There are some who believe that Hollywood movies began a long decline when the industry started relying on a film’s opening weekend box office for a large chunk of its ultimate gross. They argue that as mainstream media began to report box office figures, who came in first over a given weekend became more important than whether the films were actually worth watching. So those who fall into this camp will be particularly dismayed to learn that Hollywood trade papers are now reporting on box office figures mid-weekend.
Not that this is anything new, since 2007 Variety has been posting stories to their website on Saturday that detail the previous day’s North American box office figures. Now, in an attempt to keep up with their competition, The Hollywood Reporter seems to be taking up the practice. I was a little surprised to receive an email from the reporter on Saturday informing me that “Madea locks up top b.o. spot Friday”. Curious to know why this was such breaking news I clicked through to read the story which was simply a rundown of Friday’s top ten grossing box office films. It was filled with such hedging wording as “. . .on track to rack up a three-day number. . .”, “. . .should set an opening weekend record. . .” and “In what’s shaping up as another busy weekend at the multiplex. . .”.
Given that the trades only publish their paper editions on weekdays, the mid-weekend box office reports are only posted online. I put in a call to a couple of friends who work with both trades to see what their thinking was. Read More
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