WeatherBill Publishes Study Identifying the Impact of Weather on Film Box Office Revenue

SAN FRANCISCO, California, December 27 /PRNewswire/ --

WeatherBill (www.weatherbill.com), the world's only online service that
allows businesses to protect revenue and control costs from the impact of bad
weather, today announced the release of a new study analyzing the impact of
weather on film box office revenue. The study found that top ten box office
films earn significantly less -- up to a third lower -- on warmer weekends
than on average or dry ones. The full study can be downloaded at
http://www.weatherbill.com/reports/boxofficeweather and a summary is
available at http://www.weatherbill.com/reports/boxofficeweather-summary.

"Historically, the concept of weather motivating or deterring filmgoers
was based on speculation and anecdote," said David Friedberg, founder and CEO
of WeatherBill. "It's remarkable that such a weather-sensitive industry
hasn't had a publicly available fact-based weather study. We believe it's
important for the film industry to understand the impact of weather on
revenue as a first step in managing weather risk and protecting profits."

WeatherBill analyzed nearly ten years of United Kingdom box office data
to identify the effect of weather on revenue from each weekend's ten
top-grossing films. Both temperature and precipitation can negatively impact
box office revenue. While the top grossing film brings in about 9% less on a
warm or dry weekend, films grossing in the 8th-10th spots bring in over 30%
less on a warm weekend. Time of year also played a role in how temperature
and precipitation affected revenue. Summer months turned out to be
particularly susceptible to the impact of weather.

2007 was the wettest summer in the UK since records began in 1914, and
August was the coldest in more than a decade. Film industry experts speculate
that audiences were motivated to seek indoor entertainment because of the
summer's record-setting inclement weather resulting in record admissions of
50.8 million viewers, a 40-year high, according to box office figures. This
study confirms that speculation, and although United Kingdom climate is
infamous for cold and wet weather, dry and warm weekends occur with enough
frequency to significantly impact revenue. The identifiable and measurable
impact demonstrated in the study can be translated to US box office regions
with relatively uniform weather.

"Clearly, warm and dry weather negatively impacts box office revenue, and
with enough frequency and severity to warrant a new approach to managing that
weather risk," said Friedberg. "WeatherBill is designed to be easy and
affordable for all kinds of businesses, including film studios, production
houses, vendors, and theater owners. WeatherBill is readily available to help
these businesses manage weather risk with a simple, customizable, and
affordable solution."

WeatherBill, Inc. (www.weatherbill.com) provides the only online service
that allows businesses to protect revenue and control costs from the impact
of bad weather. Founded by CEO David Friedberg and CTO Siraj Khaliq, former
members of the Google team, WeatherBill is funded by New Enterprise
Associates, Index Ventures, and Allen & Company and is backed by Nephila
Capital, one of the world's largest weather risk and catastrophe reinsurance
fund managers.

Web site: http://www.weatherbill.com
              http://www.weatherbill.com/reports/boxofficeweather
              http://www.weatherbill.com/reports/boxofficeweather-summary