Has The Economy Affected The Box Office?

As the unemployment rate ebbs and flows in this wavering economy, most of the American public has been scrambling to find employment.  Jobs are not the only thing the American public is scrambling to find. Believe it or not despite a troubled economy the American public is still headed to the box office. During harsh economic times history has proven that people in America will spend money on great food and a good movie. 

So what's really the situation? Has the economy affected the box office? The reality is that this economy has indeed affected not only the box office but also the film industry as a whole.  This economy has forced independent filmmakers to come up with creative financing just to get their movies produced. In fact states like Georgia and Louisiana passed tax credit incentives to lure Hollywood filmmakers to film movies in their cities. I've personally worked as a stand-in actor and extra in over 15 films in Atlanta, GA and New Orleans, LA. The ability to adapt to this economy by the film industry had been phenomenal. 

So let's look at the box office itself.  Last year in 2009 Tickets sold: 1,419,488,855 at the average ticket price of $7.50.  Total Box Office Gross: $10,646,166,334(www.the-numbers.com).

So far in 2010 Tickets sold: 947,740,354 at the average ticket price of$ 7.90. Total Box Office Gross: $7,487,148,851(www.the-numbers.com).  With only three months left in 2010, these are critical months for the box office. The Christmas season has been known to make or break film producers. The battle for holiday supremacy this year is going to be a telltale indicator if the movie industry can surpass the 2009 total box office gross. 

Well my movie money crunchers the industry we all know and love has always seemed to survive. The film industry survived the first great depression and it's fairing very well in this current depression. Of course in times passed we had the golden years of films where we were fortunate to see blockbuster movies such as Rocky, Rambo, Conan the Barbarian, Predator, Die Hard, etc. Ironically the films of 2009- 2010 such as AVATAR and TOY STORY have broken box office records and made history. I'm going to predict that the 2011 box office year is going to return the film industry to normal