The 2013 Film List from A Film Look.

The consensus is that 2013 was a very good year for movies. Industry numbers are interesting:

• Total box office: $10.9 billion – That’s a 0.80% increase over 2012
• Total tickets sold: 1,343.5 million – That’s a reduction of 1.30% from 2012 (more 3d? more IMAX? higher base price?)
• Total releases: 686 movies – That’s 21 more than 2012, an increase of 0.32%.

The eye popper here is that average number of releases from 2003 to 2013 is 587, so 2013 is 99 releases above that average. Economy matters: 2011, for example, had 602 releases while there were 521 in 2009 at the depths of the Great Recession. This year is on track to be equal or above last year in number of releases.

As far as the quality of the actual releases go, there was definitely better stuff to watch out there than the year before.  By genre, Drama and Action had a very good year, while Comedy had fewer hits and some big misses. The complete ranking for Movies in 2013 watched is now posted.

CJ Rangel, April 2014

(Numbers source: Box Office Mojo)