The year 2024 was expected to be a step back for movie theaters in their effort to rebuild after the COVID-19 pandemic due to the impact of the Hollywood strikes. And while it was, the box office ended far closer to 2023 than expected.
Thanks to a strong second half, domestic annual grosses finished at a preliminary estimate of $8.7 billion, down 4% year-over-year from the $9.06 billion recorded in 2023 and well above the flat $8 billion that was initially projected by Gower Street Analytics at the start of 2024.
“Everyone in the movie theater business has been saying for the past several years that it’s all about volume,” Comscore analyst Paul Dergarabedian told TheWrap.