Six studios grossed at least $1B in 2007

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 2 (UPI) -- All six major Hollywood movie studios grossed at least $1 billion at the domestic box office in 2007, a first for the movie business, Variety.com reported.

Paramount led the pack with an estimated $1.48 billion, in large part because it owns DreamWorks and distributes its movies, several of which were blockbusters during the past 12 months.

This marks the first time since 1998, when "Titanic" was a monster hit, that Paramount has held the top-earning spot, Variety.com said Wednesday.

Coming in at No. 2 was Warner Bros., followed by Disney at No. 3, Sony at No. 4, Universal at No. 5 and Fox at No. 6.

Although official figures haven't been released yet, the 2007 domestic box office was up 5 percent to 6 percent from 2006, with receipts totaling about $9.57 billion, the trade paper said.

The four top-grossing films of 2007 were Sony's "Spider-Man 3" with $336.5 million; DreamWorks Animation's "Shrek the Third" with $321 million; DreamWorks-Paramount's "Transformers" with $319 million; and Disney's "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" with $309.4 million.

It was the first time four films grossed more than $300 million in a single year, Variety.com said.