Hollywood posts record box office in '07

Cheer up Spidey: You
ruled the '07 box officeU.S. box office receipts hit an all-time high in 2007, according to a Reuters report.

The record $9.63 billion haul shows Hollywood is rebounding from a 2005 slump — sort of. The actual number of admissions remained flat from 2006 to 2007 and the boost came from higher ticket prices, according to Reuters.

It's worth noting that three of 2007's movies are among the highest grossing ever in the U.S. “Spider-Man 3” is the 15th-highest grosser ever, “Shrek the Third” is the 18th and “Transformers” was the 19th-highest grosser.

For the record, “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End” and “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” rounded out 2007's top five moneymakers.

(Jorge Sosa is a staff writer for the Hutchinson Leader. He can be reached at sosa@hutchinsonleader.com)