It's another edition of Midday at the Movies, our monthly look at new flicks and film industry trends. Tom's guest today is Jed Dietz, the founding director of the Maryland Film Festival and the SNF Parkway, the historic and newly renovated movie house on North Avenue.
After a slump in 2017, North American movie-house ticket sales last year bounced back. Box office receipts jumped 6% to a record $11.9 billion, besting the record set in 2016. Global ticket sales topped $40 billion last year, in a world where streaming services are multiplying as quickly as movies in the Fast and Furious franchise.
But one third of that increased revenue came from just 10 films! What does that portend for the future of flicks? Tom and Jed discuss recent trends in movie-making, and how the big online streamers, Netflix and Amazon, are changing the movie screen landscape and filling it with a trove of new films -- some of which are also playing in traditional movie palaces. And Tom and Jed spotlight some of the new films audiences are flocking to see.
