Mystery behind Sales of a Movie.
Working at a Movie Theater
As I continue working on this research project, I have also taken a job at a local movie theater near my school. This serves as my worksite and is where I broaden my knowledge for my project.
Working at Majestic Cinema Grill has been a great experience and has broadened my understanding of filmmaking in ways I hadn’t previously considered. More specifically, I got to learn the relationship between a theater and a movie.
The Link between Movie and Theater
The relationship between cinema and theater can be traced to the early days of Hollywood. The process of a movie being released to the public could be summed to three sections:
- Production: This involves the making of the movie, involving pre-production, filming, and post-production.
- Distribution: Usually it’s the process of releasing a film in the public. Factors such as licensing and marketing fall under this category.
- Exhibition: The process of showing a film in the public. Movie theaters and streaming services are all platforms used to show the film to the general public.
Back then, companies would generally control the whole production, distribution, and exhibition process. However, entering the era of American politics where monopolies were feared and ostracized, companies would lose their grasp to own rights within these three sections. Now we have movie studios and production companies controlling the production, associations such as the MPA regulating release and conditions for the film in distribution, and individual theatres controlling distribution. Most of the times, a movie studio would have power to control aspects of distribution, such as marketing. However, the exhibition has remained to private companies that either release the film in theaters or on streaming services.
The link between a movie production team and a movie theater falls under revenue. The theater releases the movie in theaters and makes money from ticket sales, merchandise, and food. With the revenue made from tickets, a portion is kept by the movie theaters and the rest is given to the studios that produced the film. The total amount of revenue generated from ticket sales is called box office revenue, and its generally used to determine the success of a film. If the box office revenue exceeds the cost of production for the film, the film is considered a success, and vice versa if the box office revenue doesn’t match the cost of production.
Final Thoughts
Yesterday, a 2000s movie called The Room was shown at the cinema with the director making an appearance before the show. The movie is horrid with terrible reviews, and by that nature developed a audience culture and continuous watching with a “it’s so bad it’s good” appeal.
The director had a chat before and discussed the production he faced before the release of the film. Although he had grand plans for the film, with a great screenplay and production, the movie flopped and was thrashed by critics. Despite it, the movie gained a massive media culture and connected to the audience rather successfully. By that regards, could the film really be considered a “flop”?
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