Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Film/Film finance task force

Just thought I'd ask this since cinemas are opening in the UK on August 21, with Inception and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World as headliners with new theatrical releases. Both originally ran in 2010, but the Odeon website etc. are treating the 2010 and the 10th anniversary releases as separate entities. I have no idea if this will mess with the BOM stats (almost certainly), and I thought I'd get the input here on if the new wide releases (likely the distinction from any old re-release) should be treated separately on WP. I might ask that second part at the film project, too. Kingsif (talk) 09:41, 20 August 2020 (UTC)

Hi Betty Logan Although there are numerous issues with the Box Office Mojo data, as it seems that you have highlighted some of their database issues and they have looked to fix them, I wonder whether you are able to raise another one with them. Someone just asked me about double features and I noticed per the Wikipedia article that Toy Story and Toy Story 2 were released as a double feature in October 2009. The reissue grossed $30.7 million in the US however, BOM currently allocates that gross solely to the original and only lists the original in its charts now. Previously they used to treat the double bill as a separate release. (https://web.archive.org/web/20111010081115/http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=toystory3d.htm) Wikipedia just parrots the data from BOM. Don't know if they can split the double bill gross (which is what I think Variety tended to do in these scenarios) or list it separately again so that it isn't all allocated to one film to the detriment of the other. I see that they have Spider-Man/Men In Black II as a double bill in 2002 and split the gross so looks like they should do similar for Toy Story. https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl695436801/?ref_=bo_we_table_9. Many thanks Sudiani (talk) 23:02, 13 May 2021 (UTC)

I'll look into it. Betty Logan (talk) 12:41, 16 May 2021 (UTC)

Recently, an editor made a severe deletion on the article Box office so that it now only covers limited information of what a physical box office is rather than the wider usage of the term box office as used in the entertainment industry. Their argument seemed to be that the deleted content was related to the article for List of highest-grossing films. Subsequent to the deletion, a redirect has now been made to the List of highest-grossing films article as that is now the main place where the defintion of theatrical rentals sits following deletion of the Box office article content. While I have some sympathy in keeping the Box office article only being about the physical box office, other than the theatrical rental definition (which while helpful to the List of highest-grossing films article doesn't really belong there) the rest of the content likely doesn't exist on Wikipedia currently. The deleted content included film box office reporting terminology and film box office reporters, which I expanded to add some history related to the development of film box office reporting over the years. Someone later added average ticket prices and some other stats, which didn't seem to fit in an article about box office but may be of interest to some.

Following the deletion, I am thinking of creating an article from some of the deleted content (probably excluding the detailed statistical tables), perhaps under the title of Box office reporting for films. As Betty Logan directed me to this page following a recent query, I see that such article likely falls under this task force. I did wonder whether to use a similar name to this task force but an article already exists for Film finance which rightly focuses on financing of films rather than performance. Do you think it useful to have a separate article for box office reporting for films with terminology, methodologies, history, resources, links to other relevant pages etc? If so, any suggestions for a better title? Possibly it could be wider than just box office reporting for films as similar reporting happens for theatrical productions and concerts who also sold tickets traditionally through a box office. Any other thoughts as to what it might include? Any other suggestions for where such content could sit if another page isn't considered necessary? Sudiani (talk) 10:44, 31 January 2026 (UTC)

I know that the list of resources is coming from Wikipedia:WikiProject Film/Resources but is there any reason why Screen International is not listed as a reliable source for box office data, especially since they have been the main reporter of box office information in the United Kingdom for over 50 years and their predecessors, including Kinematograph Weekly, were reporting box office in the UK even further back?

On the subject, I know that the list suffers from recency bias and focuses on current sources, but any reason that older sources such as Motion Picture Herald available from the Media History Project https://mediahistoryproject.org/collections/hollywood/#motion-picture-herald are not listed?

Also, the page that it comes from lists Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline, Entertainment Weekly as general resources but for the list here, I would expect to see them listed as resources for box office/film finance information. Possibly respected newspapers such as The New York Times should also be listed as they have a history of reporting on film even if they haven't collated box office data themselves. Sudiani (talk) 10:44, 31 January 2026 (UTC)