Is Tinsel Town Recession-Proof?
CBS Evening News: Downturn Doesn't Dampen Hollywood -- So Far
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Photo
Will Hollywood sink or swim through this economic downturn during Oscar season? Here, Leonardo Dicaprio and Kate Winslet star in "Revolutionary Road." (DreamWorks Pictures)
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In-Depth
Meltdown Primer
Questions and answers regarding various aspects of the current economic crisis.
Box Office Results
Topping the weekend box office for Dec. 12 through Dec. 14, with earnings, in millions:
2 | Four Christmases | $13.1
3 | Twilight | $7.9
4 | Bolt | $7.5
5 | Australia | $4.2
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.
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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.)
How nice it would be, not to mention wise, if people would go back to libraries for a while and read for entertainment. We might all come out of this economic mess a little wiser and better able to cope with the reality of life.
Certainly folks feel a need to escape from their troubles for a few hours by going to a movie; however, at today''s movie prices it pretty tough to justify spending $25-50.00 to take the family to a movie for a couple of hours at best.
Frankly it''s seems to be time for Hollywood to have a ''reality show'' with real life in an economic crunch so they can understand how real people live day-to-day.
For the most part outside of hollywood most actors and actresses could land a job in the real world especially since most have nothing more than a High School diploma. Yep a taste of reality might do Hollowood some good.
How nice it would be, not to mention wise, if people would go back to libraries for a while and read for entertainment. We might all come out of this economic mess a little wiser and better able to cope with the reality of life.
Certainly folks feel a need to escape from their troubles by going to a movie; however, at today''''s movie prices it pretty tough to justify spending $25-50.00 to take the family to a movie for a couple of hours at best.
Frankly it''''s seems to be time for Hollywood to have a ''''reality showexperience with real life in an economic crunch so they can understand how real people live day-to-day.
For the most part outside of hollywood actors and actresses could even land a job in the real world especially since most have nothing more than a High School diploma. Yep, a taste of reality might do Hollowood some good.
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!