Jan 4, 2008, 0:23 GMT
Los Angeles - Hollywood boasted a record year in 2007, earning 9.62 billion dollars at the US box office, according to industry figures released Thursday. The figure marked a 5 per cent increase from the 2006 mark and 4 per cent boost over Hollywood's previous high from 2002.
Ticket sales also were up from 2006, with 1.41 billion admissions marking a 1 per cent year-over-year uptick and the highest tally since 2004. In that year, admissions totaled 1.48 billion, or 5 per cent more than in '07, before plunging to 1.38 billion in 2005.
Domestic moviegoers paid an average 6.82 dollars per ticket in 2007, 4 per cent more than in 2006. Half of the year's top ten were sequels from well-known franchises like SPiderMan, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Harry Potter.
'I think it's a great tribute to the industry that we had another record year,' Warner's domestic distribution president Dan Fellman said. 'It wasn't too long ago that all the doomsayers were talking about the end of the motion picture industry as we knew it.'
In another first, all six major studios passed the 1 billion dollar mark at the domestic box office. Paramount won the crown with total receipts of 1.49 billion dollars, up 55 per cent from last year. Warner Bros' box office was 1.42 billion dollars, up 34 per cent, followed by Disney with 1.36 billion, Sony with 1.24 billion dollars, Universal with 1.1 billion dollars and Fox with 1.01 billion dollars.
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