Math in the NewsIssue 85

2013 Movies: A Year in Review

A Summary of 2013

Here is how Hollywood did in 2013:

Total Box Office Gross: $10,814,534,491

Tickets Sold: 1,325,315,470

Average Ticket Price: $8.16

Source: http://www.the-numbers.com

How does this compare to 2012?

A Comparison of 2012 and 2013.

As you can see, 2013 was relatively flat compared to 2012.

There was a small increase in the average price of a ticket. A price increase can result in more revenue.

Average ticket price 2012 $7.96

Average ticket price 2013 $8.16

Percent Increase in Price 2.5%

A Comparison of 2012 and 2013

A Comparison of 2012 and 2013

However, the price increase was more than offset by a decrease in the number of tickets sold.

Tickets Sold 2012 1,360,033,954

Tickets Sold 2013 1,325,315,470

Percent Decrease in Tickets Sold -2.55%

Changes in Ticket Prices

This continues a trend that shows as the price increases, the number of tickets sold decreases.

Price Tickets Sold

2008 $7.18 1,385,217,3492009 $7.50 1,419,832,5062010 $7.89 1,336,346,9992011 $7.93 1,284,600,9732012 $7.96 1,360,033,9542013 $8.13 1,325,315,470

Changes in Ticket Prices

Here is a scatterplot of the data set.

A Summary of 2013

We can see how the price increase affects the top-grossing movies. Here are the top 10 movies for 2013.

Rank Movie 2013 Gross Tickets Sold1 Iron Man 3 $408,992,272 50,121,601

2The Hunger Games: Catching Fire $395,526,705 48,471,409

3 Despicable Me 2 $367,793,270 45,072,7044 Man of Steel $291,045,518 35,667,3425 Monsters University $268,488,329 32,902,9816 Frozen $263,092,648 32,241,7467 Gravity $254,861,229 31,232,9938 Fast and Furious 6 $238,679,850 29,249,9819 Oz the Great and Powerful $234,770,996 28,770,955

10 Star Trek Into Darkness $228,778,661 28,036,600

A Summary of 2012

Here are the top 10 movies for 2012.

Rank Movie 2012 Gross Tickets Sold1 Marvel's The Avengers $623,279,547 78,301,4502 The Dark Knight Rises $448,139,099 56,298,8813 The Hunger Games $408,010,692 51,257,6244 Skyfall $293,729,570 36,900,699

5The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2 $287,756,286 36,150,287

6 The Amazing Spider-Man $262,030,663 32,918,4257 The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey $246,289,507 30,940,8928 Brave $237,236,938 29,803,6359 Ted $218,665,740 27,470,570

10 Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted $216,391,482 27,184,859

Comparison of 2012 and 2013

Here is a double bar graph comparison of the data sets.

A Summary of 2013There are other factors that may affect movie attendance other than price. Here are some factors:• Video Streaming services like

NetFlix make it more convenient to watch movies at home.

• Mobile technologies. iPads and other mobile devices provide alternatives to movie watching.

• Hollywood’s Blockbuster-itis: Marketing heavily the big movies, while spending less on others.