Movie ticket sales total $11 billion in 2015, most profitable year on record

Yearly ticket sales have reached $11 billion for the first time ever, according to a new report.

Thanks largely to the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, box office analysts project a total domestic gross of $11 billion for the year 2015, notes Deadline. This is great news for movie theaters everywhere, as ticket sales were down five percent last year to $10.4 billion. Some saw this as a sign that audiences were increasingly opting to stay home and use streaming services rather than go out to the cinema.

"Movie theaters have a chance to reintroduce themselves to movie-goers who come for Star Wars but may not have come for a few years," according to National Association of Theatre Owners spokesman Patrick Corcoran.

Before this, the highest number on record was $10.9 billion in 2013, a year that brought us massive films like Frozen, Iron Man 3, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and Despicable Me 2. But while the biggest movie of that year took in about $420 million, this year, Jurassic World grossed nearly $700 million domestically. Avengers: Age of Ultron also brought in $460 million.

So despite the prevalence of home theater systems and streaming services, thanks to all of these tentpole releases, it appears that the theatrical experience isn't going anywhere.