Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman star in the Marvel movie “Deadpool and Wolverine.”
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Foul-mouthed superheroes and family-friendly films have bolstered the domestic box office in the final months of 2024.
Full-year ticket sales are down just 3.4% from 2023 to $8.74 billion, a far cry from the nearly 27% shortfall in mid-2024.
combination disney As well as Marvel’s “Deadpool and Wolverine”, Pixar’s “Inside Out 2”, Disney Animation’s “Moana 2” and Universal “Wicked” all released after June, boosting the box office and turning a $1 billion deficit into $300 million, according to Comscore.
“While 2024 is shaping up to be one of the most challenging years for cinemas, a massive resurgence that began in June due to the residual impact of strikes and resulting production delays has thrown release plans into disarray at the start of the year. A disaster.
Box office analysts had predicted that the 2024 box office would lag significantly behind 2023’s $9 billion. year and 2026.
“Expectations heading into this year have been impacted not only by release delays caused by industry strikes, but also by modern consumer habits adjusting to shorter theatrical showtimes and increased demand for state-of-the-art movies.” Director of Analytics at Fandango and Box Office Theory Founder Shawn Robbins said:
After the epidemic, the box office has grown steadily year by year, but the decline in ticket sales in the first half of the year is disappointing. However, industry analysts expect a rebound in 2025 and the possibility of exceeding the $10 billion mark in 2026.
The next two years will see a slew of blockbuster franchises and movies tied to popular existing intellectual properties. Despite concerns that the industry has been inundated with licensed material, particularly in the superhero genre, it turns out that audiences will still be watching these films in droves in 2024.
In fact, the 10 highest-grossing movies of 2024 are all from major film franchises or related to popular IPs. Considering there are a lot of big games coming in 2025 and 2026, that’s a good sign.
“This year will see a return to a franchise-heavy lineup,” Eric Handler, managing director of Roth MKM, wrote in a recent research note. “The top-grossing films this year should be Avatar: Fire and Ash, Dwarf “Rebirth” and “Wicked: Forever,” all of those movies should be able to make over $400.”
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Disney, in particular, has a lot to gain from franchise movies in 2024. ” and Disney Animation’s “Moana 2.”
“Inside Out 2” has soared at the box office, with the domestic box office exceeding US$650 million, becoming the second highest-grossing film in history. Warner Bros.’ “Barbie” surpassed $1 billion at the global box office.
This is a major win for Disney-Pixar Animation Center. Pixar is a once highly successful studio that has suffered at the box office in the wake of the pandemic. Part of the reason for much of its difficulty is that Disney has chosen to launch some of its animated features directly on its streaming service, Disney+, while theaters are closed or even once theaters reopen.
Therefore, prior to “Inside Out”, no Disney animated feature from Pixar or its Walt Disney Animation Studios had grossed more than $480 million at the global box office since 2019. Movies of 2024.
The second highest score is Disney’s first R-rated Marvel feature film. “Deadpool and Wolverine” was released in July and quickly set the record for the highest-grossing debut for an R-rated film. It has exceeded $1 billion at the global box office and is the only R-rated film outside of Warner Bros.’ “Joker” fulfilled its wish and became the highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time.
‘Deadpool and Wolverine’ gives a much-needed boost to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which has been struggling with stable box office results following 2019’s record-breaking ‘Avengers: Endgame’ .
Handler said the superhero genre is looking for “a little bit of redemption,” noting that Marvel has three major releases coming in 2025: “Captain America: Brave New World,” “Thunderbolt” and “Fantastic Four: Episode I” step”.
Warner Bros. will also premiere its first film under new DC Studios heads James Gunn and Peter Safran. All eyes will be on Superman: Legacy , especially after Joker: Pas de Deux failed at the box office.
Disney also released “Moana 2,” the fourth highest-grossing movie this year. The film opened on Thanksgiving and broke the record as the highest-grossing film during the five-day holiday with $221 million in domestic box office receipts. The film grossed $404 million domestically and more than $900 million worldwide.
Those movies, along with other theatrical releases, helped Disney’s domestic box office exceed $2.2 billion last year, accounting for about 25% of the industry’s total.
Universal Pictures accounted for 21.6% of the total market share, driven by “Wicked,” “Despicable Me 4,” “Twister” and “Kung Fu Panda 4,” with full-year box office revenue of $1.8 billion. “Wicked” became the third-highest-grossing movie of 2024, raking in $432 million at the domestic box office, breaking the box-office curse of musicals. It also became the highest-grossing premiere of a Broadway adaptation in film history.
Warner Bros.’s revenue was US$1.19 billion and its market share was 13.7%. Sony brought in $1 billion (11.5%), and Paramount rounded out the top five with $880 million (10%).
“The moviegoing boom at the end of 2024 has laid a solid foundation for cinemas in 2025,” Dergarabedian said. “(G)once the calendar is more stable, the rhythm and frequency are more orderly, and importantly, the wide release of “There are more movies… and the momentum that’s going to come from that will actually guarantee a bigger theatrical release this year.”
Revealed: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC. NBCUniversal is the publisher of “Wicked,” “Despicable Me 4,” “Twister” and “Kung Fu Panda 4” and the owner of Fandango.
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