madara

I'm sure this question has been asked before, perhaps is dumb one as it could be very basic but I not sure how to go about doing search for it. Its all well and good when they say a movie is a big hit and "grossed" 200 million dollars or something but surely that is not the amount that really is coming back to them in check or something. Theaters need a chunk of that change as well to stay in business.

DeanoBKN

Usually theatre's make the bulk of their money on the concession stand. That is why a small popcorn costs $5

Mr. Cinema

Don't studios take around 60% of the first few weekends of a movie's gross and then after about the 5th week, the theater takes a bigger %? Of course, this could be the reason why they want huge openings. And then after about the 4th week, the movie has run its course and isn't making much, which coincidentally, is when the theaters % of gross increases.

Joe Molotov

Box Office Mojo says that a rough estimate is 55%.

Elldubtoo

It depends on how long Groucho walks inside the studio.


Thank you.

kenbuzz

The studio would get more of the BO if they stopped using this.

garmonbozia

The numbers I have always seen are more like 90% initially.....tapering down to 50% after several weeks.

masbrad

I posted this respose about a year ago talking about high ticket prices but a lot of what I said will help in this.

.......
Take a movie that is coming out that you know will be hot. When I was involved in the industry we had Jurassic Park part II coming out. Theatres negotiate with distributors to get the movie. In the San Francisco Bay Area one company gave 100% of ticket take for the first four weeks of the run!! This is actually quite common.

The rest goes on to a sliding scale. Where as in week one the theater gives 80% of the ticket revenue, in week two and three it will drop to 70%, and so on. The longer a movie is out the less of a take is made by the distributors. That is why dicount houses can charge 2.00-3.00 and still sometimes come out with more profit. The only time a theatre is making huge ticket price profit is when a movie has legs or picks up as it plays. Forrest Gump is an example here. Or sometimes after an academy award a movie will get a nice bump like with Amadeus.

Now as to prices. A lot of the high ticket prices is fueled by the industry. Say you own theater A and have a price of 8 with a 5 first matinee. Brings your total average ticket price with discounts, seniors, etc to say 6.75. Then take theater B who charges 10.75 , etc with an average ticket price of say 9.50. If you are the distributor who gets the movie? Especially when you factor in the higher opening percentages?

Also many times theatre companies will negoatiate a price for ALL of their locations or for entire areas. AVG ticket price takes into account the regions. That is why you see similar prices among an entire region and by a company.

masbrad

It all depends on the competiton and size of market. if it is the only game in town then a theatre chain will be able to get better percentages.

marty888

That's the figure that I've always heard as the amount for the "A" movies, with the number of weeks it stays high being flexible. I'm sure movies like SW and War Of The Worlds get a bigger chunk for more weeks as opposed to something like The Great Raid and other August dumps.

Something like The Island probably had a top percentage deal, so the theaters really hurt when the movie starts out lousy, they are getting 10-20% of the feeble box office, and only after the first few weeks does the theater's percentage go up - but by that time, there is no audience.