Movie Box Office Overtakes DVD, Blu-Ray Sales for the First Time since 2002!

Movie by Joey Paur

 

People are going to the movies again! For the first time since 2002, U.S. consumers spent more watching movies in the theaters than they did buying them on DVD and Blu-Ray discs. And according to reuters this trend is expected to continue.

I’ve always enjoyed the movie going experience! It can’t be beat. The big screen, the digital projection, recently 3D, the awesome surround sound, my Mr. Pibb, Jr. Mints, and Popcorn in hand. It can’t be beat. But the last 6 years more people have preferred watching movies in the comfort of their own home -- which is cool, but it still doesn’t beat the movie theater experience.

I think we are just entering a new era of filmmaking. Where to get the full awesome effect of a film you will have to see it in theaters. Avatar is a perfect example; this movie has to be seen on the big screen. When it comes out on Blu-Ray (possibly in 3D) it still won’t have the same effect that it had in the movie theater. The technology that now exists for filmmakers is going to bring people back to the movies and I’m excited for it.

Would you rather watch movies at the theaters? Or buy them and watch them at home?

Here is the full detailed report from reuters to put it all in perspective for you.

In recent years, Hollywood has come to rely on the high profit margin from DVD sales to underwrite the large cost of producing and marketing films, but with DVD sales dwindling, the movie industry is reexamining its business models.

Adams Media Research reported on Monday that U.S. box office receipts boomed to $9.87 billion in 2009 and overtook DVD and Blu-ray sales of $8.73 billion.

Overall DVD and Blu-ray sales including films, television shows, concert videos and other content declined about 10 percent to $13 billion in 2009, Adams Media said.

The movie disc business peaked in 2004 with U.S. sales of $12.1 billion. With the film industry increasingly relying on the small but growing sectors of on-demand television and online distribution, movie disc sales are not expected to rebound to those peak figures from six years ago.

"It's going to be a more diverse marketplace with more ways of getting movies, therefore packaged sales aren't going to see the kind of growth that we saw with DVD," said Tom Adams, president of Adams Media Research.

The $8.73 billion consumers spent in 2009 to buy movies on DVD and Blu-ray was down 13 percent from the year before, Adams Media said. U.S. box office receipts for 2009 were up nearly 10 percent from the year before.

The last time U.S. box office receipts eclipsed disc sales was in 2002, Adams said.

Adams said the figures for 2009 are still preliminary, as late December sales had to be projected.

Hollywood would like to see Blu-ray sales pick up the slack from slumping DVD business, but that has been hampered by the recession and changing consumer patterns. Blu-ray uses advanced digital technology to produce a sharper picture than DVDs.

About $1.1 billion of the movie discs bought in 2009 were on Blu-ray, and the number of homes with Blu-ray players grew from 3 million to 8 million.

But even as Blu-ray has seen growth, sales of movies on discs have been undercut by the rise of low-cost rental options, such as Coinstar Inc's kiosk chain Redbox, which rents DVDs for $1 a day, and online subscription services such as Netflix Inc.

"Those two sectors of rental have really been growing, and causing people to hesitate about how many discs they're going to buy," Adams said.

Movie disc rentals in 2009 grew to $8.15 billion from $8.11 billion in 2008.

In 2009, the domestic box office reached a record high $10.6 billion, but that includes Canadian ticket sales that were taken out of the numbers compiled by Adams Media.

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