Hollywood likely to rake in a record $11.3B at box office
That’s a small increase over last year; cinema attendance slumping.
LOSANGELES — The muscle-bound superheroes of the multiplex are expected to lift the domestic box office to a projected $11.3 billion in ticket sales for 2016 — which is a record sum but a modest 1.5 percent increase from last year’s haul of $11.14 billion.
T h e Wal t Di s n e y C o. o n c e again dominated the competition, thanks to Pixar’s “Finding Dory” and Marvel’s “Captain America: Civil War,” which are projected to take the Nos. 1 and 2 box-office spots, respectively.
The studio also saw massive hits with “The Jungle Book,” “Zootopia” and the last two “Star Wars” releases: “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” and “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.”
“The Force Awakens” opened late last year but earned $736.6 million of its $2 billion global total in the current calendar year, said the studio.
For 2016, Disney is expected to gross more than $2.89 billion domestically, according to data from comScore. The studio said it has already surpassed the $7 billion mark worldwide for the year.
Warner Bros. is the second-best performing studio at the domestic box office, with about $1.88 billion in ticket sales this year, thanks to the superhero blockbusters “Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice” and “Suicide Squad,” which both surpassed $300 million domestically.
The studio also had a hit with the “Harry Potter” spinoff “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.”
But movie attendance continues to languish across the country. Attendance is projected to be essentially flat compared with last year, with cinemas seeing an increase of just half of 1 percent from 2015, lifting attendance to just above 1.3 billion moviegoers, according to comScore.
Indeed, 2016 was far from a banner year for Hollywood. The industry continues to deal with young audiences staying away from cinemas in favor of streaming media.
“It’s not a lot of growth,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at comScore.
Domestic attendance reached 1.6 billion moviegoers in 2002 and dropped off in subsequent years. In the last three years, attendance has hovered around 1.3 billion annually.
“The leisure time for individuals has continued to dwindle, and it has become more competitive,” said Jeff Goldstein, president of domestic distribution at Warner Bros.
Meanwhile, movie ticket prices continue to rise. The average price in the U.S. hit $8.51 in the third quarter of this year.
Last year’s average ticket price was $8.43.
Industry experts said 2017 looks rosier as the studios prepare an unusually large slate of tentpole releases.
The most anticipated blockbusters — many of which are sequels — include “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2,” “Justice League,” “Spider-Man: Homecoming” and “Star Wars: Episode VIII.”