DHAKA: The US box office hit a record $4.7bn over this summer with a 10.2% increase in revenue from last year.

Films such as ‘Iron Man 3’, ‘Man Of Steel’ and ‘Despicable Me 2’ helped boost numbers, despite a summer of flops including ‘The Lone Ranger’, ‘After Earth’ and ‘The Wolverine’.

An unusually large number of summer releases also saw cinema attendance rise by 6.6% to about 573 million.

‘Iron Man 3’ was the biggest hit of the summer, taking $408.6m, reports the BBC.

Although a portion of the record revenues can be attributed to rising ticket prices, which increased on average by 27 cents, industry figures have attributed the growth to a packed summer of films.

John Fithian, president of the National Association of Theater Owners, said the bumper takings were a clear sign of industry strength.

However, he suggested studios were jamming too many blockbuster releases into too narrow a summertime window.

‘A few of those films suffered because of the congestion,’ he told media.

BDST: 1806 HRS, SEPT 03, 2013
RoR/Rk