In a year dominated by “G” and “GP” rated films, Disney’s Deadpool & Wolverine became the highest … [+]
In 2024, the domestic (U.S. and Canada) box office grossed $8.56 billion, a -4% decline from ticket sales in 2023. Despite the decline, the fall-off could have been worse, heading into June ticket sales were running -27.5% compared to the previous year with the release of a number of underachieving films. Moreover, 2024 marked the first time in 19 years, the summer movie season did not open with a sequel or superhero movie. The box office turned around mid-June with the release of Pixar’s Inside Out 2, the top grossing film of the year.
Once again, in 2024, the domestic box office fell below $10 billion. According to Comscore, not since 2019, the last full year before the pandemic, has the domestic box office grossed over $10 billion. In fact, every year from 2015 to 2019 the box office had grossed over $11 billion, peaking in 2018 with $11.89 billion.
Post-pandemic, 2023 has been the highest grossing year at $8.91 billion. One of the reasons cited for the fall-off in ticket sales in the first five months of 2024 were the two Hollywood strikes in 2023 shutting down studios. The impact resulted in delays of scheduled movie releases which led to a poor opening five months of 2024.
Of the 2024 box office, Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore, said, “It was not your typical year because there was no traditional road map to follow through the entire calendar. The fact that we’re even here shows that audiences really love going to the movies, but they need a path to follow to get there.”
Top Grossing Domestic Films: Unlike 2023, which featured such popular original movies as Barbie (the top grossing film of the year at $636.2 million) and the seven-time Oscar winning Oppenheimer ranking fifth at $326.1 million. In 2024 nine of ten top grossing were sequels. As mentioned, Disney’s Inside Out 2 (Disney) led with $653.0 million, followed by Deadpool & Wolverine (Disney) at $636.8 million.
Other films ranked in the top ten were Moana 2 ($404.0 million), Despicable Me 4 ($361.0 million), Beetlejuice Beetlejuice ($294.1 million), Dune: Part Two ($282.1 million), Twisters ($267.8 million), Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire ($196.4 million) and Kung Fu Panda 4 ($193.6 million).
The lone film that was not a sequel was Wicked which grossed 432.9 million, ranking third domestically. In addition, Wicked also grossed $648.5 million globally in becoming the top grossing film based upon a Broadway musical. Previously, the top grossing movie was Mamma Mia at $611.5 million (globally) released in 2008.
Movie Ratings: Family films also proved popular in 2024. According to Comscore, family films with a “PG” rating grossed $2.9 billion domestically, led by Inside Out 2, the highest grossing animated movie to date. As a result, “PG” films grossed nearly $3 billion, accounting for about one-third of all ticket sales. Movies that were rated “PG-13” accounted for 30% of domestic box office totals. On the hand, Deadpool & Wolverine became the highest grossing “R” rated film to date, it was the first film from Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe to have that rating.
By Studio: Looking domestically, Deadline reports, Disney was the top grossing studio in 2024 with three of the four highest grossing films of 2024; Inside Out 2, Deadpool & Wolverine and Moana 2. Since the pandemic year of 2020, Disney is the only studio to surpass $2 billion in box office. Disney also accomplished that feat in 2022. For the year, Disney’s 30 film releases totaled $2.2 billion in ticket sales, a 17% increase from 2023.
Universal ranked second in box office, their 31 releases that grossed $1.88 billion in 2024, a -3% falloff from the previous year. Universal’s three highest grossing films of the year; Wicked, Despicable Me 4 and Twisters, all ranked among the ten highest grossing films of the year.
In 2024, Warner Bros was ranked third among studios grossing $1.16 billion, a year-over-year fall-off of -17%. Similar to Disney and Universal, the top three grossing films from Warner Bros, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Dune: Part Two and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire all ranked among ten highest grossing films of the year.
Sony ranked fourth among studios at $1 billion (no change from 2023). Sony’s top grossing film was the sequel Bad Boys: Ride or Die at $193.5 million. Paramount followed at $879.5 million, a +5% year-over-year increase. Paramount’s top grossing film of the year was the sequel Gladiator II with $164.5 million.
2025 Releases: Looking ahead to 2025 moviegoers can expect to see 33 sequels, reboots or remakes. For example, in the all-important summer season films scheduled for wide release include Superman, Mission: Impossible-The Final Reckoning, Thunderbolts, The Fantastic Four: First Steps as well as Jurassic World Rebirth.
In addition, other new releases with familiar titles scheduled for release include Karate Kid: Legends, Lilo & Stitch (live action), Freakier Friday, The Naked Gun, Avatar: Fire And Ash and Captain America: Brave New World. Of course, there will be a number of original titles and movies released exclusively on streaming platforms. A list of scheduled movie release dates in 2025 can be found here.
In 2025 the National Association of Theatre Owners, projects at least 110 films slated to open in over 2,000 screens, an increase from about 95 in 2024. The film industry expect domestic box office to gross $9 billion next year, which would be the highest amount since 2019.
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