Thanks to China, Hollywood international box office receipts got a boost in 2015.

Global box office reached $38 billion in 2015, Rentrak reported on Sunday. This is the first time that Hollywood earned that much!

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2015's biggest hits Jurassic World, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Furious 7 and Minions surpassed the $1 billion gross, the first time that so many films have breached that mark.

The substantial boost from the international market supplemented sales from the North American market, which saw a steep decline in 2014. In 2014, however, ticket sales increased 6.3% in the domestic market, capping $11 billion. Ticket sales from China heavily contributed as well, where receipts totaled $6.8 billion, up by 50% from the 2014 sales. This came despite economic setbacks in the Chinese economy.

Aside from China, other international market, particularly, Russia, the Eurozone, and Greece, also suffered from economic downturn. Russia's rubble continues to teeter, the Euro was beaten by the dollar, and the Greek crisis continues to affect Europe. Despite this, movie-going remains a popular pastime.

It is expected that final assessment could peg international box office sales closer to $40 billion with total sales foreseen to rise by 3.5% hike.

Hollywood insiders are however pessimist that 2016 sales could surpass last year's. There are concerns that this year's expected box office bets, like Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice and Captain America: Civil War can't match the colossal wins of Star Wars and Jurassic Park sequels.

TagsChinese box office