​Los Angeles, March 23 (IANS) Global box office revenue hit a record $38.6 billion in 2016, according to a report released by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA).

The report on Wednesday said the results mark a 1 per cent rise from last year's record-breaking $38.4 billion, representing a slowdown compared to the growth of more than 5

per cent in 2014-2015.

"The continued strength of the box office demonstrates that cinema remains the premier way to experience great storytelling for audiences around the world," Chris Dodd, chairman and CEO of the MPAA, said in a statement.

Revenue in the US and Canada in 2016 stood at $11.4 billion, a 2 per cent increase from 2015, when it reached $11.1 billion.

Revenues in the rest of the world fell slightly from $27.3 billion in 2015 to $27.2 billion in 2016.

This drop was influenced by the 1 per cent decline of revenue in China after a decade of consecutive growth.

But despite this China continued to be the country with the highest ticket sales revenue in 2016 outside the US-Canadian market, with $6.6 billion dollars.

Next on the list were Japan, with $2 billion; India, with $1.9 billion; the UK, with $1.7 billion; and France, with $1.6 billion.