LAS VEGAS -- The average cost of a major Hollywood movie declined last year to $76 million, suggesting that top studios' efforts to control bloated budgets are paying off.
Average production costs fell 2.3 percent to $51.5 million last year for the second straight decline, according to industry figures released Tuesday. Marketing and film printing costs dropped $780,000 in 1999 to $24.5 million per film, the first decline in two decades.That put the combined cost to release a major Hollywood movie at an average of $76 million, down $2 million from 1998.
Before 1998, costs had climbed every year since the early 1970s as Hollywood turned out more and more blockbusters laden with special effects and star salaries swelled to $20 million or more a movie.
"Cost control is a major, major objective in every studio," said Jack Valenti, who as president of the Motion Picture Association of America released the figures at ShoWest, an annual convention for theater owners. "They wake up every morning trying to figure out how they can make a movie for less money."
The association's members include such top studios as Warner Bros., Paramount and 20th Century Fox.
At the same time, moviegoers paid higher ticket prices in 1999.
According to the National Association of Theatre Owners, the average cost of seeing a film was $5.08 last year, up 38 cents. Theater companies are rapidly building movie houses with improved seating, sound and other amenities.
"I think patrons are willing to pay a lot more for our new theaters," said John Fithian, president of the theater owners group. "There is no other bargain like the movie-going experience."
Higher prices resulted in a second straight record box office year, in terms of receipts unadjusted for inflation. Ticket sales totaled $7.5 billion in 1999, up from $6.95 billion the previous year.
Attendance, however, fell slightly to 1.465 billion tickets sold. Valenti said that was because the blockbuster "Titanic" inflated movie admissions during the normally slow winter season in early 1998.