Yet another record year at the box office has come and gone with the big winner turning out to be Sony Pictures. Big-budget, big-star, and big-concept films were spread out across all twelve months proving that the summer and holidays seasons are not necessarily the only times to release a potential blockbuster. Almost every month set a new record for ticket sales and opening weekends were bigger than ever. Moviegoers expanded the marketplace when many strong titles were playing simultaneously. Overall, 1997 admissions are estimated to be at 1.4 billion units with 15 movies breaking the $100M mark including the holiday titles Titanic and Tomorrow Never Dies. Sony's Men in Black was the highest-grossing title of 1997 with $250M but it should be surpassed by Titanic which is certain to become the highest-grossing film released in the calendar year. Coincidentally, Titanic was originally scheduled to open head-to-head with Men In Black on July 2nd.

Take a look back at the year that was with the two Top 50 lists below:

The table below wraps up the year in the lives of Hollywood's studios and distributors. Click on the distributor's name to read its Studio Spotlight review:

Last Updated : January 5, 1998

SOURCE : Variety, EDI