Megahit movies in hard times

Americans headed to theatres after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, setting the record for the most tickets (nearly 1.6 billion) sold in a year. As the dollar fell (it reached parity with the euro for the first time and has declined ever since) and the unemployment rate hit 6%, "Spider-Man" became the year's top-grossing film, with $403.7 million in sales. Other big hits included the second installment of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy and "My Big Fat Greek Wedding."

Average ticket price: $5.81 ($7.10 in today's dollars)

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