Much of that North American revenue was down to the Walt Disney studio, which released such blockbusters as Finding Dory and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
Captain America: Civil War, another Disney release, is ranked third in the list of 2016's highest US earners.
According to Variety, the record was broken due to "more expensive tickets".
It predicted that attendance figures, when calculated, would be "essentially flat".
Captain America: Civil War was the year's highest grossing release globally, having made $1.15 billion (£936 million).
That put it ahead on Box Office Mojo's list of 2016's overall highest worldwide grossers.
Finding Dory was the first animated film to top the list of US and Canada top grossers since Toy Story 3, another Pixar sequel, topped the chart in 2010.
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Box office takings in the US and Canada topped $11.4 billion (£9.28 billion) in 2016, smashing the $11.1 billion (£9.03 billion) record set the previous year.