Numbers: What do they really tell us?
"1995 was an odd kind of year." So said Jack Valenti, head of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). According to Valenti in a speech to the National Theater Owners Association in March, Hollywood released 27% more movies in 1995 than in 1994. However, ticket revenue increased by only 1.8%, while total attendance actually decreased. These highly irregular numbers can mean only two things; ticket prices went up -- and they did -- and, many movies did very poorly at the box office -- and they did.
But, more intriguing to me were Valenti's statistics about movie attendance by age group. For example, in 1995 patrons over age 40 made up over 1/3 of all attendees. That is an increase of 43% since 1990. Contrasted with this was a 25% drop in moviegoing by those between ages 12 and 20. The most consistent group was between 21 and 39, which purchased 42% of all theater tickets sold.
I believe the shift in attendance by age groups for 1995 is due to an increased number of family-oriented films. Besides the increase in virtuous movie themes in 1995, the quality was also much improved, as reflected by the unusually high number of wholesome titles found among this year's Academy Award Nominees. The studios released their family movies more evenly throughout 1995 so families could afford to see more of them. I still maintain that the studios and theater-owners should get together and develop a Family Pricing Plan. It could dramatically increase both the attendance and box office revenue for this popular category of movies.
I ran some of the numbers in Valenti's speech, combined them with the Nielson television viewership survey for 1995, and came up with some alarming results. The average man, woman and child living in America watches movies and/or television a total of 2187 hours per year. That amounts to one hundred thirty-seven 16 hour days, allowing 8 hours a day for sleeping, bathing, etc. Whether these numbers are scientifically accurate is not the issue. It does demonstrate that we all spend much too much time being passively and mindlessly "entertained." Perhaps it's time to dust off the Pictionary game, or search for the missing Monopoly pieces, or resurrect the old model train set. Here's a novel thought! Can anyone remember where we put that Family Bible?
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Dick Rolfe is Chairman of The Dove Foundation a nonprofit organization whose mission is to encourage and promote the creation, production and distribution of wholesome family entertainment. For more information about wholesome films and videos, write: 535 E. Fulton, Suite 1A, Grand Rapids, MI 49503, or call (616)454-5024.
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RolfeCopyright © 1996, The Dove Foundation. All rights reserved.