The real reason box-office revenues hit an all-time high in 2016

Movie theater ticket prices have increased.

(Image credit: iStock)

published 13 January 2017

2016 was a good year for Hollywood. Box office revenues reached an all-time high of $11.37 billion in North America last year, breaking 2015's previous record of $11.14 billion. But that doesn't mean 2016 was necessarily a better year for quality films or that movie theaters were more packed than years past. What actually changed were the prices: Tickets were roughly 18 cents more expensive in 2016 than in 2015, CNN reports.

Overall movie theater attendance was actually about the same last year as it was in 2015. Moreover, big-name blockbusters like Finding Dory and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story did worse in ticket sales than their 2015 counterparts like Jurassic World and Star Wars: The Force Awakens. (The latter raked in about $131 million in its debut year, whereas Rogue One earned about half that.)

Sorry, Hollywood... Then again, nobody's complaining about earning $11 billion, right?

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Kelly Gonsalves is a sex and culture writer exploring love, lust, identity, and feminism. Her work has appeared at Bustle, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, and more, and she previously worked as an associate editor for The Week. She's obsessed with badass ladies doing badass things, wellness movements, and very bad rom-coms.