CR: Box office receipts for independent movies for the first

[Rahul]

Box office receipts for independent movies for the first half of this year have increased by 20 percent over the total receipts for independent movies for all of last year. Last year, 50 independent movies were released, while so far this year only 20 independent movies have been released. The number of independent movies slated for release in the second half of this year is roughly equal to the number released so far.

A. The total box office receipts for independent movies this year will be significantly more than 20 percent greater than the receipts for independent movies last year.
B. The number of independent movies released in the first half of this year is equal to the number released in the first half of last year.
C. The price of a movie ticket has not increased since last year.
D. The average revenues of the independent films released during the first half of this year is greater than that of all independent films released last year.
E. The number of people seeing independent movies during the first half of this year is greater than the number who saw independent movies last year.


The correct answer as per MGMAT is D. I am not quite sure as how the box office receipts are related to the average revenues. I choose the answer as A as it talked about receipts and not price or revenues. Please advice.

[Guest]

While I chose the correct option D during my test .. I was very strongly inclined towards A

Can some one tell me why the explanation says "There is no way to predict box-office receipts for the year."

Even with the current collection alone the statement A IS TRUE .... irrespective of the collection in the second half ...

The only reason I did not choose A was that the word 'significantly more' made this choice slightly doubtful.

Can stacey / ron throw some light on this ...

[Guest]

Option 'A' predicts the box office receipts for the 2nd half of this year, which is unwarranted. [ Don't assume anything!].
What if the box office receipts reduce in the 2nd half of this year to an extent which makes the total receipts of this year less than previous year?

for 'c', receipts can slate to revenues.

[Sneshi]

I choose option E - if there are more recipes there will probably be more people buying tickets.
I don't understand why the right option is D - how can one not make the distinction between recipes and revenues. Maybe the prices of the tickets were decreased leading to more people buying tickets and thus more recipts (but not higher revenues)

please advice.

[Guest]

I also don't understand how box office receipts is related to revenue.

This is how I interpreted the question.


Box office receipts for independent movies => The number of movies submitted to box office for releasing. Only a small portion of these movies will get released.

I am sure this is totally wrong interpretation, but I think question should have made clear what it meant by "box office receipts".


Can any of the MGMAT staff comment ?

[esledge]

Missing from the original post is the question itself: "If the statements above are true, which of the following must be true?"

This is a Draw a Conclusion question, on which you should look for the most factual, provable answer.

In my view, "box office receipts" = "revenue," as the box office is the ticket sales office, where all the revenue is collected. I'll address the choices you all questioned.

(A) The term "significantly more than" is subject to interpretation, thus we can't fully prove this one. We know that the box office receipts so far are exactly 20 percent greater than the receipts for independent movies last year, but how much must be taken in during the 2nd half of the year to make it "significantly more"?

So, the earlier Guest who posted concern about those words was right on. To the other Guest who pointed out that the 2nd half of the year is just a prediction, good call. Note that any receipts in the 2nd half (even if greatly reduced) will add to the total for this year. Worst case, no money at all is collected in the 2nd half, and "significantly more than" would be false.

(C) Watch out--The price of a movie ticket only relates to revenues or box office receipts if you ASSUME that the number of tickets sold is constant. Do not assume anything as you answer Draw a Conclusion questions.

(D) This is completely provable. If the box office receipts of all independent films last year is B, then the receipts for the independent movies for the first half of this year is 1.2B (20% greater). Last year, there were 50 such films. In the first half of this year, 20 such films. Average revenues: 1.2B/20 (1st half this year) > B/50 (all of last year).

(E) Watch out--Greater box office receipts for fewer movings might seem to imply greater number of tickets sold, but that ASSUMES that the ticket price is constant. Sneshi, note that you even used the word "probably," which is a dangerous word to use when Drawing a Conclusion! You want to be able to say "definitely." Also, if you really want to split hairs, I think you could argue that "seeing" a movie is different from "paying to see" a movie, but (E) is wrong even if we ignore that distinction.

[direstraits007]

Missing from the original post is the question itself: "If the statements above are true, which of the following must be true?"

This is a Draw a Conclusion question, on which you should look for the most factual, provable answer.

In my view, "box office receipts" = "revenue," as the box office is the ticket sales office, where all the revenue is collected. I'll address the choices you all questioned.

(A) The term "significantly more than" is subject to interpretation, thus we can't fully prove this one. We know that the box office receipts so far are exactly 20 percent greater than the receipts for independent movies last year, but how much must be taken in during the 2nd half of the year to make it "significantly more"?

