Global box office revenues hit $30.3bn at the end of 2023, representing an increase of 30% over 2022, but remain 17% below the market’s pre-pandemic value in 2019.

Hollywood releases by major studios, especially those within popular franchises, were key to supporting the global market. Of the 10 highest grossing films of the year, eight were either continuations of existing series (such as Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse) or re-interpretations of established characters (such as The Little Mermaid and Wonka), with the use of popular characters and ongoing storylines helping studios to cash-in on the interests of pre-built fanbases. However, ‘Barbenheimer’ proved to be the biggest hit of the year, with lively online engagement and double-feature screenings helping Warner Bros. Discovery’s Barbie and Universal’s Oppenheimer generate a total of $2.4bn globally between them.

Looking forwards, 2024 will see the global market face a number of adverse conditions that will limit but likely not entirely supress ongoing revenue growth. Macro-economic uncertainty and the cost of living crisis will continue to impact consumer spending through 2024, while the lasting impact of the Hollywood Actors’ and Writer’s strikes will see a lower volume of new titles released during the year as a result of disruption to production schedules the year prior. This may limit cinema engagement among casual consumers, however high engagement with theatrical in 2023, sustained momentum in revenue growth compared to 2022 and rising number of consumers reporting going to the cinema multiple times per quarter paints a positive picture of the market in the near term, and suggest low levels of growth should be expected for the sector through 2024 and beyond.