Why journalists don’t account for inflation when they report box office records.

My answer to the question- not adjusting for inflation is just so pleasantly seductive.  Why bother with trivial details like real returns. Better to leave these complex economic adjustments to  the hedge funds and private equity groups that are financing movie studios. Wink.

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Introduction (Via Slate)

When The Dark Knight earned $158 million in its opening weekend last summer, journalists went gaga over the possibility that it would unseat Titanic as the all-time domestic box office leader. But the race was utter bunk. Accounting for inflation, the true record holder is Gone With the Wind, which—in 2009 dollars—earned over 50 percent more than Titanic and almost three times as much as The Dark Knight. Rhett Butler doesn’t give a damn about Jack Dawson, let alone Bruce Wayne.

Excerpts (Via Slate)

The problems with our growing fixation on box office figures—they don’t account for costs of the film, they don’t include home-entertainment revenue, etc.—have been chronicled in the past. But as long as we continue to indulge this obsession, shouldn’t journalists at least factor in inflation, instead of pretending that it doesn’t exist?

Click Here to Learn About Why Journlists Don’t Account For Box Office Inflation