Archive for October, 2013

Uncovering the box office

Dictionary explain box office as “a place at a theater or other arts establishment where tickets are bought or reserved.” As a result, the term box office is closely associated with the film industry and many use it to indicate how many tickets are sold for a movie or a theater production. So, it is more than a hole in the window or a kiosk inside a theater. Some claim that the practice started in 1786 with a theater production.

Box office, whether it is good or bad can influence the success or failure of a film or a theater production. It indicates the number of people seen the film or the production or the amount of money collected from ticket sales. This is why movie capital Hollywood pays close attention to box office.

Traditionally, weekly box office figures are taken from Friday through Thursday. They are published for domestic meaning U.S. and Canadian and foreign meaning all other countries. Major portion of this include the weekend box office meaning Friday through Sunday collection, a barometer that many uses to gauge the success of a film. Approximately one half of the revenue generated from a film goes to the distributor and the other half going to the movie theater.