[Repost] THB #534: Box Office, Mid-May

not in the car… the theatrical exhibition business

Having covered weekly box office professionally for 30 years and doing amateur sleuthing for 20 years before, one thing is clear. Summer and Holidays-Nov/Dec are the times when box office is most interesting. Other periods have their moments, but these are the periods when there is some serious head-to-head competition between studios. This is more true now than ever, as distributors focus on less and less of the calendar, misguidedly setting up an increasing threat to the entire exhibition business by de-risking in a business where risk drives the entire enterprise.

I don’t know that I have said this clearly enough anytime recently, but remember that exhibitors open their doors 365 days a year, paying rent every day, paying staff every day, regardless of whether distributors are releasing movies and supporting all of their titles with the needed marketing to sell those movies to the still-small percentage of the potential audience that…