US box office 'beats $1bn record'

The Prisoner of Azkaban was June's most popular film in North America

US box office takings passed the $1bn (£545m) mark for the first time in June, led by the success of the third Harry Potter film, a survey indicated.

The North American box office took $1.03bn (£562m) during June, Hollywood Reporter found - a 14% increase on June 2003's previous monthly record.

Takings were boosted by blockbusters including Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Shrek 2.

Spider-Man 2, which opened in the US on 1 July, also boosted monthly takings.

New releases

The third Harry Potter film topped the North American box office for the month by a wide margin, taking $217.2m (£118m).

During June, Shrek 2 took $125.7m (£68.6m) of its $402.3m (£219.7m) box office gross to date, while disaster film The Day After Tomorrow took $76.9m (£42m).

The Shrek sequel and The Day After Tomorrow were the only films in June's US box office chart top 10 that were not new releases during that month.

If accurate, the June record would beat the previous high of $906.6m (£494m) achieved last year, when Disney's animated film Finding Nemo became a cinema hit.

The box office tally for June 2004 is 37% higher than the same period in 2001.