COMING ATTRACTIONS

While releases from movie studios still dominate ticket sales, the number of films released by the majors continues to drop and independent film distribution is on the rise, according to Daily Variety. Since January, 41 feature films have been released--23 from major studios (Paramount, Columbia, Universal, etc.); 29 from mini-major studios (Orion, Tri-Star, Cannon, etc.), and 152 from independent distributors (New Line, New World, Atlantic, etc). In 1970, majors released 72 films during the same five-month time period. The majors have also experienced a sharp drop in collective market share with 58% of the box office since January. Last year at this time, the majors held 72% of total domestic movie ticket sales.