#1 ·
In today’s edition of The New York Times, Thursday, January 15, 2004, Jurica Pavičić dives into the recent announcement from Minister Biškupić regarding a proposal where a slice of every single movie ticket sold would go straight into a fund to boost our local film industry. It’s something filmmakers have been begging for for ages, but politicians have just sat on their hands until now.
Basically, this means the federal government would be slapping a little tax on American movies, which honestly sounds awesome to me. We see similar moves being made in places like France or over in Sweden, and let's face it, the Americans aren't exactly thrilled about it. The logic for this kind of levy gets even stronger when you consider that the state treats film as a cultural asset—after all, movie tickets are exempt from sales tax—though I personally find it a bit funny to call a Hollywood blockbuster a "cultural treasure," especially when you're busy with the whole žderanje of popcorn and soda.
To give you some perspective, back in 2002, we saw about 2.7 million movie tickets sold here in the States, which was already a 10% dip from the year before, and it looks like that downward trend is sliding another 10% further in 2003. With people hitting the theaters half as often per capita, the US is looking like one of the least movie-obsessed nations in all of Europe.
Pavičić points out that the actual cash generated from this "per-ticket fee" might be relatively small since fewer people are actually showing up to theaters—especially since AMC Theatres seems to be closing down more locations than they're opening lately—meaning we might only pull in something like 2.7 million dollars, which is basically what Antun Vrdoljak spends on catering alone. In reality, that wouldn't even cover half the budget for a single domestic production. Still, if I knew a portion of my ticket money was actually supporting homegrown cinema, I’d feel a lot better about handing over the cash.
I am totally all for this idea. 👍
Basically, this means the federal government would be slapping a little tax on American movies, which honestly sounds awesome to me. We see similar moves being made in places like France or over in Sweden, and let's face it, the Americans aren't exactly thrilled about it. The logic for this kind of levy gets even stronger when you consider that the state treats film as a cultural asset—after all, movie tickets are exempt from sales tax—though I personally find it a bit funny to call a Hollywood blockbuster a "cultural treasure," especially when you're busy with the whole žderanje of popcorn and soda.
To give you some perspective, back in 2002, we saw about 2.7 million movie tickets sold here in the States, which was already a 10% dip from the year before, and it looks like that downward trend is sliding another 10% further in 2003. With people hitting the theaters half as often per capita, the US is looking like one of the least movie-obsessed nations in all of Europe.
Pavičić points out that the actual cash generated from this "per-ticket fee" might be relatively small since fewer people are actually showing up to theaters—especially since AMC Theatres seems to be closing down more locations than they're opening lately—meaning we might only pull in something like 2.7 million dollars, which is basically what Antun Vrdoljak spends on catering alone. In reality, that wouldn't even cover half the budget for a single domestic production. Still, if I knew a portion of my ticket money was actually supporting homegrown cinema, I’d feel a lot better about handing over the cash.
I am totally all for this idea. 👍