Box Office Breakthrough

When the economy tanks, there’s nowhere to run except to the movie theatre, of course. Box office attendance rates increased by 20 percent in January, causing a record profit of $1.028 billion for Hollywood during the month—up from $867.2 million in January 2008. Nikki Finke, however, thinks Hollywood is trying to downplay this success: “Here's what I think: the studios and networks want this good news played on the downlow in Hollywood,” she writes at Deadline Hollywood Daily. “Because isn't it amazing how Big Media can keep making so much money but never filter it down to either their staff or the showbiz guilds?”