Laura Carollo
Research expert covering cinema and film
Box office in the United States and Canada - statistics & facts
While 2023 was a positive year overall for the box office in the U.S. and Canada, 2024 is already shaping up to be a more mixed bag. Whereas the beginning of the year was marked by the success of blockbusters such as “Dune: Part Two”, the release schedule for the rest of the year is somewhat meager. Opening the 2024 summer season, “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” struggled to make more than 30 million U.S. dollars on the domestic market on its opening weekend, a far cry from the success of “Barbie” or “Oppenheimer” last year. Will box office revenues recover or hit a plateau?
Local successes
As of mid-2024, all the top 20 most commercially successful movies worldwide were at least partially – but most of the time, entirely – made in the United States. Films such as "Avatar" (2009), "Avengers: Endgame" (2019), and "Titanic" (1997) grossed billions of dollars across the globe after selling millions of tickets in the U.S., which is one of the most competitive markets on the planet. The combined box office revenue of the U.S. and Canada amounted to a total of 7.5 billion U.S. dollars in 2022 - more than Japan, the United Kingdom, France, and South Korea altogether.A slow return to normalcy
Although steadily rising, box office revenues are still struggling to recover almost four years after the pandemic. 2023 was boosted by summer productions thanks to the Barbenheimer phenomenon, which drew crowds to theaters. Visits to the cinema have become rarer in recent years - about 60 percent of respondents said that before the COVID-19 outbreak, they would see a film in theaters at least sometimes. Between January and April 2022, the share stood at 27 percent. The several lockdown periods introduced the audience to new – and more economical – lifestyles. During the same survey, 55 percent of responding infrequent moviegoers said they did not go to theaters primarily because they preferred to watch films at home; half of the interviewees added that movie tickets were too expensive.To franchise or not to franchise
While the biggest franchises are often at the top of the highest grossing lists, 2023 has stood out from the crowd thanks to the success of standalone experiences. As the term “franchise fatigue” spreads, moviegoers seem to be opening up to original productions. On the other hand, Disney's recently announced slate of movies promises an ever-increasing number of prequels and sequels, thus reinforcing their commitment to pre-established franchises.
