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Arts & Entertainment

Hollywood On Track To Break U.S. Box Office Record

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TCL Chinese Theater on Hollywood Boulevard | Photo by ScottM9000 via the LAist Featured Photos pool

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Movie studios are on track to break the yearly record for domestic ticket sales in 2013, thanks to a year-end throng of crowd pleasers and a year of arguably the best movies ever. (Or arguably not.)

Analysts project that the industry will top $10.9 billion in sales, thanks to a year-end rush led by "Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug," Disney's "Frozen," and Will Ferrell vehicle "Anchorman 2," City News Service reports. This year's box office take is expected to better the record from 2011 by a few bucks.

According to Box Office Mojo, here are the top-grossing U.S. movies this year:

  1. 1. Iron Man 3 - $409,013,994
  2. 2. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire - $391,124,000
  3. 3. Despicable Me 2 - $367,607,660
  4. 4. Man of Steel - $291,045,518
  5. 5. Monsters University - $268,492,764
  6. 6. Gravity - $254,592,000
  7. 7. Frozen (2013) - $248,366,000
  8. 8. Fast & Furious 6 - $238,679,850
  9. 9. Oz The Great and Powerful - $234,911,825
  10. 10. Star Trek Into Darkness - $228,778,661

Wait, no movies about income inequality, the eroding middle class, or executive greed rending at the fabric of society? Well, maybe next year.

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