Hollywood film distributors can expect a 4.2 percent compound annual growth rate for total revenues in the next 10 years, forecasts Kagan Research. That would be celebrated in most industries because it far surpasses the roughly 2.5 percent core inflation rate, but it represents a de-acceleration from the heady 9.3 percent growth rate of the prior decade 1995-2004.
Business is still very good as Hollywood film distributors bagged an estimated $50.3 billion in 2005 film rental revenue, up 7.9 percent from the prior year, according to Kagan Research databook Economics of Motion Pictures 2006 (third edition). The figures � called "film rentals" in Hollywood parlance � include revenues U.S. film distributors receive from all media (cinemas to TV) and merchandising on a worldwide basis. Film rentals are only a portion of consumer spending, because they exclude the cut taken by theaters, video stores and other retailers.