Running Numbers – Hollywood Box Office Doesn’t Add Up

“It’s commonly assumed, both inside and outside of Hollywood, that if a movie doesn’t hit No. 1 at North American ticket wickets in its first weekend, then it’s at best a disappointment and at worst an outright flop. The Monday morning quarterbacking of box-office stats has become so common, even people who don’t go to movies can quote you the numbers for various films, like stockbrokers discussing share prices. Yet box-office figures are so inherently flawed, and so wilfully distorted, as to be almost meaningless.”