Customers Favoring The Movie Theater To DVD

For some time, Hollywood and the film industry has rested on the notion that a movie should break even during the theatrical release, and then bring in the profits through the DVD. However, recent figures are making nonsense of that concept. According to the Guardian, that trend has started to reverse as customers turn to the online streaming service Netflix NFLX which now has 23 million subscribers. Last year, Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland had a production budget of approximately $250 million. The movie generated $334 million at the box office and only $75.3 million in DVDs. So evidence suggests that the DVD gravy train has reached the end of the line. Significantly, it would also seem to be the case that piracy is still a big problem in the movie waters (and not just for Jack Sparrow), with Google GOOG saying that searches for “free movies” and “movie torrent” still hugely popular.