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Box office takings are set to smash record levels this year, figures reveal today.
Blockbusters such as Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, New Moon and 2012 have given the film industry a sharp increase in revenues.
With an end-of-year surge led by James Cameron's hotly anticipated Avatar and Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes, the US box office is on course to record its best 12 months.
Takings on 6 December were $9.7billion (£6billion), up 8.4 per cent on the same time last year. The previous record is $9.68billion set in 2007.
The jump is due to increased ticket prices but attendances are also up by five per cent.
The figures come despite the economic downturn and a culling of studio executives this year following big releases that flopped.
Hollywood has been a big winner during the credit crunch because the cinema is a relatively cheap form of entertainment, said film tracking company Hollywood.com Box Office, which published the figures.
Paul Dergarabedian, president of the website, said: "With numerous huge films still on the way, we are poised for the first $10billion year at the box office, a milestone that has never been reached."
Ron Giambra at Rentrak, which tracks box office takings, said cinemas offered a "temporary escape from the non-stop flow of bad news about the economy."
Hollywood has also benefited from success internationally. Film 2012 generated $62million (£38million) in China in its first three weeks to become one of the country's best selling films this year. The Chinese box office is set to increase by 40 per cent the $630million generated last year.
The top grossing film of the year so far is Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen which took in $402 million followed by Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince which made $302 million.
