With economic indicators trending more and more toward a slowing economy, the movie industry may actually be celebrating.

"Horton Hears a Who!" opened with a $45.3 million debut, the highest of the year thus far, and may be evidence that movie attendance increases with the consumer price index.

According to the National Association of Theatre Owners, American box-office revenues have increased during each of the past five economic recessions.

"[Movies] show the human heart's ability to survive the machine," said Tom Russell, assistant professor in the Theatre and Media Arts Department at BYU.

He said movies can provide people with an escape from reality. When reality becomes more bleak, an escape in a dark room in front of a big screen may be just what people want.

"We'd rather hear the story of the prodigal son than be the prodigal son," Russell said.

Perhaps Americans had no greater time for escape than when they faced Black Tuesday in 1929. Movie attendance quickly dropped with no capital to produce films. However, as the Great Depression set in during the '30s, movie attendance shot up to three times that of the best year in recent history.

Life in the '30s is much different than today, but, Russell said, in the '30s, movies provided one of the only entertainment outlets available. People lined up to watch musicals and comedies because they couldn't pick them up from Blockbuster, the viedo store, two months later.

Although today's world offers more ways to have fun, movies provide viewers with some bang for the buck. Last year, the average movie ticket went for $6.88, according to the Yahoo! Movies Web site. That's less than a BYU football game or a meal out.

The ticket price is paying dividends. Box-office revenues are 4 percent ahead of where they were last year, according to Media By Numbers.

Russell said one reason movies attract people is the transformations their characters undergo.

He used "Groundhog Day" as an example. The main character, Bill Murray, is forced to repeat one miserable day in his life over and over again. He starts the film as sarcastic, short and rude and it isn't until he devotes his day to service that he is liberated from his purgatory.

Seeing others overcome their problems and situations may provide viewers with a pattern to apply in their lives.

"We leave [the theater] thinking I should probably spend my time helping others," Russell said.

Movies can be more than a simple escape from reality, he said, because they can be edifying and instructive.

Copyright Brigham Young University 26 Mar 2008