Poll of the Day > I really hate when i see a movie has broken box office records

(+) Yeah! (+)

With inflation, and more theaters going up every year, just makes it easier for the old records to be broken

Lets say movie 1990
Then theaters had 50 seats and there was 30 theaters at $5 a ticket.
Lets say they sold out the movie 100%
That would be 1500 seats sold, and 7500 in revenue.

Now lets look at movie 2018
Each theater now as 150 seats and there is 70 theaters. Each ticket is also $20.
But only 50% of the seats fill at each theater this time.
There still is 5625 seats sold and the movie makes 112500 in revenue.

The 1990 movie could have sold more tickets if more seats were available (though not necessarily would happen) 2018 sold about 4x more tickets and made 15x more money.
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I don't think I've ever been inside a theater as small as only 50 seats. Maybe one theater I went to back in '94, and even then, it probably wasn't that small.
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Golden Road posted...

I don't think I've ever been inside a theater as small as only 50 seats. Maybe one theater I went to back in '94, and even then, it probably wasn't that small.

Really? Ive definitely been in theaters smaller than fifty seats recently. Its where they show the movies that nobody is seeing

I always kind of look at how long a movie takes to go from theaters to Netflix/Blu-ray/Whatever.

Back in the 80-90's it took something like 6 months for a movie to show up on video. If it was Star Wars or something really popular, it took upwards of a year.

Nowadays if a movie lasts a month in theaters it is a freaking miracle.
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Gone with the wind is still number one adjusted for inflation

You do realize records account for inflation? And as a different user said, films would stay in theaters for much longer than they do now.

Dikitain posted...

I always kind of look at how long a movie takes to go from theaters to Netflix/Blu-ray/Whatever.

Back in the 80-90's it took something like 6 months for a movie to show up on video. If it was Star Wars or something really popular, it took upwards of a year.

Nowadays if a movie lasts a month in theaters it is a freaking miracle.

I always attributed that to better technology, as in it's easier to release movies to home media now than it was back in the day. but i could be wrong

green dragon posted...

Dikitain posted...

I always kind of look at how long a movie takes to go from theaters to Netflix/Blu-ray/Whatever.

Back in the 80-90's it took something like 6 months for a movie to show up on video. If it was Star Wars or something really popular, it took upwards of a year.

Nowadays if a movie lasts a month in theaters it is a freaking miracle.

I always attributed that to better technology, as in it's easier to release movies to home media now than it was back in the day. but i could be wrong

Its like that now for hype of movies and boost dvd/bluray/digital sales. People are more likely to buy it for home video when it hasnt been in theaters as long cause hype for the movie stagnated at the end of its 1 year long theater run.
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Honestly, population increase and larger worldwide distribution are probably the biggest reasons. iirc, Titanic broke records in 97 when just the US population was 272m. US population in 2018 is 326m.

Dikitain posted...

I always kind of look at how long a movie takes to go from theaters to Netflix/Blu-ray/Whatever.

Back in the 80-90's it took something like 6 months for a movie to show up on video. If it was Star Wars or something really popular, it took upwards of a year.

Nowadays if a movie lasts a month in theaters it is a freaking miracle.

That's not necessarily a matter of it leaving theaters faster but instead a much quicker turnaround on release to other platforms.

GanglyKhan posted...

You do realize records account for inflation? And as a different user said, films would stay in theaters for much longer than they do now.

When the numbers are quoted, they don't seem to adjust for inflation. They just list the spend.
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honestly, at this point, marvel is competing with just themselves
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helIy posted...

honestly, at this point, marvel is competing with just themselves

How did you know that Infinity Wars inspired this topic?
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probably because that's the only movie that's come out recently that would have broken "box office records"

like you don't even need to see the numbers, at this point you just see it's a marvel movie and go "yep"
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helIy posted...

probably because that's the only movie that's come out recently that would have broken "box office records"

like you don't even need to see the numbers, at this point you just see it's a marvel movie and go "yep"

And slightly before that it was Star Wars. Disney making the bank
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One aspect that's gone is double features. So the numbers for Gone with the Wind are actually even higher, but impossible to know by how much.
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Ogurisama posted...

Lets say movie 1990
Then theaters had 50 seats

... That isn't an issue of time but place. Maybe if you're in a town of 1000 people you would see a theater that small.

Doctor Foxx posted...

helIy posted...

probably because that's the only movie that's come out recently that would have broken "box office records"

like you don't even need to see the numbers, at this point you just see it's a marvel movie and go "yep"

And slightly before that it was Star Wars. Disney making the bank

You forgot Black Panther in between
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BlackScythe0 posted...

Ogurisama posted...

Lets say movie 1990
Then theaters had 50 seats

... That isn't an issue of time but place. Maybe if you're in a town of 1000 people you would see a theater that small.

Nah, I've been to a theater like that in seattle

green dragon posted...

BlackScythe0 posted...

Ogurisama posted...

Lets say movie 1990
Then theaters had 50 seats

... That isn't an issue of time but place. Maybe if you're in a town of 1000 people you would see a theater that small.

Nah, I've been to a theater like that in seattle

Seattle is also full of hipsters so this really doesn't surprise me.

SkynyrdRocker posted...

Gone with the wind is still number one adjusted for inflation

And probably will be forever, because it made like a billion dollars after adjusting. That's really a reflection of how movie-going has changed, though, given that Gone With the Wind came out at a time when home video wasn't nearly as prevalent a thing, far fewer movies were produced overall, and it was common to see movies return to theatres if demand was high enough. It's still an impressive record, but the fact that times have changed means it isn't really directly comparable to modern records.

Whats really funny is when theyre like this is the HIGHEST GROSSING FILM OF ALL TIME to be released in the first week of February
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"Art House" theaters, and maybe ones on or near college campuses, would have small numbers of seats. I've been to a couple of those (one even had obstructed seating from building support pillars).
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