[Advanced TV / IndieWire / ZDNet]
Findings from the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) show that global box office receipts for all films released around the world reached $32.6 billion, an increase of 3 per cent over 2010, stemming from ongoing growth of box office in international markets. Each international region experienced box office growth in 2011. Chinese box office grew by 35 per cent in 2011 alone, by far the largest growth in major markets. The figures are contained in the MPAA’s annual Theatrical Market Statistics Report for 2011. …
The US/Canada box office market finished at $10.2 billion, down 4 per cent compared to 2010, but up 6 per cent from five years ago. 3D box office was down $400 million in 2011 in comparison to 2010, which the MPAA suggests is not surprising given that 2010 included Avatar’s record-breaking 3D box office performance. 2D box office remained consistent from 2010 to 2011. …
The number of digital screens in the US nearly doubled in 2011, now comprising 65 per cent of all US screens. …
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Needless to say, Senator Chris Dodd, Chairman and CEO of the MPAA, in a conference call, stressed the potential for more growth overseas, especially India and China. Most dramatic, China’s box office grew by 35% in 2011. Dodd called the U.S.’s new deal with China to loosen restrictions on foreign imports, allowing 14 films a year to play in China, “a done deal” that is “good news for us and good news for them as well. China is building 8 screens a day, 75 IMAX theaters this year alone. They’re excited about developing their own product as well as coproductions. They want to produce product for sale nationally and globally. It’s a great win for us, indies and studios, and foreign productions.” …
Dodd explained the 18% decline in the number of MPAA member films produced by noting: “The studios are making larger productions, not getting quantity but larger cost productions. 100 films produce 90% of revenues.” Fithian added that while “the studios are producing bigger and fewer films,” the bigger films make the best box office returns and the industry as a whole is growing more smaller films. Even exhibitors are getting in the act, with distributor Open Road, backed by theater chains Regal and AMC. And with Summit and Lionsgate’s merger, there’s a seventh major studio, Fithian suggested. “The studios give us our biggest hits, but we get lots of singles and doubles from others.” …
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Their annual review showed that global box office receipts for 2011 came to $32.6 billion. That’s a 3 percent increase from 2010.
Chris Dodd, former U.S. senator and now chairman and CEO of the MPAA, was quick to proclaim this as a victory: “The bottom line is clear: people in all countries still go to the movies and a trip to the local cinema remains one of the most affordable entertainment options.”
Statistically speaking he is correct. This is a success for the film industry, which every year faces more and more suggestions that traditional cinema is losing its appeal.
There have been many arguments that the ‘cinema experience’ is on its way out, mostly because of the continued growth of digital cinema, piracy and drastic improvements in how we watch movies in our own homes. …
The thing about this growth, however, is that most of it is happening in China. The international box office accounts for $22.4 billion of that $32.6 billion total. China’s box office grew by 35 percent last year alone, now standing at an estimated $2 billion.
That makes China the second biggest international market, and it trails just behind Japan, which has a market of $2.3 billion. On top of that, the number of 3D cinema screens in Asia nearly doubled last year. …
See the three source stories, in order, here: http://advanced-television.com/index.php/2012/03/23/rising-box-office-receipts-threatened-by-online-piracy/ and here: http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/global-box-office-climb-continues-in-2011 and here: http://www.zdnet.com/blog/asia/china-and-japan-could-be-saving-the-global-box-office/1426