Everything seems to be shifting nowadays. Journalism has clearly moved from newspapers to online news outlet, the number of people watching eSports is slowly getting closer to the number of people watching real sports, casinos’ revenues are decreasing as people prefer more convenient online casinos, and TV is slowly dying as people prefer online streaming services with big stars – and even the Obamas – signing contracts to move away from the silver screen onto your laptop one.
The movie industry is no different, with the overseas market now accounting for way more sales, tickets and revenue than the domestic one in regard to movies and the cinematic industry.
The main titles of the season – including Skyscraper, Mission Impossible, Hotel Transylvania and many others – have earned twice as much on the international market compared to what they earned in the United States. Sure, the domestic market is a lot smaller than the rest of the world, but just a few years ago the discrepancy wasn’t as big as it is now, especially for titles that aren’t part of a franchise.
Promotional tours for movies, which used to be all around the United States with numerous stops at Late Night Talk Shows, are now more international, with Dwayne The Rock Johnson and Tom Cruise flying all around the globe.
It’s a growing trend that does not affect the industry too much, apart from pushing its stars to longer and more stressful trips while on their press tours – which I’m sure they can manage. After all, Hollywood probably doesn’t care much about where the revenue comes from, as long as it keeps coming in.
A push for more diversity within the industry could have the effect of both representing minorities, therefore driving up moviegoers within the US, and increase engagement when it comes to people outside the United States, who could further relate with the movies despite not being American.
So far, as the number of movies shooting on location in the United States continues to decrease in favor of Canada, and of more exotic locations (which are incredibly cheaper), not seeing the local territory as much as in the past might be a driving force for the disenfranchisement of some American viewers, and further push the current international tendency.
