Think about the last time you went to a movie theater to watch a movie and how many times you did just that in 2024.
Now, think about the last time you sat on your couch and logged on to a streaming service to watch a movie or a TV show and how many times you did that during 2024.
Chances are good you spent dozens of hours on the couch and maybe 8 hours total in a theater. Some media experts say the movie theater industry is dying amid all the emerging streaming platforms that have begun producing their original movies and TV shows. Others argue that the industry is on its way to recovery thanks to the creation of the multiple blockbuster movies released in the last few years.
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However, on the first morning of the new year, the movie theater industry faced a reality it had feared for some time.
Movie theaters continue to struggle as domestic box office receipts remain weak.
Chicago Tribune/Getty Images
Domestic box office sales fall for the first time in the last three years
Domestic ticket sales in 2024 totaled $8.7 billion for the whole year, a decrease of 3.3% compared to $9 billion in 2023. This is the first time domestic box office sales have fallen in the last three years.
The domestic box office saw one of its steepest drops in 2020, falling from $11.4 billion in 2019 to $2.1 billion, a shocking 81.4% decline due to the COVID-19 pandemic that forced movie theaters to shut down temporarily.
Since then, movie theaters and production companies thought the industry was on its way to recovery after the pandemic, seeing improvements in total grossing and number of movie releases.
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According to the box office tracking website Box Office Mojo, 2021 domestic ticket sales hit $4.5 billion, a 112.1% recovery post-pandemic. The year after that, the domestic box office totaled $7.4 billion, showing a 64.4% growth, and in 2023, it saw a 20.9% increase to $8.9 billion, mainly due to the “Barbie” movie craze.
However, despite the release of 648 movies aired in U.S. movie theaters, the highest number of releases since 2020, the past year didn’t meet growth expectations. Not even the craze for Walt Disney Studios’ “Inside Out 2” and “Deadpool & Wolverine,” or Universal Pictures’ “Wicked,” which seemed to be working overtime getting its merch and advertising plastered everywhere, managed to best 2023’s numbers.
Factors that led to the decline in domestic box office sales in 2024
It’s evident that people rely more on streaming services as their primary sources of entertainment due to convenience and far more affordable pricing than purchasing a ticket at the box office. However, a series of other issues also contributed to 2024’s disappointing results.
For starters, the 2023 Hollywood strikes — various labor disputes between the Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) and the Writers Guild of America (WGA) — significantly affected the movie theater industry.
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Although the strikes were about actors, writers and production staff fighting for job security, fair pay, and better working conditions, they inevitably caused the production of various movies and TV shows to be halted and postponed, with some getting canceled.
This long pause, which eventually ended in September 2023, led to economic turmoil in the entertainment industry and subsequently impacted the economy as a whole. It may have also been one of the main contributors to the fall of 2024’s box office sales.
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