Last weekend, The Avengers earned $207 million. John Carter earned $1.4 million. The Avengers broke the record for highest opening weekend, and John Carter went up 1,223% from last week. It turns out the two Disney releases--one a hit, the other a flop--have something in common. They were paired together for drive-in movie theatres' double features.
Over the weekend, John Carter increased from 180 theatres to 349 theatres. Most of those additional locations were drive-ins, where the average ticket goes for just $8. I suspect Disney requested that John Carter be paired with The Avengers--why not promote another one of your releases? Plus, it added $1 million to John Carter's bottom line. That may be only one-two hundredths of what The Avengers earned, but it is something.
Drive-in movies may have long passed their heyday, but they're a fun, low-tech, and cheap way to experience movies. I'm sure the multitude of special effects in The Avengers are better viewed on the most up-to-date screen and in 3D, but drive-in theatres offer the kind of intangibles that make people actually pay money for a ticket instead of catching it later at home. Something fun to do with friends. Cheap child care, or a family night out. Low-priced concessions. Even now that drive-ins have been relegated to a nostalgic rarity, they can impart important lessons about why people go to the movies.
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