MPAA Profits Soar to New Records, Rakes in $38.6 Billion

For years, major content industries would point to file-sharing and say that their profits are hurting because of it. A new report suggests that, in fact, the content industry is doing just fine.

Anti-piracy messaging is often loaded with points such as millions in losses and that profits are down. Sometimes, this is followed up by comments like the industry is dying and it won’t last much longer unless various measures are executed. Examples of this include site blocking, three strikes or graduated response laws, notice-and-takedown, anti-circumvention laws, and increasing the penalties for copyright infringement.

Recently, however, a report has surfaced that suggests that things are actually going well for at least one sector – the movie industry. According to a report from the Associated Press and published on the Washington post, turning up a profit doesn’t seem to be a problem:

The Motion Picture Association of America said Wednesday that the worldwide box office reached a record $38.6 billion in 2016.

The MPAA’s annual report showed a global increase of 0.5 percent in ticket sales from 2015. But China, the second-largest market after the United States, dropped 1 percent, with $6.6 billion in ticket sales.

Box office in North America hit a record $11.4 billion, though the increase of $300 million was due largely to rising ticket prices.

About 71 percent of Americans and Canadians went to the movies at least once in 2016, up 2 percentage points from 2015.

For now, it seem the movie industry is doing just fine. People are still attending theatres and people are still watching movies legally. Clearly a good news story all around for the industry.

Drew Wilson on Twitter: @icecube85 and Google+.