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US Box Office Takings Increase over 2005 Figures

There was cautious optimism in the American film industry as recent figures show that box office takings for 2006 increased by 5% compared to the previous year. After a poor picture was portrayed in financial reports during 2005, many industry analysts began to worry that a combination of piracy, high movie ticket prices and internet downloading was causing a downward trend. However, several excellent movies in 2006 managed to bring about a fairly good increase overall.

A general picture of 2006 shows that a total of $9.42-billion was reached in sales, compared to $8.99-billion in 2005. Box office greats such as ?Pirates of the Caribbean? and ?Superman? contributed to the increase in numbers. The five top films of 2006 were as follows: ?Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man?s Chest? (grossed $423.3-million), ?Cars? ($244.1-million), ?X-Men: The Last Stand? ($234.4-million), ?The Da Vinci Code? ($217.5-million) and ?Superman? ($200.1-million).

2006 saw a very successful summer but a very weak ending over the Christmas season. Again, ?Pirates of the Caribbean? played the most important role in these statistics, after it opened in July with a record-breaking $55.8-million single day/first day takings. Its opening weekend also recorded $135-million in revenue. Industry watchers are interested to see whether the upward trend will continue into 2007.