娱乐英语新闻:Holiday weekend box office predicts record year for Hollywood

LOS ANGELES, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Moviegoers continued flooding multiplexes across the United States over the Memorial Day holiday weekend, adding to the silver lining of another record-setting year for Hollywood despite a gloomy economy, an industry analyst said Monday.

    Hollywood may see its box office revenues surpass the 10-billion- dollar mark this year in North America, including the Canadian market, for the first time in its history, according to Paul Dergarabedian, analyst of movie industry review website Hollywood. com.

    Solid receipts for 20th Century Fox comedy "Night At The Museum: The Battle Of The Smithsonian" pulled in bigger-than-expected 70 million dollars over the four-day long weekend starting Friday, latest box office figures showed.

    Meanwhile, the fourth installment of Warner Bros.' sci-fi classic Terminator franchise, which is the first movie without Arnold Schwarzenegger in the series, also did well. "Terminator Salvation" opened a day earlier than the museum flick, taking in 67.2 million dollars over the five days.

    Already in release for three weeks, Paramount's sci-fi prequel " Star Trek" was well on its way to become the biggest-grossing film of the year, poised to surpass "Monsters vs. Aliens" with 193.6 million dollars in ticket sales.

    Globally, the real runaway box office hit of the year is Sony Pictures thriller "Angels & Demons," the "Da Vinci Code" sequel, which has a worldwide take of 286 million dollars since its release two weeks ago.

    According to Dergarabedian, overall attendance at movies in North America is up 12 percent so far this year, with revenues increasing 14.5 percent over the period last year.

    Such figures could translate into a year in which the movie industry may cross the 10-billion-dollar threshold at box offices, the analyst predicted.