Movie Business Alive and Well Amidst Economic Woes

2008 may be a year of economic turmoil, but for Mike Campbell, CEO for the largest theater chain in the U.S., business is still booming. Rueters reported today that Campell, CEO for Regal Entertainment Group, said that the movie industry is "having a very good fourth quarter this year compared to last year as an industry."
Campell reported that movie theaters were experiencing revenue growth in the double digits and attendance growth in the high single digits. Campell stated that the movie industry has been successful during the various recessions of the past fifty years.
It is a curious fact that even when the economy is reeling and worry about finances is in the air, people will still go in droves to the movie theater. Though the U.S. saw recession during the first three quarters of 2001, for example, the year still saw a 4.7 percent rise in the amount of movie tickets sold compared to the previous year, as reported by boxofficemojo.com, and during the recession of 1981 and 1982 movie theaters saw continual growth in revenue and theater attendance. The highest grossing movie of all time, when adjusted for inflation, is "Gone With the Wind," which premiered during the Great Depression.
In this blogger's opinion, the movie industry often stays afloat during hard economic times simply because there are few escapist experiences as easily accessible as seeing a movie at a theater. People are able to leave the stress of their lives for a couple of hours in a dimly lit room and have their ears, eyes, and mind engaged by entertaining stories. As long as Hollywood produces good, escapist entertainment, the audience will come.
The Reuters story does mention one way in which the entertainment industry has been touched by the current economic crisis. While Regal Entertainment Group has been doing well, it's main competitor, the National Amusements theater chain, is struggling. When asked if Regal Entertainment would purchase National Amusements, Campbell said that such an action would be difficult due to the reduced access to credit in today's financial climate.

Links:
http://movies.yahoo.com/news/movies.reuters.com-recessionhit-americans-flocking-movies-reuters
http://boxofficemojo.com/yearly/
http://money.cnn.com/2001/11/26/economy/recession/
http://www.fiendbear.com/bear1981.htm
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/alltime/adjusted.htm

Roman Polanski Challenges Sex Charge 30 Years Later

The Associated Press reported today that critically acclaimed film director Roman Polanski filed a request today to dismiss the charge of unlawful sex with a minor he received 30 years ago. E! Online reports that the request claims 'that there was "misconduct and improper communications' between the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office and the Superior Court."
The AP story reports that the motion came as a response to an HBO documentary, "Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired," which depicted the Superior Court Judge who was in charge of Polanski's case as a 'publicity hound' who acted improperly.
In 1977 Polanski was accused of drugging and raping Samantha Gailey, a 13-year-old girl he had asked to model for a photo shoot. Polanski eventually pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful sex with a minor in 1978. But before sentencing was passed, Polanski fled to France, fearing that the judge would not hold to an agreement that Polanski not go to jail, according to the E! Online story.
Since 1978, Polanski has avoided setting foot in the U.S. or any county that might extradite him, for fear of arrest. In spite of the notoriety, he has still maintained a successful career as a director, even winning the Academy Award for Best Director in 2002 for his film "The Pianist."
According to the AP story, Sandi Gibbons, spokeswoman for Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley, said Cooley's office has not received the motion yet. The AP story quoted her saying, "We're looking forward to seeing Mr. Polanski in Los Angeles to litigate it."

Links:
http://movies.msn.com/movies/article.aspx?news=341987
http://movies.yahoo.com/news/movies.eonline.com/71369-
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/polanskicover1.html (has a transcript of Gailey's 1977 testimony against Polanski)

Del Toro to Shoot Hobbit Films in 2010

In an online chat reported Nov. 27 by bilbohobbit.com, Spanish filmmaker Guillermo Del Toro told fans that he would start shooting the highly anticipated film adaptation of JRR Tolkien’s “The Hobbit” in 2010. According to Del Toro, the shoot would take 370 days, probably referring not just to the shooting time for "The Hobbit," but also its sequel which would be filmed back-to-back with “The Hobbit.”
The 370-day shoot represents an incredibly long period of principal photography. By comparison, the two "Matrix" sequels, which were filmed back-to-back, shot in Australia for only 270 days. "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy itself wrapped up principal photography after 274 days of shooting.

"The Hobbit," along with its sequel, will serve as prequels for Peter Jackson’s widely acclaimed "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, and can be counted on to do big business at the box office when it finally hits theaters.
The Los Angeles Times reported earlier this April that Del Toro would be directing the two prequels, with Jackson producing.
In recent years Del Toro, like Jackson, has become a successful fantasy film director, known for his creative, dream-like visuals. What will be interesting to see is if Del Toro will be able to bring his own unique visual touch to the "Lord of the Rings" prequels while still keeping them consistent with the vision of Middle Earth that Jackson established in his trilogy

Links:
http://bilbohobbit.com/del-toro-talks-hobbit-in-live-chat/
http://www.newsweek.com/id/67002?tid=relatedcl
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120737/trivia
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/movies/la-et-hobbitt25apr25,0,7825580.story

Teen Vampire Romance Conquers Box Office

The numbers are in for Summit Entertainment's latest film, "Twilight," and those numbers are big - very big. According to boxofficemojo.com, the movie, directed by Catherine Hardwicke and based on a wildly popular young adult series written by Stephanie Meyer, raked in over $69 million during the Nov. 21 weekend.
That not only easily makes it the number one movie currently in theaters, but makes it a record setter in several other areas. MTV's Web site reports that the $69 million weekend haul is the best opening ever for a movie directed solely by a woman and puts the movie on track to be the highest-grossing vampire film ever. The weekend gross for "Twilight" is the fifth highest November opening ever, and highest movie opening ever for Summit Entertainment, the distributor of "Twilight," boxofficemojo.com reports.
Amidst such success, Summit Entertainment's Web site announced Nov. 22 that it is "officially moving forward with the production of NEW MOON, the second installment" of the "Twilight" film franchise.
I'm not very surprised at the film's success so far. The "Twilight" series has a very passionate following among female readers, both teen-aged and adult, in my experience. With "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" moved from its original November date to next summer, "Twilight" had less competition in attracting the young adult reader crowd.
And while yahoo.movies.com posted an average movie critic rating of C+ for the film, 19,227 user ratings averaged a B+, so I think the movie's still going to do decent repeat business over the next couple of weeks.
The biggest competition Twilight is going to face this holiday season is probably 20 Century Fox's "Australia," which opens tomorrow in theaters. "Australia" is an epic historical romance of the "Titanic." I assume it will attract a lot of female movie-goers, who, according to MTV's Web site, constituted the overwhelming majority of the audience for "Twilight."

Links:
http://boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=2515&p=.htm
http://www.mtv.com/movies/news/articles/1599996/story.jhtml
http://www.summit-ent.com/
http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1810010670/info