The lesson Hollywood should have learned this year? Have animation and/or 3-D, will rake in cash.
Box-office numbers for the year show that top-grossing films were either animated, in 3-D, or both. Pixar’s Toy Story 3, which was also named TIME’s best movie of the year, raked in the most cash. Four major moneymakers were in 3-D, and four were animated, though there’s some overlap. Tweens flocked to Harry Potter and Twilight, while action fans took in Inception and Iron Man 2.
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Why are 3-D films dominating the list? For one, viewers couldn’t get enough of those funky plastic glasses, especially post-Avatar. But a big factor is that it costs the average moviegoer more to see a 3-D movie than to see a 2-D one. This increased ticket price leads to bigger box-office numbers.
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The top 10 highest-earning movies are:
- Toy Story 3, $1.06 billion
- Alice in Wonderland, $1.02 billion
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1, $831 million
- Inception, $825 million
- Shrek Forever After, $737 million
- Twilight Saga: Eclipse, $693 million
- Iron Man 2, $622 million
- Despicable Me, $539 million
- Clash of the Titans, $493 million
- How to Train Your Dragon, $493 million
(via Forbes)