Even as the studios lay off hundreds, specialty labels close and DVD sales plummet, certain journalists cling to the myth that Hollywood is somehow recession proof. That certainly wasn’t true in the ’70s, when distributors like National General and GFD fell by the wayside, and during the movie-mad Great Depression ticket sales plummeted by half between 1929 and 1933, when the economic downturn hit bottom. So take Hollywood By Numbers’ report that North American box office revenues increased 18.57 percent (to just over $1 billion) and actual ticket sales increased 16.78 for the period of January 1 to Feb 1, compared to the same period a year earlier, with a grain of salt. Sounds encouraging, but I checked and the just-ended 32 period includes five three-day weekends, and opposed to the more usual four in the corresponding period in 2008. Holiday period aside, weekends are when most tickets are sold. Math has never been my strong suit, but I think if you adjust for that calendar anamoly, ticket sales are actually flat or slightly down.