Kids And Young Adults Drive Uptick In 2012 Movie Attendance: MPAA

The MPAA‘s yearly report on theatrical box office trends, out today, is a little more buoyant than it’s been in recent years. It shows global box office rising 6.4% to $34.7B last year, with the U.S. and Canada + 5.9% to $10.8B. 3D movies accounted for $1.8B of the domestic sales, even with 2011. Just as important, it reports that total admissions increased 6.3% to 1.36B, reversing a two-year slide. Admissions per capita increased just slightly, to 4.1 per year from last year’s 3.9 — which is still far below a decade ago when ticket sales averaged 5.2 per person. About 68% of the population went to a theater at least once last year, stable with the last few years. The audience is becoming younger: The report shows that per capita attendance among kids 11 or younger increased to 3.3 (from 3.0) and among 18- to 24-year-olds increased to 7.8 (from 6.8). The numbers were down slightly for those over 50. Exhibitors may be most encouraged, though, to see an increase in the percent of the population that goes to the movies at least once a month: About 13% are classified as “frequent” moviegoers, up from 10% in 2011.

Related: China Outpaces Japan To Become World’s No. 2 Movie Market: MPAA

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