Hollywood’s Superheroes Save the Day - NYTimes.com

Hollywood’s Superheroes Save the Day - NYTimes.com: "Ticket sales at North American movie theaters totaled $9.6 billion, a decrease of less than 1 percent over the previous year, according to Media by Numbers, a box office tracking company. Although attendance declined 5 percent, to about 1.3 billion, the industry was able to buttress revenue with higher ticket prices and premium 3-D offerings.

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The results were largely attributable to superheroes, either reinvented ones like “The Dark Knight” (the top moneymaker) or newcomers like “Iron Man” (the runner-up). Four computer-animated movies delivered giant returns, with “Wall-E,” “Kung Fu Panda,” “Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa” and “Horton Hears a Who” all in the top 10. A new franchise about a well-behaved teenage vampire was born to tiny Summit Entertainment in “Twilight.”"