Okay, so some folks are suggesting that summer box office was down because the movies were bad. Bereft of proof until recently, they’re now claiming vindication because box office receipts are now up, in a time when “better” movies are traditionally released (the fall).
So…how to find out what’s really happening? There’s no absolute way to know without either polling every single American or perhaps qualifiying intangible factors such as theater quality, pricing, and etc. (again that may involve signifigantly complicated polling.)
But what about this if you’re looking for a way to see if movie quality really matters: Go to Rotten Tomatoes (or Metacritic) and tally up, then average the reviews of all movies released from May-August 2005. Then do the same for the same time period in 2004 (and perhaps even 2003). Then, compare the resulting years’ aggregate reviews with their box office numbers, and then you might have some fact to go with your conjecture.
My hypothesis? That movie quality and box office receipts are NOT corrollary. But hey, I could be wrong.
http://www.penny-arcade.com/index.php talked about Serenity in particular recently and it’s lack of big financial gain this weekend. though they went on to say it’s not really because it’s a bad movie, but that it’s good just not maybe what everyone expects. Also some other interesting thoughts.