For the second quarter (Q2) of 2023, the global box office has reached $8.6bn – the best quarterly result since 2019, according to film data and insights company Gower Street Analytics.
It outperformed this year’s first quarter (Q1) by 10%. In June alone, the global box office generated $2.9bn, outperforming the strong levels of the two prior months (May +6%, April +3%).
According to Gower Street, “the gap to pre-pandemic results has closed significantly”.
Q2 was only 10% down on the same period pre-pandemic, compared to Q1, which was down 23%.
The two highest-grossing quarters since 2019 combined delivered a global box office for the first half of 2023 of $16.4bn. That is an encouraging 27% up on the second half of last year, the prior highest grossing six-month period of the current decade.
At the end of June, 2023 global box office is tracking -17% behind the pre-pandemic three-year average. 2023 is currently tracking +29% ahead of 2022 and more than double 2021 (+122%) at the same stage.
An increased number of movie releases contributed to the June result, compared to the previous month. June had at least one global US-studio wide release each week. These five main releases generated a combined box office of $1.4bn. On top of the new releases four key holdover titles added around $580m.
Sony Pictures’ Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse achieved the highest box office in June with $591m. At the end of June it was already +54% ahead of the global total of the prior instalment ($384m). It’s currently the third highest grossing title of the year.
Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts was the second highest global grossing title in June delivering approximately $367m. Nearly two thirds (64%) came from the international market (inc. China) with $236 million. It will, however, likely finish at the bottom of the franchise, far from the global best of 2011’s Transformers: Dark Side Of The Moon ($1.12bn), and international leader, 2014’s Transformers: Age Of Extinction ($859m).
The third highest grossing new release in June was The Flash, grossing $233m within the month. It will likely end short of $300m, behind fellow DC titles like Black Adam ($393m), Batman Begins ($374m) and Shazam! ($368m).
Pixar’s Elemental was released mid-month, and at the end of June has collected $160m. Disney’s Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny was released in the final days of June, and contributed $51 million to the global total.
The biggest holdover title in June was The Little Mermaid, adding approximately $283m for a total of $516m at the end of June.
The other top performing holdover titles in June are also, currently, the three highest grossing global titles of the year: Fast X (added $158m, for $695m total); Guardians Of The Galaxy, Vol. 3 (added $85m, for $835m total); and The Super Mario Bros. Movie (added $57m, total $1.3bn).
Market by market
The domestic (North American) market achieved $1.01bn in June. That is the second highest grossing month since 2019 and the first month to top $1bn since July last year.
The domestic market also saw the best quarter of the decade in Q2 with $2.7bn, beating the same period last year, being +14% ahead ($2.4bn). The first half of the year grossed $4.46bn. After just six months, 2023 is nearing the domestic 2021 whole year total of $4.5 billion.
China recorded $567m in the month, the second highest grossing month outside of Chinese New Year or Golden Week holidays since 2019. The main driver of was local thriller Lost In The Stars, contributing 42% of the market’s month with $236m despite only opening for the Chinese Dragon Boat Festival holidays on June 22. Lost In The Stars is the third highest grossing movie in China this year.
US-studio releases claimed four of the following five positions in China’s June ranking. It performed +9% the pre-pandemic three-year average. These generated a combined box office of $180 million: Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts ($83m), Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse ($48m), The Flash ($25m), and holdover Fast X ($24m). For these four titles China remains the number one international territory.
Latin America was performing above the pre-pandemic three-year average in June, exceeding it by +5%.
Asia Pacific (excluding China) was -9% short of the pre-pandemic three-year average for Q2. Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) was -10% behind.
Gower Street’s report stated: “On a macro level the global theatrical industry had another encouraging month performing at the top end of the decade. But, on an individual title level multiple major releases performed at the low-end of expectations. It’s a sign of regained strength that the theatrical industry is holding the degree of recovery despite these shortcomings.
July is looking like it will produce strong results, with a release schedule featuring Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, Barbie and Oppenheimer.
The report also warned: “The first half of 2023 accelerated the recovery and narrowed the gap to pre-pandemic box office results substantially. To get to and even beyond this level an even greater variety of movies in terms of age, gender, taste and ethnicity of its audience need to be delivered, dated in a way that reduces cannibalisation of overlapping audiences to a minimum.”
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