Big Picture
Good Morning, Nicki! Plus, Daniel Radcliffe works his magic and Bruce Jenner blasts to the past. Get the latest pics!
MORE PHOTOS +Top 10 Stories
- Whitney Houston's Funeral: "Totally Opposite" of Michael Jackson's
- Oscar Winner Marcia Gay Harden Files for Divorce
- Matt Bomer Comes Out as Gay: "So Proud of Him," Says White Collar Costar
- So True? So False? Is Jessica Simpson Really Going on The Biggest Loser?!
- Kids' Choice Nominations Are In: Harry Potter, Tim Tebow, Taylor Swift and More Score Nods
- Teen Mom's Amber Portwood Headed to Halfway House Drug Program
- Did Stephen Colbert Shut Down Report Due to Mother's "Serious Illness"?
- One Tree Hill's Sophia Bush and Austin Nichols Break Up
- Awkward Alert: Jon Stewart's Underwear Joke Hits Close to Home With David Letterman
- Jennifer Lopez Tweets, Then Deletes, Steamy Casper Smart Shot—Check It Out!
Fashion Police
Our Partners
Valenti Bemoans 2003 Box Office
Making movies costs big bucks these days.
The cost of the run-of-the-mill Hollywood blockbuster skyrocketed 15 percent in 2003, according to Jack Valenti, outgoing head of the Motion Picture Association of America.
Valenti addressed the high price of film in his opening state of the industry speech at the annual ShoWest covention of theater owners Tuesday.
Last year, the top seven studios spent an average of $102.8 million each to make and market their films, a figure that caused Valenti consternation.
"Budget discretion has to be a fervid priority at every studio," Valenti said.
All told, studios spent an average of $63.8 million on production budgets for the 198 films released in 2003, which constituted an 8.6 percent leap.
The films' marketing budgets, too, were on the rise, jumping to $39 million--a 28 percent increase over the previous year.
Studios have had to contend with the ebb and flow of production and marketing budgets in recent years as they try to juggle the demand for top-name talent with pressure from stockholders to keep costs down.
Despite a 23-cent increase in average movie ticket prices in 2003, Tinseltown's domestic box office take dropped to under $9.5 billion--down 0.3 percent from 2002.
The number of moviegoers dipped 4 percent from 2002, with a paltry 1.574 billion people schlepping to the theater to take in a flick.
But it wasn't all bad news.
John Fithian, head of the National Association of Theatre Owners, pointed to a rise in the overall admissions trend for theater chains. Stadium seating, supersized screens and improved sound quality have lured increasing numbers of consumers to the cinema over the last decade.
In addition, 2003 came in as the second-best year for film attendance since the 1950s, when the advent of television drew people out of the theaters and home to the comforts of their own living rooms.
However, it was nothing compared to Hollywood's boom period of the '30s and '40s, when as many as 4 billion tickets were sold each year.
Valenti, 82, has long served as helmsman for the MPAA, which lobbies on behalf on Hollywood's major studios in Washington, D.C.
This May will mark his 38th anniversary with the association. He'll man the post until an appropriate successor is found to take over the position.
0 Comments
Now loading...