From Deep In The MPA’s “Theme Report”, Markers Of A Weird New Movie World

This is a strange world, this (almost, a kind of, perhaps) post-Covid cinematic landscape. The pieces fall into place: production has been underway for a year, box office receipts continue to grow, albeit still large compared to the pre-Kovid rate.

But it’s so different, and I don’t just mean an obvious transition to the flow. Take a look at the Motion Picture Association’s so-called “community report” two months ago, a statistical survey of the film industry compiled every year, and you can see a summary of the industry that was devastated by the catastrophe and is still in progress. growth. The ways veteran observers might find it disturbing, if not downright grotesque.

The strangest thing for me is the near disappearance of an older audience, a trend that is finally fading with relative success. Downton Abbey: a new era. The reasons for the disappearance are quite clear: people over the age of 60 were considered more vulnerable to the coronavirus, so they left theaters when the pandemic hit and returned very slowly. Although they make up about 24% of the total population, according to the community report, people over the age of 60 accounted for only 9% of ticket sales in 2021, down from 15% in 2018. In other words, yes it is a 40% percentage drop in participation.

Looking at it from another point of view, older ticket buyers reduced their purchases by 80 units per capita, from 2.5 per person in 2018 to one per person last year. Purchases in people between the ages of 2 and 17 have only been halved. So the very young have gained box office weight at the expense of the older ones.

If he realizes that older viewers are now watching at home, he will be right. But, according to the report, the over 60-year-old crowd accounts for only 14% of daily subscription views, compared to 39% for a similarly sized block between 25 and 39. Older viewers, the former Oscar pillar, are not seen. He got into the habit of flow. Instead, the report says, they watch expensive TVs in large numbers, seemingly stuck with those repetitive but soothing cable packages from pre-Kovid movies.

So the generation grew up. Godfather I quit. Meanwhile, a new group of thinkers, children and child-like adults, have moved on.

According to the report, starting with the 13 highest-grossing films last year Spider-Man: There is no way to go home, All rated PG-13. Of course, this is just continuing the long-standing blockbuster trend. More revealing is the list of the most viewed movies in the United States with only two, red notice Y Mitchell against cars, Sourced from Netflix; The rest was on Disney +, led by the first four streamers, Luca, vaiana, Ray and the dragonY Frozen II.

Streaming, at a high level, has become a babysitting service. As images worthy of an Oscar TAIL OR the power of The dog They get lost in a heap.

Spider-Man: There is no way to go homeOf course, it is a particularly strange manifestation in the new landscape. With $ 573 million in domestic ticket sales at the end of the year, it accounted for nearly 13 percent of the year’s total box office, a once-honorable display for the entire major studio roster. In reverse, javi pantherMega-Hit accounted for less than 6% of industry sales in 2018. Grotesque, in fact: like a radiated pattern, a photograph of a slice of pumpkin was taken.

Ethnic viewer behavior is broadly unchanged due to the pandemic: attendance among most groups showed a similar decline in 2021, down just under two-thirds from 2018. But Asians have moved away from theaters. more dramatic: per capita ticket purchases fell during this period. 78 percent

More surprising, perhaps, was the sudden rift in perceived behavior between men and women (the use of traditional gender categories is still mentioned in the report). In 2021, men accounted for 59% of total ticket sales, while women accounted for only 41%; The balance was almost the same in 2018, when men bought 53% of tickets, women 47%.

But before the boys / men left, the girls / women looked at the house. Last year, 54% were women and 46% were men, according to the report. In postcoed entertainment, there are a lot of disconnects.