A wobbly fall boxoffice threw a scare into executives but the holidays proved bountiful and those in the industry can keep popping those New Year’s champagne corks: 2007 has posted a revenue record and the best admissions tally since 2004.
The latest boxoffice year, concluded Tuesday, featured an estimated $9.62 billion in industry grosses, according to data tracker Nielsen EDI. That represents a 4% improvement compared with 2002, the previous best year for boxoffice revenue.
Ticket prices rose 2% in ’07, to an average of $6.70.
EDI will release full and final annual boxoffice tallies today.
In the meantime, the year ended on a triumph, as the five-day New Year’s frame’s $268 million in industrywide grosses represents the highest-grossing boxoffice session ever.
The long Christmas weekend ranks as the third-best-frame ever, with $250.3 million. That ranked just behind ’07’s four-day Memorial Day session, which rung up $255.3 million.
Year-over-year, ’07 notched a 5% revenue uptick compared with 2006, according to EDI data. The holiday season was up 2%, following a 4% downtick marked by the fall boxoffice.
