Petteri Pyyny
22 Aug 2003 17:26
This summer's major movie flops, such as The Hulk and Gigli didn't fail because of their bad script, bad acting or just overall lack of originality. Not at least if you listen to movie studios.
Movie studios claim that the habit of spreading the bad words about movies to your friends after you've seen a movie that you considered as a "not worth paying for" is to blame. And specifically the new technologies, such as instant messaging and mobile phone text messages (SMS) are to blame.
According to movie studios, five years ago the so-called drop-off rate between movie's premiere weekend and the second weekend was appx. 40 per cent in the UK and now it is 51 per cent.
Now, we're waiting anxiously when MPAA decides to ban mobile phones and IM tools -- obviously they are to blame, 10 years ago people didn't have any means to communicate with each others and even Really Bad Movies made profit, right?
Source: The Independent