Kiwi box office raked in more than $193m

Five films broke the $6 million revenue mark - with <i>Star Wars: The Force Awakens</i> topping the list. Photo / Supplied

The New Zealand box office raked in more than $193 million in 2015 - a record for the movie industry - with five movies breaking the $6 million mark.

The overall box office figure was up 5.5 per cent from 2014's previous record of $183 million.

Five films broke the $6 million revenue mark - with Star Wars: The Force Awakens topping the list, bringing in an impressive $9,154,322 despite only being released in the third week of December, according to figures from the Motion Picture Distributors' Association.

Awakens was followed by Fast & Furious 7, with just over $8 million, and Jurassic World at just under $8 million. Avengers: Age of Ultron ($6.8 million) and Minions ($6 million), complete the top five grossing films of the year.

"2015 was the year of the blockbuster with eagerly anticipated titles such as Star Wars, Fast & Furious, Jurassic World, Avengers, Minions, Spectre and Hunger Games all more than living up to audience and industry expectations," said association chairman Andrew Cornwell.

However, the threat of piracy to the local movie industry was disturbingly close, he said.

"The 2015 action against ... pirate site YTS operated from Mt Wellington highlights how close to home the threat to our industry is," he said.

Last year, PwC released a report showing New Zealand's creative industries combined contributed $3.8 billion to the nation's economy.