upstill@ucbvax.UUCP (06/02/83)
According to today's New York Times, Revenge of the Jedi has taken in $41.1 million at the box office in its first six days of release. Needless to say, this is an all-time record. Just to put this into perspective, consider: -- It cost $31M to produce (which doesn't mean it has yet turned a profit, however, since $31M represents the "negative" cost of getting one print in the can, and doesn't include distributors and exhibitors' fees, costs of prints, promotion, etc. But, still...) -- The previous record-holder, ET, grossed $25M in seven days. -- Only a handful of films have even made that much money during their entire releases history. Ghandi, for instance, is just about at the $40M mark six months after release. What does it all mean, Mr. Natural?
julian@osu-dbs.UUCP (06/07/83)
"... this is an all-time record. Just to put this into perspective ..." Yes, let's put this into perspective: Many theaters are showing this movie 24 hours per day. Many more are extending their normal hours of operation so they can show it more times. In other words, the public has two to three times as much access to this movie as they normally do. When has something like this been done before? Something that's easy to get to is usually frequented more than something that is more difficult to get to. Gross receipts are determined by how much people have to shell out to see a movie. Just as Star Wars showed a large gross when it came out by boosting the average ticket price from $3.50 to $4.50, RotJ is following suit by boosting average ticket prices (I get the impression it's about $5, up from $4). Of course it's making a shitload of money -- it's charging a shitload more for admission. $4 to $5 is 25%, which is a STIFF increase. Comparing the gross receipts on RotJ to other movies is comparing apples to oranges. After the extended hours are factored out ... after the artificially increased prices are factored out ... after INFLATION is factored out ... then it is fair to compare its gross receipts with other movies.
paulsc@tekecs.UUCP (06/08/83)
In response to your apples and oranges claim on the six day income of RotJ. If the movie wasn't any good, it wouldn't matter if they showed the movie 25 hours a day and 8 days a week. I don't think a lousy movie would break any income records, no matter what the admission price was.
davew@tekecs.UUCP (06/08/83)
It seems the old law of supply and demand is alive and well and operating at your neighborhood theater. Supply expands to meet demand and prices rise when demand can not meet the need. In a few weeks (months) demand will level out, the theaters will cut back to a normal schedule and prices will probably come down somewhat.If you can't wait your going to have to pay the freight. Dave Williams Tektronix,Inc. ECS
upstill@ucbvax.UUCP (06/09/83)
Re appropriate factors: True, some theaters showing Jedi are showing it 24 hours a day. About 25 of them, I believe, out of about 1000 prints extant. The rest are probably on the same schedule as theaters around here: six or seven showings a day. True, the ticket prices are higher on Jedi than on most films. It is a first-run movie after all. However, comparison is fair, since the number of theaters showing the movie is lower than most such blockbusters. Superman II, for example, did $24M in a week, but in 1600 theaters. I believe ET was in 1300 theaters when it had its $25M week. And Star Trek II did about $5.4M in a day when it opened, but in something over 1500 theaters. Let's face it: nobody's seen anything like this movie for popularity. Add to the discouragement of high ticket prices the inconvenience of standing in line for sold-out shows and what you have is an incredibly popular movie. Which is not, of course, a tribute to the quality of the film so much as an indicator of Lucas' skill as a hype-monger. Nonetheless... By the way, the 12-day total is $70 million. They should break even any day now.
rmiller@ccvaxa.UUCP (06/09/83)
#R:ucbvax:-17700:ccvaxa:10100004:000:114 ccvaxa!rmiller Jun 8 09:06:00 1983 ROTJ 12 day gross was about $70 million. they should now be profitable, even after the distributors get paid off.
trb@floyd.UUCP (06/09/83)
I don't understand the point of counting 6-day or 12-day gross as opposed to 7-day. I don't know of any movie houses that are closed one day a week. I bet there isn't a single one showing ROTJ which has closed a single day during its run. Andy Tannenbaum Bell Labs Whippany, NJ (201) 386-6491