Movie Earnings Up, Attendance Down For Summer 2011

The New York Times today presents some curious data about this summer's movie-goers.

The film industry typically defines its "summer" season by the rough guideline of May's first weekend through Labor Day, and that stretch makes up about 40 percent of the industy's overall annual revenue.

Going by revenue, this wasn't a bad season. Releases during that stretch earned $4.38 billion overall, a 1-percent jump over Summer 2010 that sets an overall revenue record.

Unfortunately, that record was set by only 543 million movie-goers, the lowest attendance theaters have seen since 1997, when "Men in Black" ruled the season by domestically grossing $250.7 million. "Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows - Part 2" topped this year's releases with $1.31-billion worldwide haul.

Only two other movies took in more than $1 billion: "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" and "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides."

The Times article postulates that 18 3-D releases - which always carry a higher cost - and higher general ticket prices probably drove revenue more than anything.

At least next summer, the industry and fans can both probably anxiously anticipate big openings for "The Amazing Spider-Man," "The Avengers" and "The Dark Knight Rises."

That just might be the biggest summer for comic-based releases ever. Unfortunately, with the economy showing no signs of stimulation and no reason at all to suspect that ticket prices might fall as Hollywood pumps more and more revenue back into these flashy blockbusters, it'll be surprising if attendance reverses course.

This marks the fourth consecutive summer that attendance has been on a downward slide.