Cinemas reaped record earnings around the world last year – $38.3bn – fuelled by rocketing attendance in China and young people’s continued enthusiasm for a night at the movies, industry data has showed.
Global spending on big screen showings of films was up by 5.2% last year largely on the back of phenomenal growth in China – 51.2%, according to the US National Association of Theatre Owners.
There also were major increases in Mexico (14.7%), Germany (14.3%), Spain (7.8%) and Brazil (7.4%).
At the North American box office, big-budget blockbusters such as Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Jurassic World helped push earnings above $11bn for the first time.
"Historically, three of the biggest cinema markets were the United States, Europe and Australia. And in the old days, those territories weren’t nearly as diverse as they are today," association president and chief executive John Fithian said in a speech at the CinemaCon conference in Las Vegas on Tuesday.
"Now, the overseas theatrical markets with the fastest growth rates are found in Asia and Latin America."
The Chinese-made 3D fantasy/adventure film Monster Hunt broke a string of box-office records on its release in the country in July 2015, becoming the highest grossing film ever. It has since been surpassed by The Mermaid, another locally made fantasy/adventure film targeted at the country’s huge new urban cinema audience, which has taken $500m since its release in February.
Fithian attributed the worldwide numbers in part to improved theatres, replete with better seats and sound, bigger screens and expanded offerings of refreshments.
He also highlighted the movie-going appetite of adolescents.
"That demographic represents only 8% of the US population, but a stellar 16% share of movie tickets purchased," Fithian said.
"The small screens of television may hold less appeal for teenagers. But the big screens of cinema, and the personal screens of hand-held devices, can co-exist quite well," he added.
Another factor, he said, was diversity, touching on a recent Hollywood race row.
"The more that movie casting looks like the world, the more the world goes to the movies," he said, pointing to Furious 7 as an example.