Audio Video News

The economy may be dead in the water but there's one industry boasting record revenues. And that's the movie industry.

The 2009 figures are out from the Motion Picture Association of America. Box office revenue was $29.9 billion worldwide, up 7.6 percent (make that 10.1 percent in the U.S.). Attendance was 1.42 billion, a five-year high. The average moviegoer buys 6.5 tickets per year.

But the real eyebrow raiser is pricing. The average annual ticket price was $7.50, up 4.4 percent from 2008, at a time when the Consumer Price Index was actually down 0.4 percent and consumers were cutting spending in other areas. In major cities, ticket prices are even higher--the theaters in my New York neighborhood routinely charge more than $10, even for 2D.

The top 10 box office sensations were Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, Up, The Twilight Saga: New Moon, Avatar, The Hangover, Star Trek, Monsters vs. Aliens, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, The Blind Side, and X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

See MPAA (PDF).