Christmas comes early for Hollywood and theatre owners in North America as Rentrak, the media measurement and analytical services projected that box-office revenue is to touch a record $11 billion in 2015.
This will be the first time the total ticket sales have hit that mark, and this is all thanks to mega projects which released this year which include the recently released Star Wars: Force Awakens which has hit $300 million in the first five days.
If revenue touches the $11 billion mark, it will beat the record which was set in 2013 with box-office grossing of $10.9 billion due to the likes of Walt Disney Pictures animated feature Frozen and Marvel’s Iron Man 3. Ticket sales in North American too have gone up by 6.3 per cent over 2014 ($10.4 billion) but won’t equal record attendance due to the increased ticketing pricing.
Till Tuesday Rentrak said year-to-date revenue roughly brought in $10.5 billion and with holiday week coming Star Wars is expected to soar to greater heights even reaching $600 million before the year sees an end. Also, bout of new titles set to release on Christmas, include Daddy’s Home, Concussion, Joy, much anticipated Leonardo di Caprio – Tom Hardy starrer Revanant and family entertainer Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip.
The year has seen gripping highs and lows; with some Hollywood failures like Tomorrowland, Pan and The Last Witch Hunter unable grab audience attention with studios like Warner Bros and Disney losing more than $100 million on a single film.
“Even if attendance were flat or even slightly down over the past few years, the fact that we are breaking records left and right in 2015 proves that, despite a level of competition from the small screen and from myriad entertainment options that is stronger than ever before in our history, the robust nature of the movie industry today is a total win for a decidedly old-school (and arguably the most singular and impactful) way of consuming filmed entertainment,” said Rentrak’s Paul Dergarabedian.
Star Wars: Force Awakens is also climbing the charts of top grossing films this year currently sitting at number 6. And among top five top-grossing flicks in North America are Jurassic World ($652.3 million),Avengers: Age of Ultron ($459 million), Inside Out ($356.5 million), Furious 7 ($353 million) and Minions ($336 million).
Even though Disney had a dud in George Clooney starrer Tomorrowland, along with Universal its titles account for 40 per cent of 2015 domestic box-office revenue to date at 22.3 percent and 17.3 percent, respectively. Universal boasts of names like Jurassic World, Furious 7 and Minions, in the top grossing list while Disney has Marvel’s Age of Ultron, Pixar’sInside Out and Lucasfilm’s Force Awakens to thank for.
“From American Sniper to Jurassic World to Straight Outta Compton, Creed and, of course, now Star Wars and a slew of great indie fare in between, this was a year that should dispel any notion that the movie-theater experience is an outmoded or irrelevant pastime,” added Dergarabedian.
