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Hollywood's making money again
Hugh Jackman arrives for the screening of "X-Men Origins -- Wolverine" at Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood,
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Bill Radke: There is one industry in America that's never had it better: Hollywood appears on its way to a record year. Here's Marketplace's Steve Henn.
Steve Henn: Hollywood's making money again.
Vin Diesel: Just like old times.
Vin Diesel kicked off the year with Fast and Furious. The fourth installment of the street-racing franchise brought back the original cast and brought in $71 millions in its opening weekend.
This weekend, the staring attraction in malls around America is a flick about the genesis of a mutant with steel claws. That's right: another X-men movie. Hollywood hopes X-Men Origins: Wolverine will bring in $100 million by Sunday.
X-Men: Who are you people? What kind of place is this?
So far this year, teens have helped drive attendance at theaters up more than 15 percent. The industry's on track to break the $10 billion barrier at the box office. Last year, higher ticket prices helped Hollywood earn a record $9.7 billion, but attendance at theaters actually fell.
I'm Steve Henn for Marketplace.
Who exactly in Hollywood is making money again? For the many craftspeople (set dec/props/construction, grip/elec, camera, costume, hair/make up) and service related businesses in the Los Angeles area, 2008 and 2009 never looked so bleak. It's been a perfect storm for Angelinos who work in the film industry: writer's strike, actor's "strike", reality programming, out of state tax incentives (i.e. your story: Deal or No Deal moving to Connecticut). In our union's (IATSE) latest contract negotiations, we have conceded a 50% increase of qualifying hours to be eligible for our health insurance. There's barely any work left here to begin with. Our wages have been stagnate for 10 years. All we hear from producers is that there isn't any money. On a 30 mil dollar movie, 20 of it easily goes above the line. Hollywood has become a brand name, not a place where movies are made, and the people who craft them are unemployed.
