
Numbers Show That Movies Are Really Recession-Proof - peter123
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/01/movies/01films.html
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jyothi
I think when people get depressed: watching TV/movies are like a top
addiction. Next comes food. So I wouldn't be surprised if the numbers actually
go up, because people would avoid buying anything but involuntarily ending
watching movies.

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TomOfTTB
If I understand what you are saying I completely agree :)

The point I think you're making is that movies cost less than other forms of
entertainment. So people who are still seeking entertainment but have a more
limited budget tend to go to the movies more.

So as an example, a family might have planned to go to Disneyland but now that
their cash is more constrained they settled for Pizza and a Movie. Hence movie
sales go up in a bad economy while more expensive entertainment goes down

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hachiya
By the looks of the "ladies" in that photo, the concession stands are
recession proof too.

Is it just me, or are Americans more obese than ever? Not just overweight, but
morbidly obese?

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smanek
A recession is going to, somewhat counter-intuitively, increase obesity.

Unhealthy food is far cheaper (per calorie) than healthy food
([http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/12/05/a-high-price-for-
he...](http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/12/05/a-high-price-for-healthy-
food/)). That is also one of the reasons you see an inverse correlation
between income and obesity in modern America (i.e., rich people are skinnier).

The root cause is all the corn subsidies we have. Pretty much all our junk
food either contains large quantities of corn, or is fed-on corn.

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patio11
_Unhealthy food is far cheaper (per calorie) than healthy food_

I think this is only half the story. (Rice is about as inexpensive per calorie
as humanly possible but the American poor don't consume large quantities of it
-- because they don't have to.) The other half:

1) Historically, being poor meant you couldn't afford enough food, healthy or
otherwise.

2) History has ended.

3) Historically, being poor meant you did lots of physically taxing labor.

4) History has ended.

5) Well-off Americans make a fetish out of physical fitness. Its as much a
class marker as education these days.

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markessien
I doubt it has ANYTHING to do with depression or a recession or any of that.
When the movies are good, people go to the movies. When the movies suck,
people don't go to the movies.

Paul Blart is a pretty good movie. It's light hearted fun - perfect kost for a
movie. Heavy stuff is easier to read than to watch - movies move at their own
pace, and it's not possible to pack so much heavy stuff into movies.

The movie makers are learning to make what Americans want, and they are being
rewarded for it.

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dantheman
Paul Blart is not a good movie. It's the worst type of movie I can imagine,
it's 1) Not Funny, 2) Predictable, 3) Derivative, 4) Just plain boring.

Really only #1 matters, but that is a horrible movie.

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jrockway
I think the movie industry should sue the investment banks for ruining the
economy. Imagine how much _more_ money they would be making if it weren't for
the damn recession.

(I hate to explain jokes, but this is their argument about piracy -- pirates
are killing the industry despite the fact that they are seeing record profits.
If it weren't for piracy, the record numbers would be even more record-y.)

