Biz sets global box office record in 2010

This week, we had five posts analyzing spec script sales in 2010. Each day I followed up each of those posts with some different press perspectives about the overall state of the Hollywood movie business. We end that series today with two more posts — one here, one to follow. First from Variety, an article detailing the continuing growth — and therefore importance — of the global film market:

The global box office hit a record high in 2010 at $31.8 billion, an 8% increase over the previous year driven primarily by 3D, offshore markets and frequent moviegoers, according to a report released Monday by the Motion Picture Assn. of America.

The 3D format doubled last year’s domestic share with $2.2 billion, contributing 21% of overall North American totals.

So while domestic numbers in both revenues and ticket sales went down in 2010, the overall numbers went up due to the international market.

This is not insubstantial. Take a movie like Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. Widely dismissed by film critics and avoided by crowds in the U.S. and Canada, the movie generated $90M in domestic B.O., which would be considered a huge flop considering its budget is reported to have been $200M. But the movie did another $244M in the international market, fully 72.9% of its total business (per BoxOfficeMojo). Which means foreign moviegoers turned this potential bomb into a profitable movie.

What does this mean for screenwriters? We’ve already discussed this, but as a reminder one thing it strongly suggests is that as long as the international market continues to expand, Hollywood is likely to see its primary goal being to continue making big, spectacle, CGI-laden, 3-D action / thriller / sci-fi / fantasy movies with an appeal to overseas audiences. If you have such a story concept, I encourage you to put that at the top of your To Write list.

However if indeed smart, adult-oriented dramas are back, as suggested by LAT’s columnist Patrick Goldstein here, perhaps we’re in for a bifurcated approach by the studios: spectacle movies for domestic but especially international audiences, smaller ($30M and below) dramas for the adult crowd here in the States. 

For more of the Variety article, go here.

UPDATE: If you’re interested to read the MPAA report mentioned in the article above, you can go here to download a free PDF.