I was just watching a top ten countdown on the latest releases in the cinema and it go tme to wondering.
How are movies, and songs for that matter, put in the order that they are?
I understand that it is to do with the money each film makes but how do some films stay on the top spot for a while. And how does someone like Bryan Adams get #1 for something like 16 weeks? Is it just the total amount that is made so:
Good movie = 10 million over X weeks beats Alright Movie = 5 million over Y weeks
or is it week by week so:
New, popular movie = 5 million in first week beats Older movie = 10 million total but only 1 million this week.
I suppose it might change depending on the list that you’re using. The New York Times lists the top movies in weekly revenue. A movie that has been out for three weeks might have a higher gross than a recently released movie, but if the recently released movie has a higher weekend gross, then it will be in first place. So it might look like this:
- New Movie, This week: $XX, total: $XX, weeks out: 1
- Old Movie, This week: $X, Total: $XXX, weeks out: 3
I’ve also seen the numbers different for a movie that has been out for a week, but had a Wednesday release, so it might be figured by weekend figures, rather than total revenue since the release.
As for music, I think Billboard goes by sales of CDs/albums to record stores (as opposed to consumers, but correct me if I’m wrong) for that week. Then the song that gets played is whatever the Big Giant Recording Company deems the recent single.