IS BOX OFFICE FINALLY BOUNCING BACK? RECENT HITS ENCOURAGING, BUT NOT UP TO '04.Byline: GREG HERNANDEZ Staff Writer With the Vince Vaugh-Jennifer Aniston romantic comedy ``The Break-Up'' leading the way with a $39.2 million opening last weekend -- $1 million more than originally estimated -- movie ticket sales have exceeded last year's totals for 10 out of the last 11 weekends. Add that to four out of the current top five films, ``X-Men: The Last Stand,'' ``Over the Hedge,'' ``The Da Vinci da Vinci Surgery A surgical robot for performing certain surgeries–eg, mitral valve repair and laparoscopic procedures–eg, cholecystectomy and gastric ulcer repair. See Laparoscopic surgery, Robotics, Surgical robot. Code'' and ``Mission: Impossible III'' all having reached the $100 million mark domestically, and it would seem that the industry is rebounding from its historic box office slump Slump A temporary fall in performance, often describing consistently falling security prices for several weeks or months. of 2005. But is there really that much to celebrate? A year ago, the industry was mired mire n. 1. An area of wet, soggy, muddy ground; a bog. 2. Deep slimy soil or mud. 3. A disadvantageous or difficult condition or situation: the mire of poverty. v. in a record losing streak in which weekend revenue fell behind 2004 totals for an unprecedented 19 consecutive weekends. So this year's crop of films has not exactly had to live up to very lofty comparisons. ``It's it's 1. Contraction of it is. 2. Contraction of it has. See Usage Note at its. it's it is or it has it's be ~have a little bit encouraging but not something we should jump for joy over,'' warned Gitesh Pandya, editor of BoxOfficeGuru.com. ``We have more films this year and they are better films from the standpoint The Standpoint is a newspaper published in the British Virgin Islands. It was originally published under the name Pennysaver, largely as a shopping-coupon promotional newspaper, but since emerged as one of the most influential sources of journalism in the that they are what people want to pay money to see.'' Pandya said that for most weekends this year, the box office revenue is still not matching overall grosses from 2004 when Hollywood Hollywood. 1 Community within the city of Los Angeles, S Calif., on the slopes of the Santa Monica Mts.; inc. 1903, consolidated with Los Angeles 1910. had a record summer ($3.96 billion). Compared with 2005 totals, year-to-date Year-to-date (YTD) The period beginning at the start of the calendar year up to the current date. revenue is up by 4.65 percent but attendance is up 1.5 percent. And when 2006 is compared with 2004, 8.18 percent fewer people have bought movie tickets so far this year and revenue is 2.27 percent lower despite average ticket prices being 40 cents higher. While 2002 still holds the all-time record for movie attendance, 2004 was the year of record revenue ($9.4 billion). By this time in 2004, ``The Passion of the Christ'' had earned most of its $370.3 million take domestically, ``Shrek 2'' was on its way to a $436.5 million finish and ``The Day After Tomorrow'' ended up grossing $186.7 million overall. Last year's big hits were far fewer by the time June had rolled around although ``Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith'' had the second-biggest opening weekend in history and went on to gross $380.3 million domestically. Other $100 million-plus hits during the first five months of 2005 were ``Madagascar,'' ``The Longest Yard'' and ``The Pacifier,'' but there were far more disappointments. ``Compared to 2004, we may not look so great but we are certainly in a better place than we were a year ago,'' said Paul Dergarabedian, president of the box office tracking firm Exhibitor Relations Co. The optimism will continue this week with Friday's release of the Pixar Animation Studios Animation studio can refer to:
prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. several box office pundits. greg.hernandez(at)dailynews.com (818)713-3758 CAPTION(S): 3 charts Chart: (1 -- 3) Box Office Green Streak Source: Exhibitor Relations Co., Inc. Warren Huskey/Staff Artist |
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