The spider's bite

摘要

It is the box-office take that grabs the leadlines. The news that "Spider-Man", a film about the comic-strip superhero released by Sony's Columbia TriStar, broke all records when it took nearly $115m on its opening weekend in America, has raised the stakes for all the big studios and their slate of summer releases. This is the race that intrigues Hollywood insiders. "Spider-Man" trumped the first Harry Potter film; can "Star Wars: Episode II-Attack of the Clones", which opens later this month, trump "Spider-Man"? Box-office competition, however, disguises the fact that cinema-ticket sales are now only a marginal element of overall income. As much as 80% of any film's revenue now comes not from ticket sales but from its release on video and DVD, pay-TV and so forth. Filmed entertainment for children is as much about selling toys, yoghurt pots, lunch-boxes and other paraphernalia as the film itself. Spider-Man, whose life began in a comic book, now graces cereal boxes, cool drinks and clothes as well as appearing in video games and as an action figure in toy-shops. Sales of Harry Potter toys have alone far exceeded the film's American box-office take. The spin-offs from a blockbuster film, says Dan Jansen, at the Boston Consulting Group in Los Angeles, can multiply American box-office revenues two or three times―with an even bigger impact on profits.