Box Office Admissions - Top 10 Years of Movie Ticket Sales for US Domestic Box Office

While box office revenue is often a measure of the health of the movie industry, box office results can be misleading. As ticket prices rise, so too do overall box office numbers. Admittedly, you can adjust box office grosses for inflation, but why go through a middle man when you can go straight to the actual number of movie tickets sold?

With that in mind, let's view the top ten years for Box Office Admissions as determined by the Motion Picture Association of America. These are the number of movie tickets sold, the number of admissions, not necessarily the number of people who went to the movies. Included in this list of the top ten years for box office admissions is the lowest year for ticket sales. Keep in mind that the number of movie screens in the world are at all-time highs (approximately 40,000 in the US alone), as is the number of people who can actually go to the movies. For this list the focus is on US domestic ticket sales rather than world box office admissions.

Your Feature Presentation: Top Ten Years for US Box Office Admissions

Please note: US population figures are based on census data and rounded to the nearest million.

10. Year: 1955
Number of Movie Tickets Sold: 2,072,300,000

Not a bad year considering the US population was approximately 166 million. Per capita we're looking at approximately 12 tickets sold for every individual in the US.

9. Year: 1954
Number of Movie Tickets Sold: 2,270,400,000
US Population: 163,000,000
Per Capita Box Office Admissions: 14

8. Year: 1953
Number of Movie Tickets Sold: 2,630,600,000
US Population: 160,000,000
Per Capita Box Office Admissions: 16

7. Year: 1952
Number of Movie Tickets Sold: 2,777,700,000
US Population: 158,000,000
Per Capita Box Office Admissions: 17.5

6. Year: 1951
Number of Movie Tickets Sold: 2,840,100,000
US Population: 155,000,000
Per Capita Box Office Admissions: 18

5. Year: 1950
Number of Movie Tickets Sold: 3,017,500,000
US Population: 152,000,000
Per Capita Movie Admissions: 20

Sensing a pattern?

4. Year: 1949
Number of Movie Tickets Sold: 3,168,500,000
US Population: 149,000,000
Per Capita Box Office Admissions: 21

3. Year: 1948
Number of Movie Tickets Sold: 3,422,700,000
US Population: 147,000,000
Per Capita Box Office Admissions: 23

2. Year: 1947
Number of Movie Tickets Sold: 3,664,400,000
US Population: 144,000,000
Per Capita Box Office Admissions: 25

1. Year: 1946
Number of Movie Tickets Sold: 4,067,300,000
US Population: 141,000,000
Per Capita Box Office Admissions: 30

Behind the Scenes: Causes of Decline in Box Office Ticket Sales

The year 1946 was a benchmark in cinematic history. More tickets were sold that year than in any other. The movie industry was poised for success, ready to rake in anticipated profits on a global scale. World War II had ended. The studio system was well-established. Studios owned both the means of production and distribution, with a slew of nationwide theater chains. It seemed as if the film industry was on the verge of another golden age.

But this was not to pass.

True, the boys were home from the war, but, as it turns out, boys will be boys, and their interests weren't necessarily in spending their nights at movies shall we say. As the baby boom began to shape American society, going out to the movies suddenly became more difficult.

Around this time, the federal government became concerned that the movie industry, with its integrated vertical distribution pattern, represented a monopoly. In 1949 the Paramount Divorce Decree separated studios from their theater chains. The studios had five years to separate themselves from the theater chains they controlled. Most of these theaters were located in large, downtown urban areas. But as families began to grow in size, the need for larger homes in the new suburbs emerged. As families flocked to the suburbs, distributors, still in flux from the Paramount Decree were slow to respond. As population centers shifted away from downtown areas, the main audience for films was moving further away from the venues that were showing them. And as if this weren't enough --

Along came television.

Regular network television broadcasts began in 1946 on the Dumont Network, with the familiar big three networks establishing TV networks by 1948. By 1951 television networks were broadcasting from coast to coast. Why go to the movies, when the movies now came to you? Granted, television was in its infancy, and for sheer spectacle, nothing could touch the silver screen, but as going to the movies became increasingly difficult, television became an easy alternative '" and best of all, after you bought the TV set, it was free!

As box office admissions declined, the studios fought back as best they could. New technologies such as Cinerama, CinemaScope, Todd-AO and 3-D were introduced to try to lure people back to the theaters. But while these could stem the tide, movies were increasingly becoming one of many entertainment options, as opposed to earlier times when they were virtually the only game in town.

This isn't the whole picture, but rather, it's intended to provide a broad overview of some factors that led to the decline of box office admissions. As the film industry moved into the 1960s, ticket sales continued to decline until they reached their low point.

Lowest Recorded Box Office Admission Year:

1971
Number of Movie Tickets Sold: 820,300,000
US Population: 208,000,000
Per Capita Box Office Admissions: 4

This number is a far cry from the halcyon days of 1946, marking a nearly eight-fold decrease in ticket sales per capita. Ever wonder why movie ticket prices have risen so dramatically? Fewer people seeing films (and increased production costs) means the average movie-goer has to shoulder more of the burden.

Previews: The Movie Industry Today -- Recent Box Office Admissions

2005
Number of Movie Tickets Sold: 1,402,700,000
US Population: 296,000,000
Per Capita Box Office Admissions: 5

2010
Number of Movie Tickets Sold: 1,330,000,000
US Population: 308,000,000
Per Capita Box Office Admissions: 4

As you can see, despite an increase in overall ticket sales, box office admissions per capita have remained relatively the same since the all-time low year of 1971.

While box office admissions have risen since 1971, the studios have increasingly turned to ancillary markets to make their money. Today, box office grosses are but increasingly smaller piece of the revenue streams generated by movies. In other words, box office admissions are less important than they once were. And in ways, ticket sales are more about advertising a movie for these ancillary markets, than they are about generating actual profit. Admittedly, this is a generalization, but on the whole, ticket sales are now more of a means to an end, rather than the end they once were.

Bonus Features:

To give you an idea of what some of the top grossing movies of these times made, let's examine a sample of some of this top box office earners from 1946 to 1955.

The Snake Pit was one of the top grossing movies of 1948, earning approximately $10,000,000 at the box office. Quo Vadis? was 1951's top earner with a box office haul of $30,000,000, a total shared by one of 1954's top grossing movies, White Christmas.

Two Disney movies mark the beginning and end of the list: Song of the South was the big hit of 1946, while Lady and the Tramp was a major hit in 1955. (Please note: due to re-releases, the box office numbers for these two movies are a bit skewed)