After an abysmal year at theaters, moviegoing is back. Through the first two months of 2012, ticket sales surged 18% over the same period last year. More importantly, attendance was up 20%, even though this year's films appear to be no stronger than last year's.
If anything, 2012 is flourishing despite the movies. Last year's early-season No. 1's included The Green Hornet, Just Go With It and Gnomeo & Juliet -- films that earned middling reviews, at best.
But compared with this year's hits, those films were Oscar bait.
Take The Devil Inside (please, said some tweeters). The $1 million horror flick opened to a staggeringly high $34 million on Jan. 6, giving the year a kick-start that hasn't slowed. Every weekend has seen increased sales over the previous, according to Hollywood.com. This, despite tough reviews for surprise No. 1 films Contraband, The Vow and Act of Valor.
"I can't recall a year that started like this, when almost every movie has overperformed," says Jeff Bock, box-office analyst for Exhibitor Relations. "The movies may not be great, but in terms of making money, the studios are firing on all cylinders."
Bock credits cannier marketing behind this year's movies, which have been aimed at niche audiences. The Devil Inside, for instance, launched a viral campaign that played on its "found footage" theme. Valor, which scored an upset win with a $25 million debut weekend, features real Navy SEALs, and publicity events were staged at military sites nationwide.
"You're seeing the studios learn social networking," Bock says. "They've caught up with the trend, and give them credit: They've got their fingers on the pulse of what core groups want to see, and are reaching them" through specific ad campaigns.
Hollywood.com's Paul Dergarabedian says the box-office defibrillation began the last week of 2011, which can be anemic at theaters because of the holidays. Despite being in its third iteration and second week of release, Mission: Impossible -- Ghost Protocol powered through the end of the year on its way to $208 million, the seventh-highest-grossing movie of 2011.
"That's when we knew something was up," Dergarabedian says. "That gave us momentum that we haven't lost."
Nor does it seem likely to slow, as studios begin a march of big-budget releases including Dr. Seuss' The Lorax (which brought in more than $70 million in its debut last weeked), Disney action epic John Carter this Friday and the best-seller adaptation The Hunger Games on March 23.
Dergarabedian says that while it's too early to anoint the year a success, the rebound marks "a shift like I've never seen before. Remember, last year was the lowest-attended in 15 years," with 1.28 billion tickets sold in North America.
"If studios can keep up the way they're marketing their products," Bock says, "Hollywood is going to be just fine."
(Source: USA Today, 03/01/12)
No comments:
Post a Comment