Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus, and he’s delivering the motion picture industry a $9 billion-plus year at the domestic box office, a feat many thought was unimaginable with the lack of a mega-tentpole over the holiday, coupled by a Q4 impacted by the double strikes. The numbers were compiled from Comscore data and Deadline calculations. Comscore called 2023 at $9.03 billion yesterday.
It was a diversified crop of family and adult films over the holidays that got us there, including Warner Bros‘ trifecta of Wonka (which is leading the four-day New Year’s box office with $30M), Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (4-day $23.5M), and The Color Purple ($15M 4-day), as well as adult movies like The Boys in the Boat ($11.2M 4-day) and even YA romantic comedy Anyone But You ($11M 4-day).
As we told you a few days ago, 2024 is bound to shed about $1 billion for an $8 billion take due to a lower inventory of wide releases and Q1 sans several tentpoles.
To read more visit Deadline.