March 5, 2008–The average cost of producing a specialty picture in 2007 jumped by 60% over the previous year to $49.2 million, while the average cost of advertising such a film increased by 44% to $25.7 million. The figures are contained in the Motion Pictures Association of America (MPAA) annual state-of-the-industry report.
Studio pictures showed narrower increases. The average cost of producing a studio film in 2007 was up 8% over the previous year to $70.8 million, while the average cost of advertising a picture was up 4% over 2006 to $35.9 million.
According to MPAA, 2007 was the best year on record, both for the domestic and international box offices. The domestic box-office reached a historic high of $9.6 billion, up 5.4% over 2006 and 3.9% over 2002, the previous record-holder.
The overseas box office also saw a record-breaking take of $17.1 billion. Worldwide box office reached an all-time high of $26.7 billion.
Admissions, however, didnt see the same gains in 2007. Domestically, moviegoers purchased $1.4 billion theater tickets, on par with 2006.
When it came to the number of movies released in 2007, major studios actually opened fewer titles in 2007 than they did in 2006, 179 compared to 203.
The number of movies made by non-MPAA affiliated companies however, jumped by 18. A total of 590 movies were released in 2007, compared to 599 in 2006.
Nearly 50% more films crossed the $100 million mark at the domestic box office in 2007, while four–Spider-Man 3, Shrek the Third, Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End and Transformers–crossed $300 million.
Seven films made between $200 million and $300 million at the domestic box office, compared to five in 2006. Seventeen made between $100 million and $199 million, compared to only 13 in 2007.
The amount of money spent by MPAA member companies on Internet advertising continued to grow in 2007, up 4.4% over 2006. The largest category of advertising, however, remains traditional media outlets, with the biggest chunk, or 21.6%, spent on network television.
MPAA said a forthcoming study conducted by the trade organization and Yahoo! reveals that 73% of the moviegoing population use the Internet to conduct research before going to the theater.
Among the moviegoing population, only African-Americans went to fewer films in 2007.