Tinsel Town’s Big Year

At least there’s one sector the recession doesn’t seem to be hurting: movie attendance.

Box office revenue is up 8.6 percent on a 4.5 percent increase in ticket sales in North America compared with 2008, and is expected to top a record $10 billion, according to the Los Angeles Times.

And that’s despite a typical $10 ticket price. Especially encouraging is a trend that sees the core group of “regular movie-goers” increasing – meaning that there’s been an increase in the number of people going to movies on a regular basis.

Consumers continue to spend less money on leisure activities such as travel, eating out, sporting events and shopping – but they apparently see movies as an inexpensive way to get out of the house.