Box offices worldwide saw growth in 2008.
In the UK, moviegoers spent £949.5 million last year, making for an increase of about 5% from 2007 figures. The UK box office revenues is a record high since 1989. The UK box office largely attributes the increase to three big hits: Mamma Mia!, Quantum of Solace, and The Dark Knight.
The North American box office can also breathe a sigh of relief especially after the initial sluggish box office sales, which lasted till the 3rd quarter of the year. Thanks to avid holiday moviegoers, instead of seeing a downturn in profits the box office actually saw an annual gain of 2% with estimated grosses of $9.78 billion.
The biggest gainer this year though is China’s box office which recorded a whopping 27% annual increase in ticket sales for 2008, with a total of 4.2 billion yuan ($622 million), up $130 million over 2007.