USA movie box office for the year 2017 to 2023

 

Box office receipts tanked 80% during the pandemic year of 2020 and have yet to recover.

Source:  Box Office Mojo

CNBC, 4/5/2023

CNBC goes with the 'Pollyanna' view

For nearly three years, the domestic box office has been chasing the highs of the pre-pandemic era, hoping that blockbuster franchise films would fill seats and sell popcorn. 

While superheroes, fighter pilots and blue aliens have lured moviegoers back to cinemas, it’s the recent steady stream of mid-budgeted films from a wide variety of genres that has bolstered ticket sales. 

“We’re actually catching up with 2019 levels,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore. “Remember: 2019 was no slouch. It was the second-highest box office year with $11.4 billion.”

As it turns out, the box office tally for 2023 was 22% than 2019,a gap of nearly $2.5 billion.  Last year turned out to be a disaster for superhero movies.  "Barbie" ($636,236,401)and "Oppenheimer" ($326,934,405) provided the biggest boost with a combined 8.5% of the total box office.

The developing bad news is that the 2024 box office is already off to a slow start.

The Wrap, 1/9/2024

While there were plenty of sobering misfires to go around at the 2023 box office ending in a $9 billion domestic result, 2024 is poised to be — brace yourself — significantly worse. 

Last month, analytics firm Gower Street said box office grosses are expected to drop to around $8 billion, a figure that several studio distribution chiefs told TheWrap they are also projecting for the year.