You can thank the appeal and premium prices of 3D and IMAX for attracting the most moviegoers in several years in 2012, resulting in a projected 6% increase in spending in the U.S.
The eight top-grossing movies and 13 of the top 15 were presented in 3D and/or IMAX.
Twelve 3D movies grossed $100 million or more and six of then topped $200 million. Only half of those 12 films were animated kids movies. The biggest 3D successes this year were action-fantasy films led by “Marvel’s The Avengers,” which amassed $623 mil. in the U.S. alone, as well as “The Amazing Spider-Man,” “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” “MiB 3,” and the sci-fi “Alien” reboot “Prometheus.” Live-action family film “Journey 2: The Mysterious Island” also joined the $100 mil. club.
All those films were also available in IMAX theaters, as were four of the top five movies of the year that were not in 3D: “The Dark Knight Rises” and “The Hunger Games,” both grossing more than $400 mil. each, and “Skyfall” and “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2,” both of which each grossed close to $300 mil.
Thus, it’s no surprise that dozens of films scheduled for release in 2012 will be in 3D and IMAX theaters.
Disney recently announced its 2013 slate of at least six major 3D releases, led on March 8 by “Oz The Great and Powerful” and followed by “Iron Man 3” on May 3, the animated Pixar sequel “Monsters University” June 21, another converted animated classic “The Little Mermaid” Sept. 13, the sequel “Thor: The Dark World” Nov. 8, and the new animated “Frozen” on Nov. 27. No word about 3D or IMAX for the studio’s July 3 summer tent-pole “The Lone Ranger.”
Movies already announced for IMAX in 2013 include the middle episode of the Hobbit trilogy, “The Desolation of Smaug,” on December 13, the next Hunger Games installment, “Catching Fire,” on Nov. 22, “Top Gun 3D” Feb. 8; “A Good Day to Die Hard” Feb. 14; “Jack the Giant Slayer” March 1; “Oz” on March 8; Tom Cruise’s “Oblivion” on April 12; “Star Trek Into Darkness” on May 17; “Man of Steel” June 14; “Pacific Rim” July 12; “300: Rise of an Empire” on Aug. 2; and a Vin Diesel Riddick sequel in September, among others.
All but the Hunger Games, Oblivion, Die Hard, and Riddick movies will also be in IMAX 3D.
Although attendance increased by about 6% this year to 1.36 billion, it was the first such increase in ticket sales since 2009, according to Hollywood.com, and attendance is still far below the 1.6 billion who purchased tickets a decade ago in 2002.
Although the average price of a ticket remained nearly flat in 2012 at just under $8, premium ticket prices and experiences that cannot be duplicated as effectively at home, such as 3D and IMAX, are expected to continue to draw audiences out to the movie theater.
That is particularly true and important in many overseas markets where 3D and IMAX are even more popular. Almost all of the most popular movies generate more revenue from foreign markets than the U.S. these days, some as much 82% of their overall gross, such as the 3-D animated “Ice Age: Continental Drift,” according to BoxOfficeMojo.com. Nearly 60% of global grosses for “The Avengers” came from overseas, and more than 71% of “Skyfall’s” record-shattering 007 franchise worldwide gross of $1 billion (and still counting) came from foreign territories, ranking the James Bond installment as the 14th biggest moneymaker of all-time.
— By Scott Hettrick