A record-breaking $3.6 billion year in China drove the global box office to a record $35.9 billion in 2013. It’s the first time that grosses from any country other than the U.S. have topped $3 billion. Despite the surge there however, the growth of the worldwide movie market actually slowed last year.
Global box-office revenue was up 4 percent over 2012, compared to a 6 percent jump from 2011 to 2012 ($34.7 billion), according to a state of the movie industry report delivered Tuesday by Motion Picture Association of America Chairman Chris Dodd at CinemaCon in Las Vegas.
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The foreign box office reached $25 billion, a 4.6 percent increase, and accounted for 70 percent of the worldwide grosses. But despite the huge gain in China — where revenue was up 27.5 percent — a decline in Europe meant the growth was off from the 6.7 percent it rose in 2012.
The domestic box office topped $10.92 billion in 2013, a 1.2 percent gain over 2012, which had seen a 6 percent jump over 2011.
Some highlights from the report:
- The increase in 2013 U.S./Canada box office was due to an equivalent increase in average ticket price (2 percent) compared to 2012, in-line with the 2 percent increase in inflation. Admissions fell by 20 million (minus one percent) compared to 2012.
- More than two-thirds of the U.S./Canada population (68 percent) — or 227.8 million people — went to the movies at least once in 2013.
- In 2013, the share of tickets sold to 2-11 year olds was at its highest point since 2009 and the share of tickets sold to 50-59 year olds was at an all time high. On the flip side, the number of frequent moviegoers in the key 18-24 age group fell 21 percent in 2013, and attendance in the 12-17 age dropped nearly 15 percent.
- Among the top five grossing films in 2013, “Iron Man 3” and “Man of Steel” both attracted overwhelmingly male audiences, while the family films “Despicable Me 2” and “Monsters University” earned a majority share of box office from the female audience. “Man of Steel” drew the most ethnically diverse audience, earning only 50 percent of its box office from Caucasian audiences and 19% from Asian/Other ethnicities.
- 3D box office was down 1% from 2012.
