Baseball may longer be America’s only favorite past time. Americans have sought after a much more cost efficient alterative to let loose and relax than pay the high cost of a stadium seat. It seems that more individuals are heading to the big screen to unwind.

It has been noted that by economists that there may be a strong correlation between movie ticket sales and the health of our economy. During our economy’s peak, Americans had a much more disposable income to spend on vacations and were able to pay higher costs for entertainment. However, as a result of the recession many individuals have now become hesitant to spend money.

However, as our economy slowly begins to recover from the economic recession that occurred in the late 2000s it has been observed that Americans are watching more films, whether they are heading to a theater or relaxing on the couch at home streaming Netflix or popping in a Redbox rental.

It has been recorded that summer box office sales hit a record high in 2011, with a grand total of $4.4 billion in overall revenue. That being a notable increase of approximately 1 percent over the prior year, according to the National Association of Theater Owners.

Looking back and comparing how our economy was in 2011 to our 2015 economic numbers, one would certainly hope that he or she would see some sort of upward trend indicating that we are on our way to recovery.

Therefore, what would we hope to see in terms of box office numbers for this summer season? Certainly, we’d hope to see less individuals heading to the theater as a form of entertainment of course.

While we will not know the exact box office numbers for the summer of 2015 until after Labor Day weekend, it can be stated that there has been a substantial decrease when paralleled to our 2011 numbers.

Currently, the summer season has brought in approximately $3.8 billion revenue domestically. However, it is expected that there should not be any significant spike in numbers within the remaining week or so of the season.

It can be stated that this summer season is up 9.7% compared to last year, but that increase is suspected to be a result of more family movies being released this summer, such as Jurassic World. In addition, labor day falls at a later date this year and provides an additional eight days to the summer season.

So the method of observing summer box office sales and comparing them to the economy may seem unusual,  but it may be a valid economic indicator.