New MPAA Report Gives Filmmakers Good Stats for Business Plans |

New MPAA Report Gives Filmmakers Good Stats for Business Plans

March 5, 2008 on 9:25 pm | In Film Industry News, Financing, General Resources, Pre-Production | View Comments

The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) has just released its 2007 U.S. Theatrical Market Statistics Report. It looks like the U.S. domestic box office receipts for 2007 hit a record $9.63 billion, up 5.4% above 2006. Internationally, the worldwide box office rose to an all-time high – $26.7 billion.

So why would an indie filmmaker care about this report? Well, beyond having a positive financial result from the medium that you work in – you can use those stats for your business plan. When pitching your project to potential financiers, it is always good to present a positive outlook in the industry that seeks investment. It’s arguably more difficult to convince someone to invest in your low budget film if the overall marketplace is on a decline.

Here’s the summary from the MPAA report (you can also view and download the PDF file here:

2007 U.S. Theatrical Market Statistics
(A summary of 2007′s theatrical performance, looking at box office trends, admissions trends and consumer attitudes.)

+ The domestic box office continued to grow in 2007, reaching $9.63 billion after a 5.4% gain. (Refer to page 2 of the 2007 Theatrical Market Statistics Report)

+ Worldwide box office reached another all-time high in 2007 with $26.7 billion, a 4.9% increase. (Refer to page 2 of the 2007 Theatrical Market Statistics Report)

+ Domestic theater admissions held steady at 1.4 billion tickets in 2007. (Refer to page 3 of the 2007 Theatrical Market Statistics Report)

+ In 2007, the top-grossing films offered more diverse fare in terms of ratings, with a 50% increase in both R and PG rated films. (Refer to page 5 of the 2007 Theatrical Market Statistics Report)

+ The average cost to make and market a major MPAA member company film was $106.6 million in 2007. This includes $70.8 million in negative costs and $35.9 million in marketing costs. (Refer to page 6 of the 2007 Theatrical Market Statistics Report)

+ In 2007, the average price of a movie ticket in the U.S. rose to $6.88, a 5% increase over 2006. (Refer to page 7 of the 2007 Theatrical Market Statistics Report)

+ The total number of films released in the U.S. in 2007 remained on par with 2006 with 603 films released. (Refer to page 4 of the 2007 Theatrical Market Statistics Report)

(source: MPAA ‘Research & Statistics’)