Universal Pictures' Box Office Hits a 100-Year High

10:59 AM PDT 9/25/2012 by Tatiana Siegel , Pamela McClintock

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The studio’s North American box office through Monday passed $1.128 billion mark, besting its record set four years ago.

Buoyed by such box-office hits as Dr. Seuss' The Lorax and Ted, Universal Pictures has set a record for the highest-grossing year domestically in the studio’s 100-year history.

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The studio’s North American box office through Monday passed $1.128 billion mark, besting the record set in 2008, when total tallies for the year hit $1.127 billion. The Lorax and Ted represent more than a third of that haul, taking in a combined $432 million.

Universal still has four films still to be released in 2012, including the platform release Pitch Perfect, which opens Friday on a limited basis and expands nationwide Oct. 5. Action-thriller The Man With the Iron Fists opens Nov. 2, followed by the latest comedy from writer-director Judd Apatow, This Is 40, on Dec. 21. On Christmas Day, the studio opens its big-screen adaptation of the hit stage musical Les Misérables.

NBCUniversal CEO Steve Burke gave a shout-out to the studio Tuesday. “Our film team has done a great job starting to turn things around and preparing the studio for the future, he said. "They have built some great new franchises, reinvigorated some older ones and acquired some very promising intellectual property. We are excited to see them execute on their plan in the years to come.”