Laura Carollo
Research expert covering cinema and film
Film industry in the United States and Canada - statistics & facts
The United States and Canada – collectively known as the North American movie market – are home to one of the most influential film-producing industries worldwide. In terms of box office revenue, the region garnered 7.5 billion U.S. dollars in 2022, still far ahead of other economies across Asia and Europe like Japan and the United Kingdom. India was also the absolute global leader in the number of movie tickets sold that year, with China and the U.S. ranking second and third respectively. By another metric, however, North American cinema remains at the top of the game. As of mid-2024, all of the most expensive film productions in history were either made by or in collaboration with studios in the U.S. This includes the most recent iterations of successful franchises such as Pirates of the Caribbean, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and Star Wars.
Despite its strong position in the filmmaking industry, the North American market has yet to fully recover in terms of box office revenue and audience figures. While 2023 was driven by the success of several box office hits, it was also deeply impacted by the actors and writers' strikes, which delayed the release schedule of many movie productions.
Moviemaking in North America: quantity and qualities
The number of movies released in the U.S. and Canada still has a long way to go to catch up with its pre-pandemic standards. In 2023, theaters across the two countries premiered 504 titles, about half of the 873 feature films launched in 2018. A look into cumulative figures throughout the past few decades indicates patterns within the industry. Over one-third of the 16.35 thousand movies released in the North American market between 1995 and 2023 were dramas. Documentaries and comedies followed, each genre accounting for around 15 percent of the feature film releases in that period. Meanwhile, most of the box office revenue came from PG-13-rated productions. Altogether, films that, according to the Motion Picture Association (MPA), contain "[s]ome material [that] may be inappropriate for children under 13" grossed over 122 billion U.S. dollars domestically during those 28 years.Diversity on and off screen
Recently, while many efforts were made towards diversifying the American cinema workforce the past few years, observers noticed that diversity is currently facing a pushback. For instance, the share of non-white lead actors in Hollywood movies, which stood at nearly 39 percent in 2021, dramatically dropped to less than 22 percent in 2023. A similar relative evolution occurred in terms of the gender distribution of film directors. Women accounted for around 22 percent of the film direction credits in 2021; two years later, they made up almost 15 percent of the people sitting on the classic and classy lightweight chair. The demographics of those creating the stories for cinema are also changing. About 12 percent of movie writers in the U.S. in 2022 were not white, less than half than the previous year.Despite its strong position in the filmmaking industry, the North American market has yet to fully recover in terms of box office revenue and audience figures. While 2023 was driven by the success of several box office hits, it was also deeply impacted by the actors and writers' strikes, which delayed the release schedule of many movie productions.
