Film ticket gross sales took a little bit of a success in 2024. The annual home field workplace is predicted to finish up at round $8.75 billion, down greater than 3 p.c from 2023, in keeping with estimates from Comscore.
It’s not as dire because it was within the pandemic years, but it surely’s additionally not even near the pre-pandemic norm when the annual field workplace commonly surpassed $11 billion.
Listed here are the most important takeaways from 2024.
Strike fallout was actual
The Hollywood strikes might need resulted in 2023, placing productions again into full swing and sending stars out on the promotional circuit once more — however the ripple impact of the work stoppages and contract standoffs confirmed their actual results on the 2024 launch calendar.
The primary two quarters have been hit hardest, with tentpoles pushed later within the yr (“Deadpool & Wolverine,” for one) and even into 2025 (like “Mission: Impossible 8”). With no Marvel film kicking off the summer time moviegoing season, the field workplace was down a devastating 27.5 p.c from 2023 proper earlier than “Inside Out 2” opened in June.
The PG score (and animation) dominated
Sequels and franchises dominated the highest 10 films of the yr, as has typically been the case up to now 15 years. However this yr, movies carrying a PG score did particularly nicely, beginning with the most important film of 2024: “Inside Out 2,” which additionally turned the most important animated film of all time, not accounting for inflation.
Household movies with a PG score — together with “Despicable Me 4,” “Moana 2,” “Wicked,” “Kung Fu Panda 4,” “Sonic the Hedgehog 3,” “Mufasa” and “The Wild Robot” — grossed over $2.9 billion this yr, accounting for round 33 p.c of the annual field workplace, in keeping with Comscore. Motion pictures rated PG-13, in contrast, made up about 30 p.c of ticket gross sales.
The Disney affect
After a quieter 2023 and a number of other years and not using a movie on the very high of the charts, the Walt Disney Co. got here again roaring in 2024 with three of the highest 5 films of the yr: “Inside Out 2,” “Deadpool & Wolverine” and “Moana 2.” In mid-December, it crossed the $2 billion home mark, the second time any studio has carried out so since 2019 (that was additionally Disney, in 2022). Its twentieth Century division additionally performed an vital half with “Alien: Romulus” and “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.”
“It’s a different industry when Disney commits to theatrical releases,” mentioned Daniel Loria, an government on the film information and analytics commerce The Boxoffice Firm.
‘flops’ a unique method
Yearly has high-profile flops and disappointments, and this was no exception. Sony had a tough go along with its “Spider-Man” adjoining titles like “Madame Web” and “Kraven the Hunter.” Common had greater hopes for “The Fall Guy,” as did Warner Bros. for “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” and “Joker: Folie à Deux.”
Then there have been the filmmaker-driven (and financed) ardour initiatives that didn’t take off like Kevin Costner’s “Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter 1” and Francis Ford Coppola’s “Megalopolis.”
“It’s a reductive way of thinking about those passion projects,” Loria mentioned. “Those movies didn’t come out with huge expectations, meaning theaters didn’t clear out the house and give them three auditoriums per site in hopes for money to come in.”
This was, nevertheless, a part of the issue with “Joker 2,” which was anticipated to be extra according to the primary which revamped $1 billion.
Audiences crave choices and a various lineup
What does work, Loria mentioned, is a various lineup, with the Thanksgiving and Christmas successes being the proper instance. At Thanksgiving, there was “Wicked,” “Gladiator II” and “Moana 2.” Christmas had “Mufasa,” “Sonic 3,” and plenty of grownup choices too, together with “Nosferatu,” “A Complete Unknown” and “Babygirl.”
Horror is commonly the most secure wager for theatrical, however this yr had even veterans pleasantly stunned by simply how enthusiastic that viewers could be, with hits like “Longlegs,” “Nosferatu,” “Terrifier 3” and “Smile 2” getting folks out of the home.
The Blake Vigorous drama “It Ends With Us,” which had its share of ongoing off-screen drama as nicely, additionally turned an occasion. Audiences turned out for sensible thrillers, like “Conclave” in addition to sudden originals together with “Anora,” “The Substance” and “The Brutalist.”
Nostalgia and the attract of a re-release
Re-releases of flicks in theaters which can be additionally extensively out there within the dwelling thrived this yr. A number of the greatest successes included Christopher Nolan’s “Interstellar,””Coraline” and “The Phantom Menace.”
“It just shows our industry once again that audiences truly understand the difference between a communal, big screen theatrical experience that they crave even on films that they’ve had the opportunities to see in the home,” Nolan mentioned in December. “That theatrical experience that we all know and love is so powerful and so exciting. It’s a very clear demonstration of it.”
Viral advertising moments
As foolish because it sounds, that is the yr the novelty popcorn bucket turned a star. It began with the unintentionally suggestive “Dune: Part 2” creation, which “Deadpool & Wolverine” latched onto in a much less unintentional method. Extra just lately, the “Nosferatu” coffin buckets have been fetching excessive resale costs.
For Loria, it’s all a part of a pattern that theaters have been noticing since reopening through the pandemic: Moviegoers aren’t again in pre-pandemic numbers, however those that did come again have been spending extra on concessions and premium tickets (like IMAX and different massive format screens) than ever earlier than.