The figures are in for 2024’s box office— and it wasn’t as bad as we thought. While that may not sound like much praise on the surface, in a year plagued by doom-and-gloom predictions, production delays from the massive strike actions of 2023, and a host of other worries, it’s actually quite a remarkable success. Plus, a far brighter 2025 is on the horizon. Here to walk us through 2024’s facts, figures, and fallout is Blake & Wang P.A. entertainment attorney Los Angeles in USA, Brandon Blake.

The 2024 Box Office by Stats

With a surprisingly successful year-end season despite no real new releases, at least in the crowd-attracting tentpole arena, 2024 closed with a $21.2B international box office. To put that in perspective, that’s 10% down on 2023. That’s despite far worse predictions overall and with many Asian markets, especially China, being soft on Hollywood products. Overall, the global box office was around $30B, 11.5% off of 2023.

Brandon Blake

If we remove China from the equation, that gap closes to 7.6%. Factor in the extreme shifts in exchange rates, and there’s even a reasonable claim for just 2.7%. It’s -20% on the pre-pandemic three-year average, which was one of the highest on record.

December itself was (again, excluding China’s tricky market) the 3rd-highest-grossing month since 2019, bringing in $2.67 on its own. It’s passed only by July 2023 (Barbenheimer month, if you’re taking notes) and July 2024 (Deadpool& Wolverine), which, well, was also in 2024. It was also the end of the best half-year we’ve seen globally since 2019, which was 5%, or $13.3B, ahead of the end of 2023.

It may not be the best on record, but it certainly was an overall win despite a rocky start to the year.

Lessons We Learned

To make any kind of success, 2024 needed hits, diverse slates, and a few positive surprises. Mostly, we got exactly that, if not always where we expected it. Another key positive is that people of all demographics and interests were watching movies— different movies. The cinema as an experience, not just a place to see one specific hit or fan favorite, bounced back in a big way. The market may be fickle, but the interest is recovering, and that’s critical.

We did learn, however, that simply having a good movie isn’t enough to guarantee box office success as it was pre-COVID. People needed a reason to see a movie in the theater— a hook. Again, we saw a dire need for consistent full slates, with exhibitors needing fresh movies. In a way, the gap between the movies that work and those that don’t is getting bigger. People aren’t rushing to pack opening weekends due to FOMO. They’re waiting to hear what their social groups (not critics) have to say. And the biggest lesson of all was that consistency is critical. Movie going has to be a habit where people can rely on any slate, any time, for a good night out.

Overall, 2024 may not be the shiniest or most exciting box office year on record. It didn’t decimate 2023, beat 2019, or revolutionize the market. But it has set up good reasons to feel positive for 2025 and returned optimism and growth to the theatrical experience— and that may be exactly what we needed, after all.