While exhibitors were quite confident going into the Summer, hard numbers are coming in that are potentially giving them pause.
Comscore reports that overall domestic box-office revenues from May 1st to August 24th have reached $3.53 billion.
That means that once the final numbers are in during the Labor Day holiday box-office next weekend, overall ticket sales are going to fall well short of $4 billion.
That watermark has only been achieved once since the pandemic, 2023 – the year of ‘Barbenheimer’.
Disney’s “Lilo & Stitch” is the highest-grossing film of the summer with $421 million in North America and $1.03 billion globally – the only film to pass the $1 billion worldwide mark. Other strong performers have been “Jurassic World Rebirth,” “How to Train Your Dragon” “Superman,” “F1,” and smaller successes like “Weapons” and “Materialists”.
On the flipside, both Marvel’s “Thunderbolts” and “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” are being seen as underperformers, “Elio” and “M3GAN 2.0” were duds. While “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” grossed well, its enormous $400 million budget makes it a financial loser.
Hopes now turn to the early Fall slate with titles like “Tron: Ares,” “Mortal Kombat II,” “The Conjuring: Last Rites” and “One Battle After Another” to boost numbers ahead of expected late year juggernauts like “Wicked for Good” and “Zootopia 2”.
Source: Variety
