Summer 2012 Was A Bad Time For Movies

Last year’s summer movie season was one of the worst with the fewest movie tickets sold since 1997. Unfortunately this year looks to end even worse – despite big hits such as “The Avengers” and “Dark Knight Rises.”

According to USA Today, an estimated 529 million movie tickets will have sold in the U.S. during the 2012 summer movie season. Last year, which was considered a poor summer for movies, saw 543 million movie tickets sold.

This has continued the trend of falling ticket sales year after year. When compared to the summer movie season 10 years ago, roughly 100 million fewer tickets were sold.

“That’s a really troubling number for the industry if you look at it that way, which reflects how the movie business is really doing,” said Jeff Bock who points out that rising ticket prices mask attendance drops.

Many experts say the declining movie ticket revenues could be related to rising ticket prices. It’s harder to justify seeing a movie when people are having to pay $15 to see a 3D movie. Other experts believe that audiences are just being more selective about their movie choices.

“I like that audiences can’t be fooled the way they once were,” Paul Dergarabedian, of Hollywood.com, told USA Today. “It forces the industry to come up with good stories. Hollywood can’t rely on pretty faces anymore.”

Despite the poor summer season, 2012 has seen some improvements over 2011 in overall revenue and attendance.