LOS ANGELES (AP) — Global movie ticket sales rose 6 percent in 2012 to a record $34.7 billion thanks to the growing popularity of movies in Asia and higher attendance by hardcore fans in the U.S. and Canada.
According to the Motion Picture Association of America, China overtook Japan as the biggest market outside the U.S. and Canada combined, with sales there growing 36 percent to $2.7 billion.
In the U.S. and Canada, moviegoers who attend once a month or more drove total sales up 6 percent to $10.8 billion.
These superfans represent only 13 percent of the population but bought 57 percent of all movie tickets, an increase of 7 percentage points from a year ago. About two-thirds of people in the U.S. and Canada saw a movie at least once last year.
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