Film box office set to hit new record
Last Updated: Thursday, December 10, 2009 | 2:57 PM ET
CBC News
Megan Fox, left, and Shia LaBeouf star in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, the box office leader for 2009. (Jaimie Trueblood/Paramount Pictures/Associated Press) Film box office receipts in Canada and the U.S. are set to create a new record in 2009, possibly exceeding $10 billion US.
That will eclipse the 2007 box office record of $9.68 billion US in box office receipts.
Highly anticipated films such as James Cameron's Avatar and Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes, set to come out before Christmas, could push total annual box office to as high as $10.6 billion US, according to Hollywood.com.
Last year's box office in Canada and the U.S., which represents 35 per cent of the worldwide market, was $9.63 billion US.
This year's film revenues have been boosted by blockbusters such as Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen which took in $402 million US, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, with $301 million US, and surprise hits such as Paranormal Activity and The Hangover.
Also contributing to this year's increased box office receipts are higher movie ticket prices.
The total number of tickets sold is expected to reach 1.4 billion, nowhere near the record 1.6 billion sold in 2002, but up from 1.34 billion sold in 2008.
With files from The Associated PressShare Tools
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