This image provided by The Walt Disney Studios shows the characters Deadpool, played by Ryan Reynolds, left, and Wolverine, played by Hugh Jackman, in a scene from the film 'Deadpool & Wolverine,' (The Walt Disney Studios via AP)Movie ticket sales took a bit of a hit in 2024. The annual domestic box office is expected to end up at around $8.75 billion, down more than 3% from 2023, according to estimates from Comscore.
It’s not as dire as it was in the pandemic years, but it’s also not even close to the pre-pandemic norm when the annual box office regularly surpassed $11 billion. This dip in revenue is largely attributed to the Hollywood strikes that delayed productions and releases and led to a depleted calendar for exhibitors and moviegoers. And yet it’s not as bad as it could have been, or at least as bad as analysts projected at the start of the year. “This has been a really incredible comeback story for the industry,” said Paul Dergarabedian, the senior media analyst for Comscore. “Just a couple of months ago it was a question of whether we would even hit $8 billion for the year.” Hollywood continues to learn lessons about what moviegoers really want, what works and what doesn’t. Here are the biggest takeaways from 2024.The Hollywood strikes might have ended in 2023, putting productions back into full swing and sending stars out on the promotional circuit again — but the ripple effect of the work stoppages and contract standoffs showed their real effects on the 2024 release calendar. The first two quarters were hit hardest, with tentpoles pushed later in the year (“Deadpool & Wolverine,” for one) or even into 2025 (like “Mission: Impossible 8″). With no Marvel movie kicking off the year, studios struggled to find a consistent flow of blockbusters. “It’s an unpredictable business but it thrives on stability,” Dergarabedian said. “When the release calendar is thrown off, the momentum stops.”Sequels and franchises dominated the top 10 movies of the year, as has often been the case in the past 15 year