(Note: The following post was compiled from statistics courtesy of my good friends over at The Numbers)
A couple of interesting numbers I want to throw out there to give you guys an idea of the significant role that inflation and the increase in theaters have played in the dramatic rise in box office grosses:
Take for example The Dark Knight's opening weekend record. Many box office analysts cite the first Spider-Man's opening weekend to be the single most impressive of all-time, even though it has since been bested by several movies. The reason for this is all in the numbers.
Spider-Man's 2002 total US gross of $403.7 million would actually represent $498.9 million if it had been released today. That's a difference of $95 million in ticket price inflation just in the past 6 years. This, of course, is compared to The Dark Knight's staggering $533 million in total US gross.
An interesting note, if The Dark Knight's gross were taken in 2002 dollars, it's total would be around $431 million.
Now, look at the opening weekend numbers. Spider-Man's $114 million opening weekend gross would adjust to over $140 million in 2008 numbers. Obviously impressive, but it still wouldn't be record-breaking by 2009 standards.
But here's where things get interesting. Take a look at the theater counts for the opening weekends of both films. The Dark Knight played in over 4,300 theaters. Spider-Man? In only 3,600. When you adjust the "per theater average" to reflect the gross both films averaged per theater, the number is striking.
By its own 2008 numbers, The Dark Knight averaged over $36,000 per theater. But Spider-Man, if its numbers reflected 2008's ticket prices, would actually have a per theater average of over $39,000. That 700+ difference in theater counts is significant.
So hypothetically speaking (as if any of this is anything but), if you were to apply Spider-Man's 2008 per theater average to The Dark Knight's theater count, you would wind up with an opening weekend total of around $171 million. And that, of course, would be the record.
All in all, I just think it's pretty amazing how the movie industry has just continued to explode year in and year out when compared to other entertainment industries. The considerable expansion of theater chains and the obvious increase in ticket prices have changed the way studios interpret and respond to record-setting feats.
Posts
