Is Tinsel Town Recession-Proof?

(CBS)  It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas at the box office, with Hollywood releasing a sleigh-full of movies, from sci-fi thrillers like "The Day the Earth Stood Still" to big-star dramas - such as "Revolutionary Road" - to cuddly kids' fare, like "The Tale Of Despereaux."

For Hollywood, the holidays are traditionally a cash cow, even in tough economic times, CBS News correspondent Sandra Hughes reports.

Starting with the Great Depression, when a quarter of the nation was out of work, people have managed to spare a dime to go to the cinema.

"What movies offer today is the same thing they offered during the Great Depression - it's an escape," said Paul Dergarabedian of Hollywood.com.

And one moviegoer said: "What better way to forget about the troubled economy than go to the movies?"

Box office numbers tell the story. In five of the last seven recession years, as the economy went down, ticket sales went up.

So far this downturn, it's looking good.

"During the past three months we're up 15 percent in our box office revenues over the same period last year, up 9 percent in ticket sales," said John Fithian of the National Association of Theater Owners.

That's 25 million more tickets than a year ago - worth more than a quarter of a billion dollars.

Fact is, Hollywood's been recession-proof for so long, they've put it into the script. But this time, Hollywood isn't totally teflon. Several studios have had layoffs.

This year, there's been hit after hit since Thanksgiving weekend. And at only $10 a pop, you get a distracion.

Movies, they say, can help us through the tough times. As Brad Pitt said in an interview about "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," movies "can remind us of the good things, the good things in our lives."

So even with all the bad economic news, it could be another very merry Christmas - for Tinsel Town, anyway.

[avigil2]

So much has changed in the way movies are made and marketed from THE WIZARD OF OZ to THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL so it''s unfair to compare today''s movies with the films of yesteryear.

A couple solutions to make your movie-going experience an inexpensive one.
1) stay home and rent from Netlix - having a big screen TV and surround sound really helps.
2) go to a matinee or the first show of the day. AMC has a great program where it''s only $6 for the first show of the day for any movie.
3) leave the kids at home. Do you really want to be telling them to shut up or to stop pestering the person in front of them during an emotional scene in Meryl Streep''s latest?
4) check your weeklies or listen to the radio to win free movie passes. Most of the major cities give away lots of free screenings; or sign up on www.filmmetro.com to find out about free movie screenings in your area.
5) don''t buy any of that expensive consession food. You''re too fat anyway!

[likeitis5050]

If the recession does for Hollywood what it does for the free market in every other industry, it will get rid of or remarkably reform the publicity w.*****, the malcontents,and the selfish and self-centered who have no concept of the way 99.5% of the rest of the world really lives. I have no interest in and do not intend to reinforce by way of supporting the lifestyles of the ignorantly wealthy. I have no desire to hear about another celebrity wisking from coast to coast in private jets for the sole purpose of picking up their favorite smoothie. I am not impressed with stories about the same idiots who purpose to inflate their personas by jetting to a third world country to get captured in a photo journal holding some starving child or handing out laptops to children in refuee camps. Audrey Hepburn lived her humanitarian convictions...the wanna bees we have today are pathetic in their attempt to garner praise for human acts of kindness. Back at home they resume their lavishly obnoxious routines to the predatory delight of the photographers they depend on for life.

[hypnotoad72]

Oh, people should save the mileage and stay home. Watch old movies. Stop feeding a big fat pig, for which the only fatter pig is the sports industry.

[hypnotoad72]

Except today''s escapism''s "intelligence" is done by scribbling maudlin topical issues into every script.

Not much of a distraction.

Then come the product placements.

In "The Wizard of Oz", there were no product placements, unless toy tin men and ruby shoes were all the rage... (and they weren''t.)