each just to sit in a big dark room with a whole bunch of other people for a couple of hours. Now unprotected by my marvelous student discount, I can expect to shell out over $8 just to get in the door of the building, followed by obscene prices for any kind of snack I might want to consume. Do you know how cheap popcorn and pop are? Extremely. The profit that theatres are making off my $5 bag of popcorn makes me shudder.

Home Experience: Cost

Let’s tally what a similar home experience would cost: 3 movie rentals for 4 nights for $5 + 2L bottle of Pepsi $2 + 4 bags of microwave popcorn $3 = $10. Triple the movies, quadruple the snacks, for a quarter a price.

Theatre Experience: Atmosphere

I used to love going to see movies on the big screen. The whooshing surround sound, the mammoth picture, the stadium seating…it was an assault on the senses. Slowly though, the shine began to wear off and I became much more particular about what movie I went to see at what time. When you’re stuck with dozens of other people in a room, there’s bound to be one who gets under everybody’s skin. Or when you go to a children’s movie, you expect that there will be kids there who will talk through most of it, cry when they have to pee, or steal your expensive popcorn. It’s expected. Lately though, I’ve become much more theatrically anti-social.

The theatres have been invaded by cellphones, which at least 3 people always forget to turn off before the show starts, and whose backlit screens, obnoxious ring tones, and (I kid you not) in-theatre phone conversations detract immensely. You then have the candy-throwers, the parents who bring small children into scary movies and then yell at them for fifteen minutes because they’re screaming, the yakkers who refuse to shut up, and that lovely chap that insists on putting his feet on the back of your chair.

The theatres seem to be doing their best to aggravate me as well, forcing me to sit through commercials, ads and completely unrelated trailers before getting to the reason I was there. It’s gotten to the point that I feel like I’m watching television. I didn’t waste my weekly spending money to watch commercials. I look at pre-movie ads as the laziest product placement ever.

Home Experience: Atmosphere

Staying home also carries with it a number of enormous bonuses extending beyond the pocketbook. With the advances in home theatre systems, the feel isn’t too far off what you would get at the Odeon. Even my computer came standard with surround sound. Television sizes are steadily increasing, and new technology such as HDTV and plasma screens are offering a viewing platform previously unavailable to the stay-at-home watcher.

There are no crying children (unless they’re your own), there are no cellphones, no bratty teenagers, and no noisy popcorn chompers. You can curl up on your very own comfy couch, in your favourite pajamas under your favourite blanket and be as relaxed and casual as you please. I often watch movies in my underwear, drinking directly from my 2L bottle of cola, and sprawled over the arm of the couch. I’d like to see theatres offer me that kind of comfort.

Other Factors: New Movies Now!

Movie buffs will often say they like to go to the theatre on opening night of a big movie because it means that they were one of the first to see it. I suppose it’s a badge of honour to be able to say that. The casual movie-goer may not go opening night, but would make the trek to see what the fuss was all about before the movie left theatres. Perhaps it had special-effects best viewed on a big screen, or all of their friends had seen it 4 times and they felt obligated…regardless, going to the theatre meant you got to see it a lot sooner than waiting for it to come out on video.

These days though the wait times between theatre release and release for home video are shrinking. Even insiders, like Sixth Sense director M. Night Shyamalan, are speaking up about what they consider studio greed. DVD releases used to happen at least six months after the cinema openings, making it more appealing for people to attend the latest greatest show. The wait is now estimated at around four months and the decrease is being explained by the studios need to pad their pockets by cashing in on the increasingly lucrative home market. Renting has never seemed such a good option. I expect that wait times will shrink even more, and we’ll have near simultaneous releases.

Other Factors: Competition

According to Reuters (via Joystiq, a gaming blog), males under the age of 25 have begun ditching theatres for other forms of entertainment. The wide wide world of the internet is being called home by more and more people for longer stretches of time. Find out anything about anyone, play games, talk with friends around the world, pretend to do schoolwork…sounds pretty darn tempting to me.

The impetus to see films outside the home is being eroded by changing price differentials and less bang for our movie-going buck. DVD prices are often cheaper than going to see a movie at the cinema now, and so why would anyone fork out extra money for something they can get for a comparable amount, and keep permanently, in a couple of weeks.

Let’s not forget the yawning maw of the video game industry which seduces younger folk, particular teen and twenty-something males, into hours of gameplay. Games offer the advantages of being a much more interactive and personal experience, while allowing the player to hang out with friends, satisfy competitive urges and have a ball of a time in their very own living room. Expect gaming to affect Hollywood even more over the next year, as all three major console makers (Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony) plan to unleash their next-generation machines.

Other Factors: The Piracy Question

Okay look Mr. Glickman…piracy is not the cause of sliding numbers. I have, in my day, had my hands on some illicit movies, I won’t deny it, but I still went to the theatres, I still bought the DVDs and I still tossed my coin into your coffers. I consider myself to be a fairly tech savvy person, and even I had a bit of wiggling around to do in order to figure out where and how to get movies. The vast majority of the population is simply not capable of doing so. This is not an epidemic of people rushing around ripping you off. My parents have just barely mastered instant messaging, and still email me at least once a week with a computer problem of a rather elementary nature. Movie pirates are a select few people; a small percentage among millions.

How eager you seem to place the blame on movie-goers rather than looking at the above factors of escalating cost, poor atmosphere, home entertainment improvements, and competing entertainment medias. Here’s how business goes: Offer quality product, and viewers will come. Make it accessible to them, and they will buy it. We’re not a vicious bunch of malcontents out to rob you blind and you’re really not doing yourself any favours in insinuating that a lot of us are.

Examine your business model and fill in the cracks before you start pointing the finger at other people. Hollywood is responsible for its own decline.