Here in the States, Hollywood has been grumbling because of the flat or falling year-over-year earnings at the boxoffice. There are plenty of excuses for why people aren't going to the movies as much as they once did, including DVDs, pirating, video games, and alternative uses of scarce time. Such concerns were also voiced about television and radio. From what I have seen, not too many people have admitted that remaking Herbie, the Bad News Bears, and the Longest Yard is not likely to set everybody agog.

Here's a quick and dirty picture of year-over-year percentage changes in the top 12 grossing movies domestically. Perhaps this is caused by piracy and DVDs but I bet it has much more to do with the quality of the movies relative to the quality of alternative uses of time.

This story suggests that the movie industry is taking it in the shorts in Asia as well. Some blame piracy, but still others admitted two things. First, the quality of the movies is down. Second, comparing to 2004 is misleading because 2004 was a big year in the movies.

What is in common between the market for movies in Asia and the U.S.? Piracy and the quality of movies. Which is more likely to be causing the dramatic drops in revenue?

Stunning statistic of the day?

So far this year, China's top boxoffice earner is "Sith," which by July 10 had earned 75.23 million yuan ($9.09 million) nationally. However, the current "blackout" of foreign releases through to the end of August could affect overall 2005 results.

Perhaps government regulation might keep the revenue at an artificially low level, but $9 million? For the entire country?! Can anybody offer the going price in yuan for a movie in Beijing?