The North American film box office in 2024 finally reached about 8.72 billion US dollars, a decrease of about 3% compared with 9.05 billion US dollars in 2023. Considering the impact of the Writers Guild and the Actors Guild strike in 2023, this figure is significantly better than expected.
Looking at the whole year, after the first four months of 2024, North American box office fell behind the same period in 2023 by 20%. At that time, the market was indeed filled with pessimism, worrying that the North American box office in 2024 would be worse than expected. Fortunately, since the beginning of the summer season, Hollywood blockbusters have continued to make efforts, igniting the enthusiasm of American audiences, and narrowing the 20% gap all the way to the final 3%.
However, historically, the annual box office in North America has been stable at more than 10 billion U.S. dollars every year since 2009, and has exceeded 11 billion U.S. dollars every year since 2015. In 2019, before the epidemic, although the North American movie box office began to be severely squeezed by streaming media, the annual box office still easily reached 11.3 billion U.S. dollars. In contrast, the 8.72 billion U.S. dollars in 2024 is equivalent to 25% of the box office evaporated in five years. Moreover, in terms of the number of moviegoers, North American theaters sold about 800 million movie tickets throughout the year. In contrast, the average annual attendance of American cinemas before the epidemic was generally around 1.3 billion. In other words, if it weren't for the rising movie ticket prices year after year, the North American box office would have fallen by far more than 25% in the past five years.
Stills from Inside Out 2
Judging from the films, there are only 34 films with opening box office of $20 million or more in 2024, far less than the 40 in 2023, which does show the impact of the strike on the supply chain. However, there are still five blockbusters with opening box office of $100 million or more, the same as in 2023, namely Disney's "Inside Out 2", "Deadpool & Wolverine", "Moana 2", Warner Bros.' "Stranger Things", and Universal Pictures' "Wicked".
Stills from Wicked
The number of films with an annual North American box office of more than $100 million has decreased from 24 in 2023 to 22. However, there are as many as eight films with an annual North American box office of more than $200 million, and five blockbusters with a total box office of more than $300 million, both of which are the same as in 2023.
It is worth mentioning that among all the films released in 2024, the total box office of PG-rated films suitable for family viewing in North America reached 2.8 billion US dollars, which is 700 million US dollars more than in 2023, which fully demonstrates that family movies have played a stabilizing role. Moreover, as much as 27% of the annual box office of 8.72 billion US dollars came from animated films! Back to 2014, ten years ago, this figure was only 14%; in 2019, it was 12%. In other words, taking children to the cinema to watch animated films is becoming an essential entertainment activity for families in the United States and Canada.
In the North American film market in 2023, original box office masterpieces such as "Oppenheimer" appeared. Even "Barbie", which enjoys the advantage of IP, is actually quite original in terms of story. In sharp contrast, a large number of box office failures in 2023 are almost all sequels and series. In addition to the comic-adapted superhero movies that make the audience aesthetically fatigued, series such as "Indiana Jones" and "Mission Impossible" that have lasted for decades have not achieved satisfactory box office results. Therefore, in the 2023 industry's year-end summary, it was determined that American audiences have begun to dislike IP works and series that are rehashed, and are more inclined to watch original works.
However, the Hollywood film market has always been volatile and often illogical. The situation in 2024 is exactly the opposite of 2023. A large number of original works have not been recognized by the audience. At the end of the year, it is still the IP movies, series movies, sequels and super blockbusters with special effects as selling points that make money. However, original works such as "The Stunt Man", "Mysterious Friends" and "Moon Landing Plan" have failed to achieve ideal box office results.
Regarding this phenomenon, Tony Chambers, executive vice president of Disney, lamented in an interview with the media: "Over the years, audiences have been calling for more original movies, but when it comes to paying for tickets, they will only support the works they are most familiar with. Because this is the lowest risk and the least likely to waste the ticket money."
Jeff Bock, a senior Hollywood market analyst, said bluntly, "This year, Hollywood seems to have launched sequels, prequels or reboots, but can the film companies be blamed for this? Isn't this what audiences like nowadays?"
Looking ahead to the future film market, Hollywood industry insiders have basically reached a consensus, that is, whether the film itself is an IP work or an original work, in order to get high box office, it must be close to the current young audience, reflect the spirit of the times, and especially create a so-called "Fear of Missing Out" (FOMO) effect. When young people who are deeply influenced by social media see that everyone around them is hotly discussing a certain movie, they have to follow the crowd and pay to go to the theater to watch it as soon as possible, otherwise they will worry about being left behind and isolated by the trend and their neighbors. Peter Cramer, president of Universal Pictures, said in an interview with the media, "Obviously, if you want to make a movie sell well in the future, you must create such a sense of urgency and force them to go out of the house to watch your movie."
