Box-office blahs

Moviegoers can get their money back from AMC Theaters if they don’t like “Cinderella Man.” It’s part of an effort to drum up business for the film and help boost the industry’s box-office slump.

The theater chain has been offering a money-back guarantee for the Russell Crowe and Renee Zellweger flick, which is playing in 150 AMC theaters, since June 24.

Customers can get a full refund of the price of the movie ticket the same day with no questions asked. Since the promotion started, fewer than 50 refunds have been given, said Pam Blase, a spokeswoman for the Kansas City, Mo., chain.

AMC officials said they created the promotion because of the high caliber of “Cinderella Man,” the Depression-era tale of boxer Jim Braddock. The company believes it is “one of the finest motion pictures of the year,” according to an ad on the chain’s Web site.

“We are standing behind a high-quality film,” Ms. Blase said. “And it would be wonderful if it helped improve movie-going overall.”

It’s not the first time AMC has used the marketing gimmick. In 1988, the chain offered a money-back guarantee for “Mystic Pizza,” Julia Roberts’ break-out film role.

Another movie exhibitor, Cinemark Inc., based in Plano, Texas, is also offering a money-back guarantee on “Cinderella Man” in select markets during the holiday weekend.

“I think it’s a great idea,” said Paul Dergarabedian, president of Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc., a box-office tracking company. “Theaters have to get innovative.”

The industry has had a less-than-stellar performance in recent months.

Attendance through June 26 is down more than 9 percent from the same period last year. Revenue has dropped more than 6 percent for the year-to-date period compared with 2004, according to Exhibitor.

However, the revenue that Mel Gibson’s blockbuster “The Passion of the Christ” brought in last year, has helped to skew the results. The movie, which detailed Jesus Christ’s final hours and Crucifixion, attracted more viewers who typically don’t go to the movies.

If the more than $370 million from that movie is removed, then the movie industry has actually had a 2 percent increase in revenue year to date, according to Exhibitor.

But revenue has been down 18 consecutive weekends compared with last year, the longest slump since box-office numbers have been tracked.

For instance, during the weekend of June 24, box-office revenue was down 14 percent compared with the same weekend in 2004, Exhibitor said.

“It takes more to get people out of their living rooms and into the movie theaters,” Mr. Dergarabedian said. “It’s more challenging because of so many options for entertainment.”

Nearly half of Americans say they visit movie theaters less often than they did five years ago, according to the Gallup Tuesday Briefing, a weekly analysis from Gallup Poll.

About 33 percent say they prefer to watch movies at home and 24 percent say it’s too expensive to go to the movies.

Summer flicks such as “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” “Wedding Crashers” and “The Dukes of Hazzard” may help give the industry a boost, he said.

“Cinderella Man” earned $18.3 million during its opening weekend, which placed it as the No. 4 film for the weekend of June 3. So far, it has generated about $50 million, Mr. Dergarabedian said.