http://www.cbc.ca/story/arts/national/2005/06/16/Arts/poll050616.html
People prefer to see movies at home: poll
Last Updated Thu, 16 Jun 2005
CBC Arts
A new poll released Thursday reveals that a large majority of people - 73
per cent - prefer to watch movies at home on DVD, VHS or pay-per-view.
The same poll found that only 22 per cent of people preferred to see
movies the old-fashioned way - in a movie theatre.
The numbers may provide fodder for those who believe the proliferation of
at-home entertainment technologies is permanently changing moviegoing
patterns.
It also comes on the heels of a prolonged box-office slump. So far this
year, theatre revenues have been off for the past 16 weekends, compared
with the same weekends in 2004.
The poll of 1,000 Americans was conducted by Ipsos for the Associated
Press and AOL News.
Among the other findings:
* When asked if they think movies are getting better or worse, almost
half - 47 per cent - said worse.
* Sixty-nine per cent of respondents said that they see movie stars as
negative role models for children.
* Only a tiny number - five per cent - said that they had downloaded a
movie from the internet.
Some observers believe that this year's poor box-office numbers are not
due to changes in viewing habits, but have been caused by a number of
lacklustre releases, such as Cinderella Man, The Honeymooners, Kingdom of
Heaven and XXX: State of the Union.
"I think this slump is product-driven," Paul Dergarabedian, the president
of the box-office tracking firm Exhibitor Relations, told the Associated
Press.
"That, to me, is a much less chilling problem than some sort of cultural
shift in people's moviegoing habits. A cultural shift takes longer than 16
weekends of down box office."
Indeed, the poll found that people who use things like DVD players
actually go to more movies in theatres than those who don't, suggesting
that home entertainment options and theatres are complementary.
Some have also argued that comparing this year's box-office with last
year's totals is a dicey proposition since 2004's The Passion of the
Christ was an anomaly that drew people into theatres who wouldn't normally
have gone to the movies.
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