As the 1980s began, the Hollywood industry was poised for five straight years of record box-office returns. Industry grosses climbed steadily, from $2.8 billion in 1980 to $4 billion in 1984, before dipping 7 percent to $3.8 billion in 1985.¹ While the studios celebrated this record-setting influx of money as the sign of a robust industry capable of generating ever-increasing business, the grosses provided an incomplete portrait of the industry's performance. Gross data made for compelling publicity and little else. Despite each year's inflated figures, national ticket sales had remained relatively flat, at the 1 billion mark, since 1969.² Furthermore, the box-office records of 1980-84 accompanied a steady rise in ticket prices from a national average of $2.69 in 1980 to $3.36 in 1984. With relatively flat sales, the rise in ticket prices helped fuel the box-office records. Table 1.1 summarizes these trends, showing the decade's domestic box-office...