January Box-Office Attendance: 20 Year Low

[AndyDursin]

If you didn't go to the movies last month, you weren't alone...

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=3071&p=.htm

The January box office tallied $754 million, which paled compared to January 2010's record $1.06 billion gross. The January-to-January drop was the steepest on the books at 29 percent, and the gross was the lowest since 2007.

In terms of estimated attendance, January 2011 posted a 20-year low, and not by some slim margin. The month's ticket sales were optimistically estimated at 94 million, and one has to go back to 1995 to find another sub-100-million January.

January's anemic business was a by-product of 2010's whimpering end, but it was also due to the lowest number of new nationwide releases since 1995: there were only nine, compared to an average of 14 per January over the previous 15 years. When the movies aren't broadly appealing or aren't even there, business suffers.

For the first time in decades, the top-grossing movie in January was one originally released in January: The Green Hornet led the month with $79.1 million. The month is usually topped by a holdover from the previous year, and True Grit came close to keeping the streak alive with $78.4 million. Little Fockers was third with $60.3 million, while The King's Speech ($55.4 million) and Black Swan ($50.3 million) rounded out the Top Five.

Individually, Green Hornet fared well for a superhero comedy, while True Grit, The King's Speech and Black Swan were gangbusters for their respective genres (all seemingly enhanced by the lack of competition for screens and attention), but, collectively, their appeal was inherently limited. Hollywood failed to deliver the broadly-appealing entertainments that keep overall business booming. An extreme example of the industry scoring on this front was last January, when Avatar dominated with $312.1 million, followed by Sherlock Holmes and Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel.

[Paul MacLean]

I used to go to the movies at least once or twice a month. These days it's maybe three or four times a year. There's little being made today interests me.

Hollywood movies are now all low-risk pablum (like remakes and sequels) and even "innovative" movies like Avatar and Inception are little more kids' movies with nothing to offer beneath the veneer of CGI effects.

I miss the days of Orion Pictures, who made medium-budgeted films with interesting subject matter and gave directors a free hand (compare that to the Weinsteins who gleefully meddle and recut the work of directors of even Martin Scorsese's stature).

Also, there was a time when a score by Jerry Goldsmith, John Williams or John Barry might have been enough to get me to go to a movie. Can't say the same for Alexandre Desplat.

[Eric W.]

3D will save it!