Domestic boxoffice climbed a healthy 21% in 2023, though that’s still 15% below pre-pandemic levels, in a pattern experienced around the world.
Universal Pictures became the top-grossing distributor (major studio), snapping Walt Disney Studio’s seven-year reign. Disney was torpedoed by late-year underperformance of cinema adaptations from its Marvel comics properties.
2023 was a year in which cinema mounted an uneven rebound from the depths of the 2020-2022 pandemic, but that rebound was undercut by Hollywood strikes from actors and writers. Though now resolved, labor stoppages disrupted the flow of film supply, crimping boxoffice. That that opens the door wider for independent films from indie distributors.
U.S. and Canada boxoffice, which is the domestic market, totaled $9.1 billion in 2023, up from $7.5 billion in 2022, for that 21% increase, according to U.S.-based media researcher Comscore. On a pre-pandemic basis, domestic boxoffice hovered around $11.3 billion annually.
2023 Domestic Boxoffice & Release Count by Major Studios
| Universal | Disney | Warner | Sony | Paramount | |
| BO (bil.) | $1.94 | $1.90 | $1.43 | $1.01 | $0.842 |
| Releases | 24 | 17 | 16 | 23 | 10 |
Globally, London-based Gower Street Analytics estimates worldwide boxoffice (including domestic) climbed a healthy 30.5% to $33.9 billion. Still, that’s 21% below pre-Covid levels. Note that all boxoffice timelines don’t precisely follow the Jan. 1 calendar start, but rather are pegged to an adjacent cinema cycle (such as Friday starts that are traditional premiere days domestically).
Media researcher Comscore, which collects and reports cinema boxoffice domestically and in many foreign territories, estimated 90% of the pre-pandemic cinemas reopened by mid-2021.
Domestically, Universal Pictures, the Comcast unit, wears the distribution crown for 2023 on the strength of No. 2 “Super Mario Bros. Movie” with $575 million in U.S./Canadian boxoffice and No. 3 “Oppenheimer” with $326 million. (Note boxoffice figures here exclude money earned in adjacent years outside of 2023.) Universal’s slate of 24 domestic theatrical releases grossed $1.94 billion in cinemas, according to a Hollywood Reporter analysis of Comscore data.
Domestic champ from 2016-22, Walt Disney Studio’s domestic haul was $1.90 billion in boxoffice in 2023 from 17 releases to place second. Disney had the No. 4 grosser of 2023 in “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” with $359 million. Normally money-in-the-bank, two of Disney’s comic book adaptions from its Marvel unit were less than stellar given their high production costs: “Elemental” and “The Marvels.” “Elemental” did recover somewhat from a flat premiere.
Warner Bros. Pictures’ “Barbie” is 2023’s top grosser with $632 million domestically; Warner’s domestic haul stood at $1.43 billion from 16 releases for third place.
One takeaway from reviewing top films is that pundits who suggest cinema will boil down to just glossy big-budget popcorn movies are provably wrong. Child exploitation drama “Cry of Freedom” ranked No. 11 with a blockbuster $184 million in domestic boxoffice from indie distributor Angel Studios. The drama cost just $15 million to make, so it’s hardly a big-budget or light entertainment (high-end budget Hollywood films are $200 million and higher).
Top 10 Global Cinema Boxoffice Movies in 2023
| Rank | Title | Domestic BO | Distributor | Global BO |
| 1 | Barbie | $632 mil. | Warners | $1.44 bn. |
| 2 | Super Mario Bros. | $575 mil. | Universal | $1.36 bn. |
| 3 | Oppenheimer | $326 mil. | Universal | $952 mil. |
| 4 | Guardians-Galaxy Vol.3 | $359 mil. | Disney | $846 mil. |
| 5 | Fast X | $146 mil. | Universal | $705 mil. |
| 6 | Spider-Man: Across Spider-Verse | $381 mil. | Sony Pictures | $691 mil. |
| 7 | The Little Mermaid | $298 mil. | Disney | $570 mil. |
| 8 | Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One | $172 mil. | Paramount | $567 mil. |
| 9 | Elemental | $154 mil. | Disney | $496 mil. |
| 10 | Ant-Man and Wasp: Quantumania | $214 mil. | Disney | $476 mil. |
Elsewhere, Universal’s cheapie horror film “Five Nights at Freddy’s” grossed a blockbuster $137.2 million, to rank No. 19, on a $20 million production budget. And the list goes on, including a healthy group of specialty films tailored for sophisticated tastes grossing in the tens of millions each, led by “Asteroid City” at $28.1 million from Focus Features (a Universal label) to rank No. 66. Specialty films generate meaningful boxoffice and draw the adult demographic to cinema that may not be interested in superhero glossy fare.
In various international territories, the cinema picture was up for the year, but like the domestic market remained off pandemic highs of the past. That’s due to additional factors at play, such as how local films performed, how cinema infrastructure survived the pandemic, and how the pandemic may have altered the national psyche for mass gathers (for example, Italy was particularly devastated). Another variable is the local economy, which impacts if consumers will splurge for a night out.
In a bright spot, Germany’s boxoffice climbed to within 8% of pre-pandemic levels, shooting up 24% in 2023 alone to finish just over $1 billion. Boxoffice in China, the epicenter of Covid, soared 83% in 2023 to $7.73 billion, but that’s still 14.5% below pre-pandemic levels, according to data from the China Film Administration. Hong Kong climbed 25% to $146 million, but that’s deemed disappointing because it’s still 25% below pre-pandemic levels.
Cinema-loving France found admissions (unit ticket sales) rose 19% in 2023, but remain down 13% from pre-Covid levels. The United Kingdom/Ireland posted boxoffice of $1.35 billion, which is up 8% from the prior year but 24% off pre-pandemic levels. South Korea boxoffice gained 8% last year to $964 million but that is 44% below pre-pandemic levels. Pre-pandemic levels are generally accepted to be somewhere in the 2017-19 time frame and varies by territory.
What’s ahead for the cinema globally and domestically?
Most think that 2024 boxoffice will slide a bit because some promising movies have pushed-back cinema premieres due to Hollywood labor disruptions. Gower Street Analytics expects global boxoffice to decline 7% in 2024 to $31.5 billion. Most estimates forecast sharp gains in 2025 to new post-pandemic highs.
“Given the two- to three-year turnaround time for most big-budget movies, 2026 would be the first year to see how well Hollywood has absorbed the brutal lessons of 2023,” writes Dan Gallagher in the Wall Street Journal. “Hopefully, ‘Barbie’ won’t be on her fourth sequel by then.”
A worry for cinemas is reports that Paramount Pictures could be sold, which puts at risk product flow from one of Hollywood’s five major studios. Disney absorbing the film operations of 20th Century Fox in 2019 had the effect of reducing theatrical film supply.
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