Patty Craig: A Slice of Time

Wed, 08/15/2012 - 9:14am — Diane Dyer

Like many of you, I love a good movie. I witnessed my youngest granddaughter watching a movie this week, and she was so involved in the story that she totally tuned everyone around her out, focusing only on the screen. Regardless of age, movies can be wonderfully entertaining.

Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film) defines a film as a series of still or moving images. Films reflect cultures and may also affect cultures. Film is an important art form and a source of popular entertainment.

In the U.S. in 2006 and 2007, about 600 films were released each year into theaters, but that number does not include movies not released until the following year or those released as DVD movies or network originals (http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/1025110#ixzz23CZ6ACNP). One website (http://www.the-numbers.com/market/Genres/) reported how much money different kinds of movies generated from 1995 to 2012. The top seven money-making categories included:

	Movies	Grossed	Market Share
Comedy	1751	$44,792,158,044	23.48%
Adventure	521	$38,199,674,469	20.03%
Drama	3132	$33,621,012,632	17.63%
Action	570	$32,066,637,809	16.81%
Thriller/Suspense	561	$15,495,734,985	8.12%
Romantic Comedy	403	$11,286,883,357	5.92%
Horror	329	$9,093,205,812	4.77%

The seven categories not listed on the table above (documentary, musical, black comedy, western, concert/performance, multiple genres, and genre unknown) accounted for the remainder of the market.

When my daughters were growing up, some of my favorite times were the days when we could stay home, be lazy and watch movies, like a hot summer day or a rainy Saturday or a snow day. On those days, I remember my pre-teens dancing and singing with the movie and my youngest standing on the coffee table performing, too. Some of those movies were watched again and again.

Like ripples of water when a stone is tossed in, the recent Colorado theater shooting could result in a ripple effect. This July 20^th tragedy (12 killed, 58 wounded) may become a factor in the number of people who fear theaters. Fear creates feelings of dread or apprehension. This fear factormay – to some degree – affect theater attendance.

In recent years with access to DVDs and movie channels, I don’t go to movie theaters often. But, occasionally I like to see a film on the big screen. Bottom line, I just like a good movie.

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