Skip to main content

North American box office sets record in 2008 (Reuters)


Mon Jan 05, 2009, 1:38 am EST

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - It was a photo finish, but North American movie-ticket sales hit the wire in a furious gallop to post an annual gain of almost 2%, with a record haul of $9.78 billion in estimated grosses.

Avid holiday moviegoing helped the industry rewrite the history books in the home stretch, though substantial ticket-price boosts helped pad the tally. Industry estimates put average U.S. ticket prices at about $7.20, or almost 4.7% higher than in 2007.

About 1.36 billion tickets were sold in the U.S. and Canada in 2008. That compares with a total 1.40 billion admissions in the previous year.

"There were a lot of predictions this would be a really, really hard year for movie theaters , but this year in big ways and small ways turned out to be a really strong year," said Patrick Corcoran, media and research director for the National Association of Theater Owners. "We had ' Dark Knight ' in the summer, which was huge, and films grossing under $ 100 million apiece totaled $500 million more than the same category of films in the summer of 2007."

Bowing in July, Warner Bros.' Batman sequel rang up a phenomenal $531 million to become the No. 2 theatrical release ever, after 1997's " Titanic " (unadjusted for inflation).

The studio thus easily copped distributor bragging rights with an industry-record $1.79 billion year, representing an 18.3% market share. Warners ' other big releases included two successful adaptations of TV shows -- " Sex and the City " ($153 million) and " Get Smart " ($130 million).

The studio's theatrical performance was enhanced by the midyear takeover of its ailing corporate sibling New Line Cinema , which produced "Sex and the City." Yet Warners would have enjoyed an even heftier box office haul if it hadn't postponed the release of " Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince " from November to July.

Paramount, which took top domestic honors in '07, finished in second place on the year with $1.60 billion and a 16.4% share. The studio had the second-biggest domestic grosser with the Marvel Studios -produced "Iron Man," which registered $318.3 million domestically.

In addition to the iron-clad success of that Robert Downey Jr . starrer, Paramount also saw outsized tallies from " Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull " ($317 million). the year is off to a good start with " The Curious Case of Benjamin Button ," which has registered $79 million in its first 11 days.

Sony was the year's No. 3 finisher with $1.28 billion and a 13.1% share, fielding a slate topped by "Hancock" ($228 million).

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

13 Qualities Every Leader Should Have

www.menshealth.com Leadership is one tough-to-figure art. That's why the Constitution devotes only a few hundred words to describing the president's job, and fewer still—not one—to the kind of person the chief exec ought to be. But take heart. We've figured out what makes a fellow worth following. Our leader-of-the-free-world specs come without reference to public policy. Great presidents can believe in big government or in small, and they can be born on Park Avenue or among the amber waves. We're fed up with the sneers, with the divisive polemics about who's a slacker because he didn't serve and who's a hero because he did. Mostly, we're impatient with insinuations that liberals don't believe in family and conservatives don't believe in civil rights. Our studies show that millions of people in Massachusetts have values and millions more in Texas have brains. Here are some qualities of mind and heart that will serve our republic well from either
Post a Comment
Read more

You've Been Making Chicken Breasts All Wrong - Here's the Right Way to Do It For Weight Loss

Boneless, skinless chicken breasts are a staple for healthy eaters everywhere - they're lean and they're an excellent source of protein, but all too often they're also bone-dry and flavourless. This could lead anyone astray from healthy eating! Fortunately, Disneyland Resort Executive Chef Chris Faulkner has a solution for dried up, unappetising chicken. As a star chef and Ironman triathlete, he knows how to fuel a body in a way that also tastes delicious (read: gourmet sports nutrition!). As Chef Chris told us during our Lunch 'N Learn cooking class at Disneyland, "Cook the breast with the skin on, then take it off to keep the chicken juicier. You'll save calories by removing the skin, but you'll have more flavour and better texture." Don't forget to brine your chicken, too. His recipe: lemon juice, orange juice, salt, peppercorns, thyme, garlic, bay leaf, and sliced lemons, limes, and oranges. Simmer for 20 minutes, then add ice to cool
Post a Comment
Read more

Vitamins A and E: Why are these antioxidants good for you?

Gerontologist Denham Harman, also known as the ‘father of the free radical theory of ageing’, was the first to discover the concept of free radicals in 1954. Free radicals are now suggested as one of the major contributors to ageing. Free radicals are reactive molecules and are involved in disease development. Sources of free radicals include stress, pollution as well as smoking and high alcohol consumption. The need for antioxidants in our daily life is thus crucial due to increased exposure to such free radicals. What are antioxidants? Antioxidants are thought to be able to slow down ageing and thus improve skin health through preventing reactive oxygen species from causing damage to our biological system. This is done by detoxifying these reactive oxygen species and thus be able to repair the resulting damage on proteins, fats, and DNA. Antioxidants are also capable of repairing damaged molecules like your DNA, can promote the destruction of cancer cells, and thus stop canc
Post a Comment
Read more