Here’s some interesting statistics from an op-ed piece that ran in the WSJ on 12/29/05 entitled _Hollywood, the Remake_. It was written by Edward Jay Epstein who is the author of “The New Logic of Money and Power in Hollywood”:1.

* In 1948 2/3 of the US population went to the movies in an average week. This works out to about 90 million people. Obviously, this was before TV.

* Currently only 10% of the US population sees a movie in an average week.

* Up until the late 1940s, virtually all of the studios’ revenue was generated at the box office.

* By 1950 the US government broke up the studios’ monopoly on theater outlets, which they controlled through direct ownership or “block booking” contracts.

* By the late 1980’s, the number of ticket sold had fallen to just over one billion vs. 1948 when sales were 4.6 billion. The US population about doubled between these two years.

* Theater owners keep about 1/2 of the ticket revenue.

* In 2005 15% of the studios’ revenue will come from ticket sales while DVDs, Pay-TV, Free TV licensing and videos make up about 85%.

* Mr. Epstein argues that Hollywood’s business is now much more about creating licensable properties and that the box office is more of a way to generate awareness.

I’d say that last point will become more and more true in the future with things like the video iPod, portable DVD players, DVD players in cars, HDTV, HD-DVDs, video-capable cell phones and the hyperglobalinterweb.

[1(Amazon page for the book)]http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1400063531/qid=1136317150