MPAA: 2009 Box Office Smashes Records
The Motion Picture Association of America says the global take at the box office in 2009 was an all time record, up 7.6% from 2008. Domestic box office was up primarily because of higher 3D ticket prices – but attendance overall was up 5.5 percent as well, though still below the record, which was set in 2002.
The Wrap has analysis, as does the Los Angeles Times, which offered this interesting point:
But the report was more notable for what it omitted: key financial data on the average cost of making and marketing movies, what used to be the only authoritative sources of such information.
For years, the Motion Picture Assn. of America released a statistical analysis showing the average movie costs of its members, made up of the major studios and their specialty labels. Then the trade group stunned many in Hollywood last year when it didn’t release the closely watched data, citing the difficulty of obtaining accurate information.
The MPAA followed the same script again this year. In 2007, the last year for which data was released, the average cost of producing and marketing a studio movie was $106.6 million, up 6.3% from the year before.
