Film attendances up despite economic gloom

Despite many retailers reporting declines in year on year sales, the New Zealand box office is holding strongly in 2009. As consumers tighten their discretionary spending, movie going has retained its appeal for people looking for an escape from their financial woes. As the price of an average movie ticket is approximately $10 and the average film lasts for approximately two hours, going to the movies has remained great value given the strong quality of films in the market place. New Zealanders seem to agree, with over three million admissions for 2009 to date and just over $34 million at the box office.

A few films in particular have reported exceptional box office results. The box office hit Slumdog Millionaire which won the Oscar for “Best Picture” at the Academy Awards recently, has grossed over $4 million at the New Zealand box office. This represents 22% of the Australian box office and 3% of the USA result, when typically New Zealand cinemas gross 16% of the Australian box office and 1.5% of the USA box office. One cinema reported seventeen sell-out sessions during the film’s opening weekend and the film is set to become the highest grossing film of all time for a number of cinema location. Commenting on these results Elizabeth Trotman, General Manager for Hoyts Distribution NZ said, “We are thrilled with the performance of not only Slumdog Millionaire but also the teen vampire hit Twilight. Over 300,000 New Zealanders have seen Twilight and there seems little evidence to show that the box office is declining during the recession. We expect this resilience to hold throughout the year with other releases such as The Twilight Saga: New Moon and Fame both expected to draw large crowds.”

The success stories have not been limited to arthouse/crossover films with mainstream films also reporting strong results. My Bloody Valentine, the 3D horror film that released across New Zealand in February, saw better than average results. The film opened on eight 3D screens and twenty one standard 35mm prints. The appeal of 3D proved impressive with the 3D screens taking nine times more than conventional screens.
Hoyt’s CEO Delfin Fernandez observes, “The New Zealand box office has performed very strongly this year to date. Although the economy has faced challenges with the last quarter of 2008 being a time of New Zealand’s weakest GDP since 1992, the increasing box office trend set in 2008 looks like it will continue throughout 2009. Along with conventional 35mm films, distributors are set to release a strong slate of 3D films also; including Monsters Vs Aliens this weekend and James Cameron’s Avatar later in the year. Movie going represents strong value and that is exactly what consumers seek during a period of uncertainty.”

Perhaps during these turbulent economic times there is one industry that remains “recession friendly”.