Biggest Top Ten Movie $ Losers.

[kexodusc]

Excellent points Kam...Movies don't have enough gestation time now it seems because there's so many crappy movies being made and pushed to the theater. 10 years ago a movie with the plot dynamics of "Stealth" or "You Got Served" would never make it to theater.
The "fastest to 300 million" thing is a pretty stupid stat...every year the big blockbusters keep setting new records. Inflationary pricing has a big part to do with it, but so does the trend of having a 12 screen complex show "Dead Man's Chest" in 4 theaters, 8 times daily.

FWIW, I really liked the Postman. Dunno why, but I sure take a lot of abuse admitting it.

[Smokey]

You guys make a good point regarding movie loss and their budget.

IMO, another reason the movies that lose big tend to be of recent date is inflated price, but emergence of DVD and HT (in last 6 years) might also a big factor. In the old days (before DVD and HT), most people tend to go see the movies that interest them so they could experience the big sounds and picture.

But nowadays, alot of HT setups are even better than in the local theater, and even if a movie interest some movie goers, they might wait it out so they could see it in their home system.

[Kam]

You guys make a good point regarding movie loss and their budget.

IMO, another reason the movies that lose big tend to be of recent date is inflated price, but emergence of DVD and HT (in last 6 years) might also a big factor. In the old days (before DVD and HT), most people tend to go see the movies that interest them so they could experience the big sounds and picture.

But nowadays, alot of HT setups are even better than in the local theater, and even if a movie interest some movie goers, they might wait it out so they could see it in their home system.

i think that's part of it, but not exactly. home theater proliferation has definitely increased quite a lot in recent times with costs coming down and the public being more aware of widescreen experience in your home, but that's still a relatively recent phenomenon. sure there are far more households with some sort of home theaters in them.

i think its the cost of dvd's that's even more of a factor. but i think the biggest factor (in combination with cheap dvds and HT like you said) is the short shelf-life of movies in the theater. for e.g., say you're on the fence about seeing the latest James Bond movie. Just wait 4 months and you can rent it, or heck, buy it for the same cost (or far cheaper) as it would be to take yourself and sig other to the movies. add in the rude crowds, ridiculous prices, 20mins of commercials, and that would be a deciding factor right there. versus a half-generation ago, where if you were on the fence about seeing say, Empire Strikes Back... well, you'd have to wait over a year before renting it and the cost was fairly prohibitive to buy vhs tapes back then, barely any commercials other than the theater advertising for their own concessions and then trailers.
I want to see Stranger Than Fiction... but honestly, there is nothing really pulling me to the "theater going experience" when i can rent/buy it for less in about 4 months.

[Smokey]

i think its the cost of dvd's that's even more of a factor. but i think the biggest factor (in combination with cheap dvds and HT like you said) is the short shelf-life of movies in the theater. for e.g., say you're on the fence about seeing the latest James Bond movie. Just wait 4 months and you can rent it, or heck, buy it for the same cost (or far cheaper) as it would be to take yourself and sig other to the movies. add in the rude crowds, ridiculous prices, 20mins of commercials, and that would be a deciding factor right there.

I think you might have hit it on the nose Kam. And the bulk of money made might not be actually at the theater. But rather the after the DVD sale.

Also you are right about price of VHS tapes being too high. I remember back then when new VHS movie was premiered, it was listed at MSRP of $89