News
U.S. screen count continues to grow
By Robert Marich
April 1, 2009 – The Motion Picture Assn. of America – which represents the six Hollywood majors – released stats that indicate the U.S./Canada domestic cinema market is healthy, although pointing to risks of "over screening."
The MPAA – citing Nielsen EDI data -- says the number of U.S. screens continued an upward march reaching 39,476 screens at end 2008, growing from a low of 34,630 in 2002. The low came when screen count shrunk in the wake of the 2000 dot-com bust and box office declines. The number of U.S. screens have increased 14% since the 2002 low.
As U.S. screen count continues to swell, it lays the groundwork for economic pain if boxoffice doesn’t keep growing (so far, boxoffice is up sharply in 2009). For instance, flat box office amid a growing number of screens yields lower box office dollars per screen, which would hurt cinema finances.
In another new insight, major-studio film releases fell to 162 in 2008, down from 188 in 2007 and the lowest count in years presented going back to 1999. Look for 2009 to stay or even dip more, as studios increasingly put more emphasis on fewer films to break through media clutter.
Total releases actually rose to 610 in 2008, from 599 in the prior year, which includes movies from major studio indie affiliates (Disney’s Miramax and Fox Searchlight, for example) as well as true indies (Lionsgate on down). Fewer major studio films hogging screens left more openings for indie films, which have narrower release patterns.
Domestic boxoffice revenue (presumably including Canada) grew 1.7% in 2008 to $9.791 while admissions (unit ticket sales) dipped 2.6% to $1.364 billion, according to MPAA Theatrical Market Statistics. That revenue gain comes from higher ticket prices, including surcharges on 3-D screens. That performance is excellent, given 2008 is a recession year in which media fragmentation gave consumers ever-more entertainment options.
The average ticket price rose 4.4% in 2008 to $7.18 (form $6.88 in 2007), which is faster than the 3.8% inflation rate.
Perhaps the most surprising part of the MPAA announcement of annual cinema stats is that the trade group for the Hollywood major studios is no longer providing average production cost per film and average per film marketing cost.
For full press releases, click links below:
www.mpaa.org/press_releases/2008_theat_stats.pdf
www.natoonline.org/pdfs/PDF%20ShoWest%202009/SW%2009%20Talking%20Points.pdf
Stats per National Assn. of Theatre Owners
Box Office($ in billions)-Admissions(in billions)
2008 9.788 1.363
2007 9.629 1.400
2006 9.138 1.395
Decade Average Annual Admissions
1971-80 995 million/year
1981-90 1.13 billion/year
1991-00 1.28 billion/year
2001-08 1.447 billion/year