I recently read an article addressing the fact that this January's box office revenues were up 10% from last January. However, the article went on to discuss the fact that box offices have been steadily on the decline ever since 1995. While every here and there, we see huge box office smashes like The Dark Knight, Avatar, and all the Harry Potter movies, the fact is that overall box office grosses were greater even just 10 years ago.
While I thought it was a great article, which can be found on boxofficemojo.com, I feel like something had to be said in response to it. The fact of the matter is that the way audiences watch movies today has changed a lot in the last 20 years. Even more so in the last 30 years. I've talked with a lot of people who, when they were kids in the 70's, you had to go see movies in the theaters otherwise you wouldn't see if again as VHS and other home video technology wasn't very popular back then.
Today, with Internet downloads, digital devices, Netflix, and easy ways to buy DVDs and Blu Rays, movie audiences are less inclined to pay the huge ticket prices to see a movie in theaters, let alone see them multiple times. It had been years before "The Dark Knight" came out that I paid to see a movie multiple times in theaters. I really just feel like, today, more people are inclined to wait 4 months for a movie to come out on DVD/Blu Ray or streaming download. Whether it be because audiences don't like the ticket and consession prices or because they choose not to deal with the other annoyances of going to a public theater.
I would just end this by saying that if production companies are afraid of declining yearly box office revenues, then they need to make the availability of their movies to home video technology a little longer of a wait for people. While I myself would not be thrilled about that, I would say that I can understand the fear and frustration production companies are experiencing with constant under performing movies that barely make back the money they spent on the budget. What is everyone else's thoughts on the matter?