Even Disney Can't Save the Multiplex Now
This was the weekend that exhibitors had been circling on their release calendars for some time. Walt Disney's (NYSE: DIS) Avatar: The Way of Water hit a multiplex near you, and the highly anticipated sequel to James Cameron's bar-raising Avatar theatrical achievement in 2009 was supposed to get box office receipts back on track. It didn't exactly work out that way.
The film generated $134 million in domestic ticket sales over the weekend, woefully short of industry analysts' predictions for as much as $175 million in admissions. More importantly, the film's debut didn't generate the halo effect you would see in the past at the premiere of a major blockbuster. Years ago, the arrival of a "must-see" film would draw crowds to the nearest cinema, and if the desired screenings were sold out they would settle for other films. It didn't happen here.
The overall gross of ticket sales for domestic exhibitors was $152.5 million this past weekend. That's about just $18.5 million in ticket sales for movies that didn't involve flying banshees in the richly rendered land of Pandora. Compare that to the halo effect of the original Avatar. The rest of the movies for that debut weekend 13 years ago was a more respectable $61 million, and that was when the average ticket price was just $7.50. People are paying closer to $10 a screening now.
Source Fool.com
