Second-quarter box office: Depth but no breadth

Global box office generated $7.69 billion for the second quarter of 2010 propelled by the rage for 3D movies. Six of the top 10 grossers for the period were stereoscopic films including Clash of the Titans and Alice in Wonderland as well as animated fare such as Shrek Forever After and Toy Story 3.

Overall worldwide theatrical was up 11% from the same period of 2009 with the international arena contributing $4.07 billion and domestic the remaining $3.62 billion. However, as a result of the premium prices for 3D and large format versions of popular films, admissions rose by less than 3%.

While the box-office boost was generally upbeat, there were several disturbing caveats particularly in the international arena. Whereas the domestic marketplace expanded by 25% year-to-year, international’s 7% boost translated into essentially flat ticket sales. The foreign disquiet boils down to fewer films monopolizing ticket sales and among those few are a sparse number of foreign-language productions (invariably a key factor in marketplace growth).

With the exception of StreetDance 3D, the major international box office hits of the period experienced little traction outside their country of origin. As with the domestic sector, more and more maturing markets are feeling the pinch of screen availability and that situation will only intensify through the summer season. The exception continues to be films from India —particularly but not exclusively Bollywood film in Hindi — that have established dedicated screens for that nation’s Diaspora. An unprecedented four Indian productions popped up among the top 20 grossing films during Q2 and box office in the country spiked by 46%.

China, Russia and Mexico also had significant revenue upturns. But virtually all of Europe as well as Japan, South Korea and Turkey saw both revenues and admissions erode sharply. Post Q2 Chinese cinemas continue to boom with the country’s first 3D movie Aftershock becoming the all-time highest grossing local production after three weeks in release.

The American majors continued to dominate worldwide screens with studio movies accounting for 61% of second quarter theatrical revenues. The companies also had a year-to-year boost of 17%.