Sony PicturesEntertainment (SPE) has broken the industry's all-time record forworldwide box office receipts in a calendar year with $2.75bn in sales, thestudio said today (Dec 2). The performance beats the previous mark of $2.68bnset by 20th Century Fox in 1998, when that studio distributed Titanic internationally.

In a statementissued today SPE chairman John Calley praised the ìphenomenaleffortsî of studio staff and collaborative film-makers. Buoyed by theworldwide success of such titles as Spider-Man, Men In Black II, Mr Deeds,Panic Room andRevolution Studios' XXX, 2002 has been a banner year for SPE. In August its USdistributor Columbia Pictures smashed the industry record for North Americanticket sales when it passed $1.29bn.A month later SPE's internationaldistribution arm, Columbia TriStar Film Distributors International (CTFDI),announced it had passed $1bn in ticket sales for the third time in its history.According to figures from box office trackers Nielsen EDI, SPE leads the USmajors ranking with 18.3% market share. Buena Vista is second with 13.5%.Figures were accurate up to Nov 24.

SPE's 2003slate includes Bad Boys 2, starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence; Charlie's Angels:Full Throttle, starringCameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore and Lucy Liu; S.W.A.T., starring Samuel L Jackson and ColinFarrell; Big Fish,starring Albert Finney and Ewan McGregor and directed by Tim Burton; anuntitled film from director Nancy Meyers starring Jack Nicholson, Diane Keatonand Keanu Reeves; National Security, starring Martin Lawrence; and Revolution Studios' AngerManagement, starringJack Nicholson and Adam Sandler; TearsOf The Sun, starringBruce Willis; Hollywood Homicide, starring Harrison Ford and Josh Hartnett; and Daddy Day Care, starring Eddie Murphy.