So, the earlier Guest who posted concern about those words was right on. To the other Guest who pointed out that the 2nd half of the year is just a prediction, good call. Note that any receipts in the 2nd half (even if greatly reduced) will add to the total for this year. Worst case, no money at all is collected in the 2nd half, and "significantly more than" would be false.

(C) Watch out--The price of a movie ticket only relates to revenues or box office receipts if you ASSUME that the number of tickets sold is constant. Do not assume anything as you answer Draw a Conclusion questions.

(D) This is completely provable. If the box office receipts of all independent films last year is B, then the receipts for the independent movies for the first half of this year is 1.2B (20% greater). Last year, there were 50 such films. In the first half of this year, 20 such films. Average revenues: 1.2B/20 (1st half this year) > B/50 (all of last year).

(E) Watch out--Greater box office receipts for fewer movings might seem to imply greater number of tickets sold, but that ASSUMES that the ticket price is constant. Sneshi, note that you even used the word "probably," which is a dangerous word to use when Drawing a Conclusion! You want to be able to say "definitely." Also, if you really want to split hairs, I think you could argue that "seeing" a movie is different from "paying to see" a movie, but (E) is wrong even if we ignore that distinction.

Emily,

I still don't agree completely with answer D. Just because this year there are 20% more receipts doesn't prove that this years revenue will be more, reason being, what if this year's price for one receipt is $5 and last year's price was $15. Now lets say last year total independent movies were 100.

So total revenue last year: 100 x 15 = $1500/-
Total revenue this year's first half : (1.2) x 100 x 5 = $600/-

So Last year's revenue > This year's (first half) revenue.

Furthermore, just assume the same revenues for the remaining half of this year:

First half ($600) + Next half ($600): $1200/-. This is still less than the last year's revenue.

Given in this scenario, the average revenue for last year will be more than that of the current year.

I would say D can make sense if in the question argument it is explicitly stated that the price of the tickets during both the years is same.

what say ?

Thanks!

GeeMate.

[RonPurewal]

Emily,

I still don't agree completely with answer D. Just because this year there are 20% more receipts doesn't prove that this years revenue will be more, reason being, what if this year's price for one receipt is $5 and last year's price was $15.

there's a language barrier here: you're not interpreting the word "receipts" correctly. i've boldfaced the text where you went wrong.

when the word "receipts" is used in this sort of context, it refers to the total revenue generated by the movies. in other words, this use of "receipts" is exactly the same as "gross revenue".
in this context, it is always used in the plural; to speak of "a receipt" in this context would be nonsensical. (the singular word "receipt" does, of course, exist to describe a slip of paper you receive upon completing a transaction -- but that's not the sense in which it is used here.]

[chris121981]

Though I chose A, and do agree A is not the best answer. I cannot seem to revolve my mind around receipts=revenue because,
Definition of receipt:
A receipt is a written acknowledgment that a specified article or sum of money has been received as an exchange for goods or services. The receipt is evidence of purchase of the property or service obtained in the exchange.

Hence more receipts cannot be equal to more revenue

[jnelson0612]

Sorry, "receipts" is just another way of saying "revenue" in this context. Check out meaning #2 here: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/receipt

[vishalsomani]

Hi Emily,

In continuation of your earlier broad explanation, I'd like to aid that with some mathematics.

Let say the total revenue(Box office receipts) earned by the independent movies last year be 'X'. So according to the facts present in the argument, the total revenue earned by independent movies for the first half of this year should be:

20% more X => (120/100)*X

So now we have both amounts with us. Let us now take the averages.

For last year, the average revenue earned per movie will be:
X/50

For this year(half-of-the-year), the average revenue earned per movie so far will be:
[(120/100)*X]/20
=> 3*(X/50)
=> 3 times the average revenue earned per movie last year.

So this proves option 'D' mathematically too. And it proves beyond the confusion of either 'receipt-revenue' word game or price-per-ticket stimuli.

[jnelson0612]

Wow, good stuff vishal.

[xanadian]

In my view, "box office receipts" = "revenue," as the box office is the ticket sales office, where all the revenue is collected.

Tricky question. I'd say that "box office receipts" is more a measure of headcount than a measure of revenue and go with option E.

I agree that "box office receipts" can mean "revenue" as well, and option C is correct. But option E is certainly not wrong.

[tim]

you'll often find that there are multiple answer choices for CR and RC that express true statements. your job is to find the best one, so according to your analysis C is still what you would go with. also, be careful not to read too much (or too little) into the information you've been given. if something has two possible interpretations, you can't decide unilaterally to use one and discard the other, because there is a good chance the GMAT is using the other definition..