Theaters brought in more cash than Discs last year
During one of the worst economies our parents have ever seen, according to Adams research, people spent $9.97 billion to get out of the house to see a movie last year -- up 10 percent from 2008. At the same time, Disc sales (DVD and Blu-ray included) were down 13 percent to $8.73 billion -- which wasn't down nearly as much as most consumer goods. Now we know what you're thinking, all those digital downloads must be cutting into Disc sales, but you're wrong. In fact despite plenty of growth, VOD via cable and satellite services brought in $1.27 billion, while digital downloads only managed $0.36 billion -- so yeah not even 5 percent of what Discs brought in. What probably did cut into Disc sales more than anything else though was rentals, which rose 1.8 percent to $8.15 billion -- no wonder Warner made a deal with Netflix and other studios withheld titles from Redbox. Overall Hollywood fared pretty well totaling $28.38 billion on features movies alone so while there are a few potentially disruptive technologies out there, so far none have been.
