Summer of 2010 Marks Lowest Movie Attendance in Over a Decade

Early projections indicate that this summer’s movie ticket sales will be at the lowest level since 1997. The number of tickets sold between May 1 and Labor Day is expected to fall 2.6% since last year to a total of 552 million, the lowest figure since the summer of 1997 when 540.3 million tickets were sold nationwide.

Despite these depressed sales figures, movie studios and theater owners are expected to enjoy record highs in total revenue and gross sales. Buoyed by rising ticket prices, it is estimated that this summer’s box office revenue will be about $4.35 billion, a 2.4% increase over last summer.

The average price of a movie ticket in the U.S. currently stands at about $7.88, a 5% increase over last year’s prices. Much of this increase is attributed to the growing popularity and prevalence of 3D movies, tickets for which typically cost about $3 more than standard two dimensional films. More than half of the ticket sales for two of this summer’s top grossing films “Toy Story 3” and “Shrek Forever After” came from viewers who saw it in 3D.  The films had domestic earnings $405.7 million and $238 million respectively.

However, despite generating record revenues many industry observers have speculated that declining theater attendance may be indicative of long term problems for the film industry. In an interview with a reporter the president of Hollywood.com Box-Office Paul Dergarabed said, “When you raise prices and perceive that quality goes down, you have a major problem.” He went on to say that if movie studious fail to produce more films with popular appeal, revenues will ultimately dwindle as theater goers continue to stay home in larger numbers,