This year's Hollywood summer box office sales are expected to reach $4.4 billion in the U.S. and Canada by the end of this week, according to American viewership provider Rentrak. Information sent to Newsweek forecast an 8% increase in sales from last summer's $4 billion total, including a projection of $86 million to be made this weekend alone.
Rentrak count summer box office ticket sales from the first Friday in May to Labor Day every year, and 2015 is on track to become Hollywood's second best summer in sales—the record of $4.75 billion was set in 2013. Universal's Jurassic World becoming the highest grossing film this year, making $200 million during it's opening weekend in June alone.
Due to Labor Day falling later than last year, this year's season accounts for eight more days of sales compared to the 2014 summer period, which ended on 1 September. Rentrak's senior media analyst, Paul Dergarabedian, explained this discrepancy to Newsweek, saying: "Here's the rub...[the total number of sales] will go up and up as we add more days to 2015 that aren't in 2014."
Four films distributed by Universal appeared in the top 10 list of the highest grossing films, including Jurassic World, Minions, Pitch Perfect 2 and Straight Outta Compton, while distributor Paramount appeared once with Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation starring Tom Cruise.
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times newspaper, John Fithian who is president of the National Association of Theatre Owners, explained the reason for the increase in sales, saying that going to the cinema had become "the most affordable form of entertainment out there...even a night of bowling is more expensive than what we are." However, the newspaper pointed out that average cinema ticket prices in the U.S. had in fact reached a record high of $8.17 last year.
Top grossing summer films for 2015
- Jurassic World
- Avengers: Age of Ultron
- Inside Out
- Minions
- Pitch Perfect 2
- Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation
- Ant-Man
- San Andreas
- Mad Max: Fury Road
- Straight Outta Compton
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