Annual Box Office Drops Slightly From 2009 Record

2010 is not the most glorious year for Hollywood movie industry. According to Hollywood.com (via The Associated Press), this year's domestic box office revenues will not hit last year's record of $10.6 billion. By the end of this year, it is estimated that total movie-ticket sales will only reach $10.556 billion.

The modest decline of annual box office revenues is in line with the 5.36% decrease of total attendance from last year. The number will mark the biggest percentage drop year over year since 2005. It will also be the second-lowest attended year of the decade.

When "Avatar", which was released in late 2009, made box office history with $750 million haul from domestic ticket sales, it seemed 2010 might set a new record. However, this summer's haul did not help as box office analyst Paul Dergarabedian says, "By the end of the summer it was the lowest-attended summer in over a decade."

"Then I thought, maybe we can make it up in the holiday season, with 'Tron (Legacy)', 'Harry Potter (and the Deathly Hallows: Part I)', 'Tangled' and some other big movies on the way," he additionally shares. "But I didn't know if there would be enough juice in the box office to make up for the loss of the summer, and it just didn't happen."

Fortunately, this year's box office revenues still crosses $10 billion mark which is only the second time in history. And 2010 highest grossing movie "Toy Story 3", which made nearly $415 million, contributes to this. Dergarabedian claims, "Without that, we'd be looking at revenues that may not even have surpassed $10 billion."

As for the coming year, "The Hangover 2", "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides", "Thor" and "Captain America: The First Avenger" are expected to increase the annual box office.