In a new report made available to Tekedia, IHS iSuppli discussed how the 3-D market has grown. The global box-office revenue for 3-D movies in 2010 more than doubled to $6.1 billion, up from $2.5 billion generated in 2009.
That’s remarkable growth for a format that launched as recently as 2005, with 2010 now standing as a record year. The international market accounted for $3.9 billion, or 63.9 percent of the market, up from 53.8 percent in 2009. The rest of the 3-D movie market, or 36.1 percent, is represented by North America, including the United States and Canada.
The United States was the world’s single biggest 3-D presence with $2.0 billion in box-office revenue, taking in the largest share at 32.8 percent, down from 42.3 percent in 2009.
The surge in international 3-D box office revenue was almost threefold, up from just $1.4 billion in 2009, driven by a corresponding hike in investment of digital 3-D technology by key international exhibitors, in tandem with the influx in new 3-D movie releases.
This run of exceptional growth in international markets has been instrumental in achieving a current worldwide total in excess of 30,000 3-D screens at June 2011, more than double the number at the same point last year; at least one in four of the world’s screens are now 3-D-capable.
But despite impressive 3-D screen growth internationally, the global market still is dominated by U.S. product, which accounted for more than 90 percent of revenues coming from international 3-D screens.
