What Recession?

2008 was a record year for the industry in terms of ca-ching despite a rough 4th quarter for everyone else There was an estimated $9.78 billion in box-office receipts, up nearly 2% from last year says Variety.

Higher ticket prices were a factor though with around 1.36 billion tickets sold in the U.S. and Canada in 2008 - last year the number was 1.4 billion.

No surprise here: With "The Dark Knight" and "Sex and the City" Warner Bros.topped the studio market share with an industry-record of $1.79 billion and an 18.3% piece of the pie.. It also had twelve weeks of films ranking at Number One and has scored over a $1 billion in revenue for an unprecedented consecutive eighth-year in a row.



Paramount came in second with $1.6 billion and a 16.4% share thanks to Iron Man and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Yet further proof that Harrison Ford wasn't too old to return as Indy.

Sony Pictures came in third with $1.28 billion and a 13.1% share led by ho-hum Hancock.

The foreign grosses also rose to new record in '08...