A box-office jolt from the magic kingdoms of Kong, Narnia and Hogwarts will close Hollywood's year with some holiday cheer, though not enough to offset the biggest decline in movie attendance in 20 years.

Domestic revenues at movie theaters may fall below $9 billion for the first time since 2001 after averaging $9.3 billion over the last three years. Factoring in higher admission prices, the number of tickets sold is expected to finish at about 1.4 billion, the lowest since 1997.

Before Thanksgiving, attendance had been running 8 percent behind 2004's. Huge crowds for "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," the fourth installment of the boy conjurer's adventures at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, helped to whittle that deficit down to 7.3 percent by early December, according to box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations.

Even with the last-minute surge from two other fantasy epics, "King Kong" and "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," movie attendance likely will be down 6 percent or more for the year.

That marks the largest drop since admissions fell 12 percent in 1985.

Souce: New York Daily News

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Posted by Lawren at December 16, 2005 07:33 AM | Trackbacks (0)

You Said

Everybody in the movie industry keeps talking about all the video games and such that cut into the movie industry. That's fine and dandy, but one cinema owner said it best, I think, when he said: "The movies just aren't as good as they used to be."

Amen.

Says: Kevvy the Unnamed Source at December 16, 2005 07:45 AM

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Nor do I feel like dropping $10 to sit in an uncomfortable seat in a crowded theater.

Says: at December 16, 2005 01:22 PM

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