The economic relationship between the movie theater chains and the studios is a toxic one. Basically speaking, the theaters show a movie, and have to give upwards of 80% of the box office take back the the studios for the first week (there have been some situations where the theaters kept 0% for the first week) and in following weeks the percentage changes more and more until you get to week 4 or 5 and the theaters keep more (For a better run down, check out this post).
But it looks like the 7th largest theater chain in the United States it bucking the system a little bit, and refusing to show Paramount’s Sweeney Todd in any of its theaters because the theater chain things the studio is asking for too much. Variety Magazine gives us this:
“Unfortunately, as a result of the negotiations with Paramount reaching an impasse, Marcus Theaters will not be showing ‘Sweeney Todd’ in any of its locations,” Marcus prexy Bruce J. Olson said in a statement. This decision was reluctantly reached because the price requested by Paramount to show the film in Marcus Theaters was too expensive in the opinion of our film buyers,” Olson said.
GOOD FOR THEM! You want to know why theaters have to charge us $5 for a bag of $0.03 popcorn? You want to know why they charge us $4.50 for a cup of Coke? Because the studios keep all the money from the box office (not all… but you get my point). The economics of the movie industry are insane on all levels, and I for one applaud Marcus Theaters for putting their foot down (even if it’s just for this one example) and saying “NO!” to a flawed system.
