The New Zealand cinema industry bounced back in 2012 to record a 7% improvement over the 2011 result, the Motion Picture Distributors' Association of New Zealand announced this week.
The 2012 total gross box office of $173.1 million was the second highest achieved in the country, just behind the record-breaking $176.5 million recorded in 2010.
The highest-grossing release in the industry year to December 26, 2012 was The Avengers with a gross of $8.8 million. The comic book action-adventure was followed by the latest James Bond caper, Skyfall, which achieved a remarkable $6.4 million to December 26 and has gone on to gross $7.36 million to date.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey achieved a significant $6.1 million in just two and a-half weeks of release. It has gone on to gross more than $10.6 million since opening.
