REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsNEW YORK, Aug 31 (Reuters) - "Barbenheimer" - the twin-bill summer box office phenom - sure helped to drive U.S. consumers back to cinemas last month, but movie-going is still struggling to catch up to other recreational spending categories post-pandemic.
While that helped long-suffering box office receipts, it made less of a splash for overall consumer spending when compared to larger categories like clothing and household furnishings, economists at Oxford Economics said.
It made a big difference in the live-event spending area though, at least for the moment.
This summer’s box office has been out of the ordinary with ticket sales for the season up $500 million from last summer’s sales, according to data firm Box Office Mojo.
While other categories of live-event spending have fully recovered from the hit delivered by pandemic shutdowns, film attendance outlays remain at roughly 65% of their pre-COVID levels.
Persons:
Mike Blake, Oppenheimer, Michael Pearce, Taylor, Amina Niasse, Dan Burns, Andrea Ricci
Organizations:
REUTERS, Commerce Department, Warner Bros, Oxford Economics, Graphics, Mojo, Sporting, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, Gillette, Billboard, Thomson
Locations:
Los Angeles , California, U.S, Massachusetts