Movie sales at theaters are on the rise while DVD sales are down
This is rather odd. It appears that (in Canada, at least), though theater ticket sales are up, DVD sales have actually decreased. Since one of the most-repeated lines towards movies that aren’t very good is “Wait till it comes out on DVD,” maybe this is a sign that the recent slew of film coming out of Hollywood has some quality to it:
Sales of pre-recorded videos are slowing, as Canadians show a greater interest in watching movies in a theatre rather than at home.
Statistics Canada says revenues from distributions to cinemas rose sharply in 2004/2005, while revenues from sales of DVDs and videocassettes levelled off after four years of growth.
Total film industry revenues climbed to more than $3.5 billion in 2004/2005, up 3.0 per cent from the previous year, and profit margins improved to 22.7 per cent from 21.8 per cent in 2003/2004.
A lot of people don’t know this, but DVD sales usually make up over half of a movie’s revenue. In fact, some movie companies were thinking about releasing DVDs simultaneously along with their theater counterparts. In theory, when the movie is in theaters it acts as a venue for word-of-mouth, which later helps DVD sales. I’m not sure what implications the slump in DVD sales holds for film.
