The domestic box office for 2024 was three percent lower than last year’s already terrible total, $8.7 billion compared to $9.04 billion, respectively.
Compared to five years ago, the domestic box office is down an incredible 23.5 percent, or this year’s $8.7 billion compared to 2019’s $11.3 billion.
This is also the first year since the pandemic where the box office went backward.
Tee hee.
Are the sycophant Penske-owned trade publications still blaming COVID? Natch…
Yes, point fingers at the abundance of streaming content available, but also blame the dark reality that Covid has changed onetime moviegoers’ attitudes to simply stay at home. [emphasis added]
Are the sycophants at Penske-owned trade publications blaming streaming? Natch…
Yes, point fingers at the abundance of streaming content available, but also blame the dark reality that Covid has changed onetime moviegoers’ attitudes to simply stay at home. [emphasis added]
Are the sycophants at Penske-owned trade publications blaming the 2023 strike? Natch…
Headline: “Domestic Box Office Falls to $8.75 Billion in 2024 as Movie Theaters Struggle to Recover From Strikes.”
Allow me to debunk this shameless BS…
As far as the strikes holding up wide-release movies, I count 195 wide releases (more than 1,000 theaters) this year, compared to 180 the previous year. My method is not perfect. Some of those wide releases were older movies enjoying a re-release. Some were released late in the previous year. But it is an apples-to-apple comparison using the exact same method for both years.
Additionally, early this year, when the box office was down 50 percent from pre-pandemic levels, Hollywood was already blaming the strike. However…
The lackluster start comes despite audiences having more theater options than they have had in years. This year through Feb. 18, there have been 11 wide-release movies, or those showing in at least 2,000 locations nationwide. There were nine wide-release titles through the same time frame last year.
So gimme a break blaming the strikes.
As far as blaming COVID and streaming for permanently altering movie habits, riddle me this…
Why, in the heart of the pandemic, did Top Gun: Maverick gross $718 million domestic in 2022?
Why, in 2023, did Sound of Freedom out-gross Indiana Jones, Mission: Impossible, Hunger Games, and a Pixar movie?
Why, in just the last few months, did movies like Inside Out, Wicked, and Deadpool & Wolverine break all kinds of box office records?
What do all these movies, and others I could use as examples, have in common?
The answer is very simple: PEOPLE FOUND THESE MOVIES APPEALING.
But-but-but the pandemic… Sorry, no. All these movies were released after the pandemic.
But-but-but changing viewing habits… Sorry, no. All these movies were released after viewing habits supposedly changed.
But-but-but streaming options… Sorry, no. All these movies were released in a world booming with streaming options.
You can see what’s going on here… Hollywood is blaming everything but itself for its own failure to produce appealing movies. This makes no sense to Normal People. Again and again we’ve proven our willingness to go to the movies en masse over these last few years, even for a three-hour biopic about some guy no one’s heard of named Robert Oppenheimer.
If we’re willing to flood theaters for some titles and not others, how can any sane person blame anything other than than the quality and appeal of the titles?
If the public’s moviegoing habits had changed, those changes would affect ALL movies.
If the public’s moviegoing habits had changed, no movies would be breaking records.
Let me explain this as though Hollywood is a seven-year-old…
You open a carnival with 25 attractions. Seven of those attractions have two-hour lines and are making huge profits. Eighteen of those attractions have no lines. Are those eighteen attractions with no lines due to people no longer wanting to go to carnivals? Or is the failure the appeal of those attractions?
This is not rocket science.
You do not blame the dog when the dog refuses to eat the dog food.
Until Hollywood blames itself and its increasingly unappealing product, nothing will change. Which is fine with me. I hate these people.
John Nolte’s first and last novel, Borrowed Time, is winning five-star raves from everyday readers. You can read an excerpt here and an in-depth review here. Also available in hardcover and on Kindle and Audiobook.
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