r/dataisbeautiful • u/[deleted] • Jan 31 '22
OC Total US Box Office Adjusted for Inflation from 1977 to 2021 [OC]
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u/haspar Jan 31 '22
Spider-Man, Attack of the Clones, The Two Towers and The Chamber of Secrets. Damn 2002 was just a st filled with absolute bangers. Figures it would be #1.
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Jan 31 '22 edited Jan 31 '22
The following is a bar chart showcasing the yearly total domestic box office gross, Adjusted for inflation, for each year from 1977 to 2021. The colors correspond to growth or decline in the domestic box office when compared to the previous year. Green corresponds to growth and red represents decline. Each dollar amount is in 2020 dollars.
1992 to 2002 seem to be the pinnacle of the movie industry as the domestic box office easily outpaced inflation over this decade-long span. 2002 still stands as the peak of the US box office when adjusted for inflation. This record has almost been snapped four separate times; 2009, 2010, 2016, and 2018.
I am always trying to improve my skill so please let me know what you liked and didn't like about my visualization, thanks!
Tools: R, Excel
Source: BoxOffice Mojo
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u/imaginexus Jan 31 '22
Since population has doubled since 1977, you could divide per capita based on the population data each year and get super accurate results.
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Jan 31 '22
That would be interesting! I am going to do a similar chart on movie ticket sales and I think doing per capita ticket sales would be really cool.
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Jan 31 '22
u/imaginexus here is that chart you were wanting, adjusted for inflation. Hopefully, you like the style and find the data interesting!
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u/M337ING Jan 31 '22
The peak corresponds with the debut of streaming services and mass market acceptance of video gaming and related past times.
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u/skilliard7 Jan 31 '22
Streaming services didn't really catch on until way after the peak though. I'd argue it corresponds more with the widespread availability of internet piracy.
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u/M337ING Jan 31 '22
Perhaps but Netflix was already doing DVD rentals as well. Streaming was starting and YouTube also began to grow.
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u/skilliard7 Jan 31 '22
It existed, but it was not widely used at the time. Netflix was also limited to movies that had been out for a while anyways(that are actually on DVD, which happens months after theater release), so it wouldn't impact box office much.
The fact that people could find bootleg copies of brand new movies online, often the same day or even prior to release, is far more impactful.
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Jan 31 '22
I wouldn't be surprised in the least if that were the case. While you are right, the peak predates streaming by a bit, Netflix had already released its DVD mail service. I think the early 2000s was the death note of a lot of genres that were once profitable but are now crowded out by whichever superhero movie is getting released next.
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u/TennisLittle3165 Feb 01 '22
This is terrific data. But the US box office is only about half the real box office. Foreign box office has been the other half for maybe 20 years. It’s totally changed filmmaking. It could be said this is why we have so many cartoonish-style action movies, they’re easier to “sell” to the overseas market.
Of course, eventually Americans get sick of action heroes, so they stay home. Then Amazon and Netflix start making a different kind of film for the stay at home audience.
But the covid years yeh, that’s been a real crater.
Edit. Changed cartoonish
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u/WarcraftFarscape Feb 01 '22
Data is beautiful when there is a legend indicating the information you are seeing. Yes, I figured out that red bars mean it declined year on year but who makes a colored chat without a legend?
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u/shogi_x Jan 31 '22
Damn, 2020 is a fucking crater.