Answer: Movie Box Office Sales at $11.9 billion but Netflix is catching up quickly with $7.6 billion in 2018

Question:

• When you think about your movie watching habits, what percent of your time is spent watching movies on Netflix (or other streaming service) compared to the movie theater? 
• How does the price of a monthly subscription to Netflix compare to a movie ticket? 
• Do you go to movie theaters more or less than you did five years ago? 
• Netflix recently announced that they are spending billions to produce original films (they produced Academy Award winner Roma). What impact, if any, do you think this will have on movie theater attendance? 

Here's the ready-to-go slides for this Question of the Day that you can use in your classroom.

Behind the numbers (Hollywood Reporter):

Domestic revenue [for movie theaters] came in at a record $11.9 billion, eclipsing the milestone set in 2016 ($11.4 billion) by 4 percent, Comscore announced Wednesday. Year-over-year, revenue was up 6.7 percent over the $11.1 billion collected in 2017.

In terms of the number of people going to the movies in 2018, attendance in North America is expected to be up 4 to 5 percent. An official statistic won't be available until the average ticket price for the fourth quarter is tallied.

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Remember MoviePass and the deal that sounded too good to be true? It's a cautionary tale for anyone who signed up only to see "the deal" terms change again and again. Might be a good conversation starter about what to look for before falling for one of these deals. There will be more. 

• Here's MoviePass's latest pricing plan as of December 2018. Compare it with their earlier "all you can eat." Can you say "bait and switch"?

About the Author

Tim Ranzetta

Tim's saving habits started at seven when a neighbor with a broken hip gave him a dog walking job. Her recovery, which took almost a year, resulted in Tim getting to know the bank tellers quite well (and accumulating a savings account balance of over $300!). His recent entrepreneurial adventures have included driving a shredding truck, analyzing executive compensation packages for Fortune 500 companies and helping families make better college financing decisions. After volunteering in 2010 to create and teach a personal finance program at Eastside College Prep in East Palo Alto, Tim saw firsthand the impact of an engaging and activity-based curriculum, which inspired him to start a new non-profit, Next Gen Personal Finance.

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