U.S. Summer Box Office Revenue Rises Amid Fewer Screens and Audiences
American theaters are on track for a $4.5 billion summer, driven by several billion-dollar blockbusters, while ticket prices rise and the number of screens, patrons and released films remain lower than pre-pandemic levels.
U.S. movie theaters are projected to generate about $4.5 billion in box-office revenue this summer, surpassing the totals of the 2023 "Barbenheimer" season and the 2019 releases of The Lion King and Avengers: Endgame. The surge is anchored by high-grossing titles such as Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, Toy Story 5, the Michael Jackson biopic Michael and the Super Mario Galaxy film, each earning more than $1 billion worldwide.
Despite the strong dollar figures, attendance remains below pre-pandemic levels. S&P Global reports that ticket sales through mid-August total 547 million, down from 796 million a year before COVID-19. The shortfall is offset by higher ticket prices, with the average adult ticket now above $13 and premium formats like IMAX fetching around $18 per seat, according to EntTelligence data.
The industry also faces a reduced infrastructure. Research firm Omdia notes that the number of movie screens in North America fell from 44,283 at the end of 2019 to roughly 37,000 after more than 7,000 closures. Additionally, the summer slate includes about 300 titles, compared with roughly 400 releases in 2019, meaning fewer choices for moviegoers even as individual films perform better.
Analysts view the results as a mixed recovery: higher revenues and blockbuster success coexist with a contracted exhibition landscape and lingering declines in overall audience numbers.