Summer dollars rise, attendance dips for Hollywood

[August 31, 2010]  LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Hollywood is finishing its summer with record revenue but the lowest actual movie attendance in five years.

Domestic receipts from the first weekend in May through the upcoming Labor Day weekend should come in at about $4.35 billion, $100 million more than the record set last year, according to Paul Dergarabedian, box-office analyst for Hollywood.com.

Attendance is down because of a steep rise in ticket prices, heavily due to a surge in 3-D screenings, which cost a few dollars more than regular movie admissions.

Through Labor Day, the actual number of tickets sold during the summer season is expected to come in at 552 million, the lowest since 563.2 million tickets were sold in summer 2005, Dergarabedian estimated.

[Associated Press]

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