'Gravity' And How It's Really Setting Box Office Records

Gravity, starring Sandra Bullock (in her first sci-fi film), opened this last weekend and was the best opening October movie, ever, pulling in ~$55M for the weekend.

Let's do some math on that one, because even though it's awesome news that they set a box office record, they might have done it with a bit of a monetary shell game.

The movie averaged roughly $15,538k per each of the 3,575 theaters.

They did good and it looks like film distributor Warner Bros.. has taken a page from Disney's film distribution tricks.

A Quick Look Back

A while back, I was all jazzed to see the Fright Night remake, but the majority of its screenings were in 3D and I didn't think a live-action film truly merits paying the crazy prices for a 3D screening.  So I thought I'd wait a bit.

But as they eliminated screenings as the weeks went on, they pulled the 2D screenings.  They lost my business for that film because of that.

What's that got to do with the price of tea in China, or Gravity?

I was trying to figure out when to go see Gravity at my local Century 20 movie theater, and I had noticed that Gravity was screening twenty (20) times on opening day at the theater.

Except that of the twenty screenings today, (10) ten of them are 3D, five (5) are XD (Century 20's version of IMAX) and five are 2D.  ONLY FIVE, or 25% of the screenings were standard, 2D screenings.

If you're on a budget, Hollywood doesn't care

That seems very unfair to the consumer and it forces those who don't have any visual tolerance to viewing 3D into a finite number of screenings.  And if the time that 2D screens are not good, well, tough beans to you, I guess this says.

Sure, studio marketing gurus are telling them how to spin their product for the most impact.  And I believe that there's enough lazy people out there who will see a movie in 3D.

By lazy, I really mean a consumer who would see the movie one way or the other, it doesn't matter what the format it.  Sure, it costs a bit more, "But what the heck!"

And that's what the studios are counting on.  As more and more folks pile into a 3D screening, whether they want it or not, it only supports this practice.  Hence, you'll be seeing more of it as time goes by.

Now I already knew that Gravity was going to do well at the box office, but it's fate of success is almost guaranteed with seventy-five percent of my local screenings being in the over-priced, special format.

Over Priced?

As we all know, the 3D Ticket prices are approximately 50% higher than normal tickets and "IMAX" ticket prices cost roughly 130% more than a 2D ticket.

So sure, they'll make a killing at the box office.

And about those screening times?  Check out the screening time options I had:

2D:  11:35a 1:55p 4:15p 6:40p 9:05p

3D:  12:10p 1:20p 2:30p 3:40p 4:50p
     6:00p  7:15p 8:25p 9:40p 10:45p

XD:  12:45p 3:05p 5:25p 7:50p 10:15p


Or a list in order of time, what's available:

format     time
2D:       11:35a
3D:     12:10p
XD:     12:45p
3D:     1:20p
2D:       1:55p
3D:     2:30p
XD:     3:05p
3D:     3:40p
2D:       4:15p
3D:     4:50p
XD:     5:25p
3D:     6:00p
2D:       6:40p
3D:     7:15p
XD:     7:50p
3D:     8:25p
2D:       9:05p
3D:     9:40p
XD:     10:15p
3D:     10:45p

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Any how, 3D can be a fun format, and I would even recommend at least giving it a try once.  They've come a long way with the technology.  Just be sure to pick something fun with lots of effects.

But for most live-action movies, it is not worth the price.  It's good for CGI'd or wonderful fun for animated films.

And just maybe, it is a good format for Gravity.  But in a movie where one person takes up 90% of the time, I'd rather just let the story grab my imagination they way movies used to do.


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