2015 was the highest-earning year at the North American box office, with $11.1 billion in movie ticket sales projected through Thursday, according to figures released today by Rentrak.
The previous record was $10.919 billion, set in 2013.
“Hollywood built the perfect box office beast in 2015, with one hit movie after the next, week after week, exceeding expectations with a regularity that made it look easy,” said Paul Dergarabedian, the senior media analyst for the audience measurement firm Rentrak.
“With records falling like dominoes, the revenues just kept building as audiences flooded multiplexes in huge numbers. A diverse and compelling selection of great titles, big and small, from every studio fueled an extraordinary level of interest by patrons who seemingly could not get enough of the big screen experience in 2015.”
Many notable records fell this year, with virtually every month posting a new benchmark for North American box office revenue, according to Rentrak.
The year’s records included:
— the biggest January weekend gross with “American Sniper”
— the biggest February opening weekend with “Fifty Shades Of Grey”;
— the biggest April opening weekend with “Furious 7″;
— the best June opening weekend with “Jurassic World”;
— the biggest September debut with “Hotel Transylvania 2″;
— and December’s “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” taking over the top spot for all-time opening weekend.
