My wife and I recently arrived at the cinema early to catch one of the summer's box office hits, and as we waited for the film to start I was not surprised that the theater was not very corwded. But, as the time crept closer to start time, I was pleasantly surprised by how the theater started to fill in. By the time the lights dimmed, it was almost a full house.
Despite the recession, one of California's industry sectors was humming along at full speed through the first quarter of 2009. According to the New York Times, ticket sales were up 17.5 percent and attendance was up nearly 16 percent. If that pace continues through the year, it would amount to the biggest box office surge in at least two decades. Hooray for Hollywood!
