Hollywood reports record takings

The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) put the 5% rise since 2002 down to rising ticket prices.

Although ticket earnings have risen, the total tickets sold has dropped 5% internationally and 12% in Europe.

In a bid to combat piracy, the MPAA has unveiled two cinema trailers carrying the message: "Piracy is a crime."

The trailers suggest buying illegal DVDs is the same as car theft and will be tailored for individual countries around the world.

'Persuasion'

MPAA president Jack Valenti told film industry conference ShoWest in Las Vegas that US ticket sales account for 47% of Hollywood studio income, with the rest coming from elsewhere in the world.

He said film piracy was a growing problem in countries like China and Russia, but he was "confident" that it could be brought under "tolerable levels of control" in two to three years.

Mr Valenti said the problem could be tackled "through technological magic, through government intervention all over the world, through educational and other persuasive programmes".

Veronika Kwan-Rubinek, president of international distribution at Warner Bros, said the international audience for Hollywood films was "truly enormous these days".

But she added that piracy was "a growing threat".

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