Ten billion and a happy Hangover

Is an economic recession good for film-going? Yes, if 2009 is anything to go by. It is poised to be the year the North American box office will finally cross the $10bn mark.

As of December 7, domestic ticket sales had overtaken 2007’s previous best of $9.63bn and stood at $9.67bn. Surging past the $10bn remains a formality with 20th Century Fox’s 3D spectacle Avatar and a flurry of holiday releases waiting in the wings. Indeed, Avatar could be the decisive word on the viability of 3D, in a year when the most notable 3D performer so far had been DreamWorks’ Monsters Vs Aliens on $198.4m.

Higher box-office numbers invariably stem from higher ticket prices and while the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) will not release this year’s data until spring 2010, what is known is that the average ticket price in 2008 climbed 4.4% to $7.18 over the previous year. What makes 2009’s box-office performance impressive is that admissions were also running higher than last year and could finish in the region of a 3% gain.

Blockbusters weigh in

The year delivered blockbuster heroics, many flops and an extraordinary rags-to-riches tale. Paramount-DreamWorks’ Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen led the field - before the release of Avatar - on $402.1m, followed by Warner Bros’ Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince on $301.9m and The Walt Disney Company’s Pixar hit Up on $293m. As of November 29, Nielsen EDI figures showed Warner Bros led market share with 19.7% and combined ticket sales of $1.83bn. The studio’s breakout comedy hit, The Hangover, ranked fourth on $277.3m and delivered the biggest R-rated comedy in history.

Summit Entertainment’s hugely popular Twilight sequel, New Moon, ranked fifth on more than $258m, just ahead of Paramount’s acclaimed Star Trek reboot on $257.7m. The New Moon result bodes well for the summer 2010 launch of the third in the series, Eclipse, and talks are underway to Œdo a Warner Bros’ and split the fourth and final instalment Breaking Dawn in two, in much the same way Warner Bros is spreading the love with Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows across 2010 and 2011.

Prior to Avatar, Fox’s best domestic performer of the year was Ice Age: Dawn Of The Dinosaurs - a giant international hit - on $196.6m. Top of the chart for Universal and Sony were Fast & Furious on $155.1m and 2012 on $149.9m, respectively.

With MPAA affiliates releasing close to 500 films between them, it was as difficult as ever to gain traction at the box office and many perished in the brutal proving grounds of the opening weekend. This was the year when 60% second-weekend drops became commonplace, and as always there were flops.
Among the under-achievers were Universal’s Land Of The Lost, Sony’s Year One, Lionsgate’s Saw VI, Warner Bros/MRC’s The Invention Of Lying and MGM/Lakeshore’s Fame remake.

Low-budget activity

One of the biggest box-office stories of the year was Paranormal Activity, the $15,000 handheld horror from unknown film-maker Oren Peli that benefited from a brilliant campaign orchestrated by the studio’s online marketing chief Amy Powell, and went on to gross $107m. Sony’s release of District 9, financed by QED International, deserves an honourable mention too en route to $115.6m.

The economy and the march of technology have conspired to create a distribution sector in a greater state of flux than perhaps ever before and the community needs all the goodwill it can muster. By and large the studios no longer care about the specialty business, as evidenced by the demise of Fox Atomic and new-look Disney’s decision to close down Miramax, the latest in a line of specialty-division casualties over the past 18 months or so.

And yet hope springs eternal: Bob Berney and Bill Pohlad’s Apparition is a hungry, well-connected buyer, albeit one still awaiting its first notable hit, and all eyes will be on new distribution operations at CBS Films, the Film Department and the soon-to-be-announced venture from Tribeca Enterprises.