On Stranger Tides
(This is a very good overview of the current state of box-office and movie distribution)
...Chicago Sun Times film critic Roger Ebert wrote recently, “Box-office tracking shows that the bright spot in 2011 was the performance of indie, foreign or documentary films. On many weekends, one or more of those titles will capture first place in per-screen-average receipts.” Ebert goes on to complain that, despite this many theatres outside urban centers never play these movies, even though the process of obtaining them is at least theoretically simpler with digital technology.
“The myth that small-market moviegoers don’t like art movies is undercut by Netflix’s viewing results,” Ebert wrote. “Its third most popular movie on December 28 was Certified Copy, by Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami. You’ve heard of him? In fourth place, French director Alain Corneau’s Love Crime. In fifth, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, but the original, subtitled, Swedish version. The message I get is that Americans love the movies as much as ever. It’s the theatres that are losing their charm. Proof: Thriving theatres police their audiences, show a variety of titles and emphasize value-added features. The rest of the industry can’t depend forever on blockbusters to bail it out.”
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