$9.63 bil boxoffice for '07 breaks record
 

In its annual state-of-the-business report, the MPAA reported Wednesday that domestic boxoffice for 2007 hit a record $9.63 billion, up 5.4% above 2006's returns.

Worldwide boxoffice surged to $26.7 billion, with 64% of that total or $17.1 billion coming from international ticket-buyers.

Domestically, the number of tickets sold held steady at 1.4 billion, a figure that was only 0.3% higher than 2006's 1.395 billion ticket buyers.

While the overall number of movies released in U.S. theaters remained on a par with 2006 -- last year saw 580 films released versus 599 in 2006 -- there was an uptick in independent films released by non-MPAA-affiliated indies. The so-called "pure indies" not connected to the major studios released 18 more films in 2007 than '06.

Last year did see more movies hit the $100 million benchmark in domestic ticket sales. Twenty-eight films climbed above that level in 2007, compared with 19 in 2006. Additionally, the year saw four movies crest the $300 million mark versus just one in 2006.


But 2007 also saw increases in negative and marketing costs for the films released by MPAA studios. Negative costs crew by 8% to $70.8 million, while marketing costs increased by 4% to $35.9 million. The total cost to produce and market a studio film hit a high of $106.6 million.

The studios' specialty divisions also saw costs rise: They spent an average of $49.2 million to produce a film and $25.7 million to market it for a total of $74.8 million.

The Internet played a decisive role in providing information about movies. A forthcoming study conducted by the MPAA and Yahoo found that 73% of U.S. moviegoers use the Internet to research a film before going to the theater. Only TV/radio, at 75%, played a higher role.