Hollywood's 2017 Is a Bomb as Moviegoing Slumps to 25-Year Low

(Bloomberg) -- One data point sums up 2017 for Hollywood film studios: moviegoing fell to the lowest level in a generation.

Admissions to theaters in the U.S and Canada slumped 5.8 percent to 1.24 billion in 2017, the lowest attendance since 1992, according to estimates from researcher Box Office Mojo. Rising ticket prices, up 3.2 percent last year on average, kept revenue above $11 billion, but that's still down from the 2016 record.

Sequel fatigue, a weak lineup of films and diversions like Netflix kept audiences away. Moviegoers also griped about the cost of concessions like popcorn and soda too. “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” was a bright spot for 2017, generating $533.1 million by year-end domestically to be the No. 1 movie. But even one of Hollywood's most-loved stories couldn't reverse the decline that started during the summer.

“The industry should be concerned if the metric falls again in 2018,” said Geetha Ranganathan, a Bloomberg Intelligence analyst. “Especially with a stronger film slate for this year, fewer moviegoers would be a warning sign that the industry may be in secular decline.”

Besides falling attendance, theater chains and major studios are consolidating. In the past month, Cineworld Group Plc agreed to buy Regal Entertainment Group, the No. 2 U.S. chain, for $3.6 billion, and Walt Disney Co. reached a deal to buy the entertainment operations of 21st Century Fox Inc., including the company's movie studio, for $52.4 billion.

If there is a silver lining for investors, it's that better movies should deliver better returns this year, with an estimated box office haul of $11.3 billion, according to Bloomberg Intelligence. And the market is growing elsewhere -- such as China-- where local blockbusters trumped Hollywood movies to yield a record year with growing attendance.

To contact the reporter on this story: Anousha Sakoui in Los Angeles at asakoui@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Crayton Harrison at tharrison5@bloomberg.net, Rob Golum

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