Movie Suckage Barely Affects Attendance
Over the past six months, I’ve seen a number of media stories about Hollywood’s lacklustre 2005 box office revenue. Inevitably, the piece features a sound bite from a film critic or artist (most recently it was Atom Egoyan) decrying the quality of cinema. I don’t disagree, but I’ve always suspected that the fact that most movies suck has little to do with movie attendance. This poll backs me up:
Why have you gone to fewer movies in the past year than a year ago?
Cost of Movie Ticket 35 No Time/Too Busy 35 Cost of Snacks 17 Movie Quality 15 Move Theatre Not As Good As Watching At Home 13 Less Time To Wait for Movie To Buy/Be on DVD 9 Skepticism Towards the Promotional Hype 5 Theatres are Too Busy 3 Other 24 DK/REF. 1
The survey also finds that “54% of Canadians would choose to watch a movie at home on DVD rather than venture out and go to a movie theatre. Only 35% of those polled would choose the movie theatre experience.” No surprisingly, the prairie provinces are the national leaders in staying home.
I have a healthy skepticism about polls, and that 24% for ‘Other’ is worrying (respondents could presumably give multiple reasons). Clearly, though, it’s only a minority of respondents who are most concerned with the quality of today’s cinema.
-j. 
