[Infowarrior] - North American Box Office Hits Record $11.4 Billion

[Richard Forno]

Journalists, pundits, and politicians should keep this article handy when Hollywood resumes their anti-technology & restrictive IP maximalist actions in 2017 while citing the 'scourge' of 'piracy' being a crippling thing for their bottom lines, thus justifying their requests.   -- rick


North American Box Office Hits Record $11.4 Billion
 
Brent Lang
Senior Film and Media Editor @BrentALang
January 1, 2017 | 02:04PM PT

http://variety.com/2017/film/news/box-office-record-finding-dory-1201950948/

The North American box office closed out the year with $11.4 billion in ticket sales, ComScore said Sunday. That marks a new record for the industry, bypassing the previous high-water mark of $11.1 billion that was established in 2015.

ComScore, a data measurement company, did not calculate admissions, but studio executives and analysts believe that attendance will be essentially flat. Nor does it account for inflation. The record was achieved, in part, thanks to more expensive tickets. Ticket prices hit new highs earlier in 2016, though an average full-year price for tickets have yet to be calculated.

Still it was a record that few thought the industry would set. This year was faulted for lacking major franchises such as James Bond and the Fast and the Furious series.

It was a particularly strong year for Disney, which controlled more than a quarter of the domestic market share despite releasing fewer films than any of the major studios. It made the most of what it had. Disney launched four of the top five highest-grossing films, including “Finding Dory,” the years top film with $486.3 million. When holdovers are taken into account, Disney had six of the year’s ten highest-grossing releases, a group that includes “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” which debuted in 2015.

Other top films include “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” ($408.2 million), “Captain America: Civil War” ($408.1 million),”The Secret Life of Pets” ($368.4 million), and “The Jungle Book” ($364 million).