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Topic: War effected attendance?

Bob Maar
(Maar stands for Maartini)

Posts: 28608
From: New York City & Newport, RI
Registered: Feb 2001

posted 03-20-2003 08:48 AM

Brad..you are right. I forgot to post the smilies to show I was kidding. They are there now.

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Nicholas Roznovsky
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 156
From: College Station, TX, USA
Registered: Apr 2001

posted 03-20-2003 09:46 AM

Yahoo! News has posted a Variety article about the war's potential effect on box office: War Likely To Dampen Box Office Business .

It's mostly pointing out what everybody already knows, but it's there for the looking.

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Darryl Spicer
Film God

Posts: 3250
From: Lexington, KY, USA
Registered: Dec 2000

posted 03-20-2003 10:12 AM

According to WWW.boxofficemojo.com from 1986 to the present the only two years that the box office growth was in a negative figure was in 1990 and 1991.

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Fred Georges
Master Film Handler

Posts: 257
From: Lombard, IL, USA
Registered: Jun 2000

posted 03-20-2003 12:21 PM

I'm projecting for a Film Fest currently in Chicago. A program that in years past produced SRO crowds managed to only draw 7 people over two shows last night. People are sticking close to their TV's (and rightly so). [Eek!]

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Claude S. Ayakawa
Film God

Posts: 2738
From: Waipahu, Hawaii, USA
Registered: Aug 2002

posted 03-20-2003 03:29 PM

As a professional photographer, I have found my business gone from bad to worse since January. The first month was not too bad but February was very bad and so far, March is even worse. My income for the month of February was down more than 60% and the way March is shaping up, the loss will be about 70%. Because of the lack of business and limited income, I have cut back drastically on going to the movies. I now spend the time watching movies from my laserdisc and DVD collection and rent the new movies when they are released to home video for less than two dollars with my senior citizen membership at Tower Video. My business is not the only one hurting. All of my fellow professional photographers are all telling me that they too are hurting.

-Claude

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Nicholas Roznovsky
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 156
From: College Station, TX, USA
Registered: Apr 2001

posted 03-20-2003 07:55 PM

While purusing Yahoo! News again this evening, I found an article on the Reuters wire pointing out a war-related release date change. In this case, it's the Meg Ryan boxing film ( [puke]

) "Against The Ropes". It was originally scheduled for April 25 but has been put on hold indefinitely because Paramount is unsure as to whether they would be able to buy TV commerical time or not to promote it:

quote:
She [A Parmount spokeswoman] said the studio was at the point when it had to start buying advertising time on television and given the war coverage and uncertainty over when TV shows might or might not air, the studio decided to push back the film's release.

"The issue is the advertising gets preempted, and you end up losing your message," said spokeswoman Nancy Kirkpatrick.

Full article here: Paramount Delays Film, Studios Brace For War Impact.

War is never a good thing, but I can't say that I'll be crying over not getting to see Meg Ryan attempt to box. I wonder how many other release dates in April will get pushed back if this lasts longer than a couple of weeks. Might make release schedules even busier than normal in May and June.

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Darryl Spicer
Film God

Posts: 3250
From: Lexington, KY, USA
Registered: Dec 2000

posted 03-21-2003 02:20 AM

Interesting but a poor excuse to hold a release. Put more trailers on the screens. Advertise on espn and other networks that are not covering the war. I don't think Meg actually boxes in the movie she more less trains her own fighter. I think the movie looks good and I like Charles S. Dutton who also directs.

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Thomas Procyk
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1842
From: Royal Palm Beach, FL, USA
Registered: Feb 2002

posted 03-21-2003 08:21 AM

quote:
I would have went out to a movie if there was just something worth a shit to watch.

Here, here! That's exactly what I was thinking when I was building this week's prints: "I wonder, if no one shows up for Boat Trip or View From The Top, if they're going to blame the war." [Roll Eyes]

=TMP=

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Patrick McDonough
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 118
From: Greenfield Ma.
Registered: Jul 2002

posted 03-21-2003 09:15 AM

We will have to see how bad the war has effected our attendance with the new movies starting tonight.

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Bill Gabel
Film God

Posts: 3873
From: Technicolor / Postworks NY, USA
Registered: Jan 2002

posted 03-21-2003 01:26 PM

Whats funny about "View From the Top" release. Was that Miramax
held on to that picture because of 9/11. Now the War in Iraq, that picture can't win. I was handling Post screening on that
picture back July/Aug of 2001. Looks like the business, here
in Manhattan/Times Square is doing fine. The Broadway shows
are looking full and a lot of people are going into the Loew's
E-Walk and AMC Empire Theatres here.

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Dustin Mitchell
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1865
From: Mondovi, WI, USA
Registered: Mar 2000

posted 03-21-2003 02:54 PM

Its going to be hard to tell if the war will affect attendance this weekend or not. There is something of a glut of product (four new movies) and they all look fairly weak. This combined with the fact that it is March indicates that attendance likely woulod have been down anyway.

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Patrick McDonough
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 118
From: Greenfield Ma.
Registered: Jul 2002

posted 03-21-2003 02:55 PM

This is true, good point.

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Darryl Spicer
Film God

Posts: 3250
From: Lexington, KY, USA
Registered: Dec 2000

posted 03-21-2003 06:35 PM

What you have is March Madness, War and crap releases rolled into one. It all spells Slow business.

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Evans A Criswell
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1579
From: Huntsville, AL, USA
Registered: Mar 2000

posted 03-21-2003 09:10 PM

Tonight (Friday, March 21, 2003), when I drove past a couple of the theatres here, there seemed to be a lot of cars in the parking lot. I wouldn't say business is down here in Huntsville.

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Nicholas Roznovsky
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 156
From: College Station, TX, USA
Registered: Apr 2001

posted 03-21-2003 09:20 PM

Well, hell, I've already pointed out two other articles. Here's a third. (I do more than surf the internet for lame news articles, but not much more.) This comes via IMDb's Movie/TV Studio Briefing:

quote:
Will the Homefront Stay at Home?

Midweek movie attendance dropped about 25 percent following the outbreak of hostilities in Iraq Wednesday as moviegoers stayed home to watch TV coverage from the war front. Four studios have films debuting this weekend -- all of which could be hurt by stay-at-homers. Steve Rothenberg, president of Artisan Releasing, which has the comedy Boat Trip opening this weekend, told the Los Angeles Daily News: "We are hoping that if people are glued to their television Friday and Saturday during the day, they will at least want to relieve the stress by going out and seeing a romantic comedy." Exhibitor Relations chief Paul Dergarabedian appeared more confident, telling the newspaper, "Most young moviegoers are not going to sit in the house all weekend and watch war coverage."

Is Boat Trip a romantic comedy? [Confused]

I seemed to miss that in the trailers.

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