From Deep In The MPA’s ‘Theme Report,’ Markers Of A Weird New Movie World
deadline.comIt’s a bizarre world, this (almost, more-or-less, maybe) post-Covid movie landscape. Pieces are falling into place: Production starts have been up for a year, box-office revenue continues to climb, though it’s still a long reach to pre-Covid highs.But so much is so different, and I don’t mean just the obvious shift toward streaming.
Look closely at the Motion Picture Association’s so-called “Theme Report” from two months ago—a statistical survey of the film business, compiled annually—and you can see the outlines of an industry that was leveled by disaster, and is growing back in ways that veteran observers might find unsettling, if not downright grotesque.Strangest for me is a near-obliteration of the older audience, a trend that finally be easing with the relative success of Downton Abbey: A New Era.
Reasons for the wipe-out are clear enough: Those age 60 and above were deemed more vulnerable to coronavirus, so they abandoned theaters when the pandemic hit, and have been very slow to return.
Though comprising roughly 24 percent of the general population, according to the Theme report, people 60 and older accounted for just 9 percent of ticket sales in 2021, down from 15 percent in 2018.
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