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June 27, 2005
True or False?
The 89 films released by the major studios in 2005 have, to date (June 17), made a lot less money than the 94 films released by the majors in 2004?
If you said "true," you would be wrong.
As of last Sunday, the films released by the studios and their various divisions this year have grossed $3,080,207,993.
As of the analogous Sunday last year (June 20), the films released by the studios and their various divisions this year had grossed $3,112,717,419.
So, using this standard, the studios have so far grossed just $32,509,426 less than they did last year on new movies. And given that there is a four-day difference (last year was a leap year) between the numbers, the reality is that this year is likely ahead of last year by a few million dollars.
Let me repeat… the studio business - Hollywood!!! - that The New York Times and other just can't stop telling us are in a terrible slump… it's actually up for the year.
Will any of these outlets get the message and stop the madness? Of course not. They have a vested interest in being right, even if they are wrong.
The overall box office has come up short in the Indie Sector, in which I would not count Fahrenheit 9/11, as it was funded by a major, even if sold off. However, it doesn't factor into these numbers yet because of its release date.
149 indies have been released this year. They've grossed $149,954,015.
161 indies were released by this date last year, grossing about $540 million. (I am not being 100% exact, since I have no had the time to break out all of the indie films that opened before June 20 and generated some of their income after June 20 last year. This estimate is almost $9 million under the ultimate total domestic gross in an effort towards conservatism.)
That's about a $390 million drop in the sector… which is a drop of $20 million more than the gross of The Passion of The Christ.
The reason the whole number is not down by the whole $390 million is that holdover business from 2004 releases is about $100 million greater this year than holdover business from 2003 was last year.
That puts the overall market down about $290 million.
I'll leave it there for now... is the studio system in crisis? You tell me...
Except to note that there is a way to put the industry in crisis... keep saying it's in crisis... even if it isn't true... at least not financially.
2005 Domestic Grosses to June 22
2004 Domestic Grosses to June 20
PART ONE: The Video
PART TWO: The DVD Era
PART TWO: This Is The End
