Hollywood Looks to 2015 to Revive Weak Box Office

Ticket sales at North American theaters this year will total about $10.5 billion, a 4 percent decline from last year, with attendance dropping by about the same percentage, according to projections by the box-office data firm Rentrak, the New York Times reports. Hollywood studios and theater owners attributed the low numbers to delayed blockbusters and expressed optimism about the expected box-office hits of 2015: “Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens,” “Fifty Shades of Grey,” the James Bond film “Spectre” and Pixar’s “Inside Out” among them.