Shifting Box Office

At Time, Richard Corliss runs down five box office trends. Though it's not exactly news I was somewhat struck by his number one:

1. America doesn’t matter. In 2009, according to a new study by the Motion Picture Association of America, customers in North America spent $10.6 billion on movie tickets(...)so only 30% of worldwide ticket sales were from the U.S. and Canada.

Yes, we've heard numbers like that before but I've never seen the 30% figure. That hits hard. You have to wonder what the implications down the road will be if the trend continues (and how could it not). What will movies look like, what language will they be in, once America doesn't matter at all, once revenue from our attendance of our own movies falls to, say, 5% of the global take?

Box Office Dollars -- No Big Surprises

Bloomberg has a look at ticket prices vs. attendance (based on the new MPAA report).

"...that's not because more people are going to the movies—it's because ticket prices are higher."

Here's the MPAA look at audience demographic split.