As we emerge, blinking, into the light from yet another New Year celebration, staring despondently at our car keys, knowing the gym will be absolutely rammed for the next three weeks but knowing we have to go anyway, we just think “Screw it!” and come back to hang out with our buddies at Last Movie Outpost. Leave it until tomorrow, and instead, let’s talk about 2023 box office.
The domestic US total just edged past the $9 billion mark. With so many high-profile flops, superhero fatigue seemingly setting in, and strikes decimating the industry, that’s not too shabby. According to analysts Comscore, and reported by Deadline, Universal Pictures topped the charts this year.
An 18% increase, year on year, to $1.93 billion, was driven by mainly by The Super Mario Bros Movie ($575M), Oppenheimer ($326M), Fast X ($150M), and Five Nights at Freddy’s ($137M). This saw them on top of the pile for the first time since 2015.
Disney was in second place with $1.89 billion. Despite under-expectations performance by several key releases, such as Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny ($174M) and Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania ($215M) they still had strong performers like Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 ($359M). Avatar: The Way of Water ($283M in 2023, plus more in 2022) was also very helpful here.
Warner Bros. Pictures was third with $1.4 billion, up 50% year-on-year due almost entirely to Barbie.
Sony Pictures was fourth with $955 million, up 13% on 2022. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse ($381M) was their top performer.
Paramount Pictures was fifth with $837 million, a 35% fall on last year. This is because they were missing the 2023 equivalent of Top Gun: Maverick, while Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One ($172M) and Transformers: Rise of the Beasts ($157M) were busts.
Lionsgate was sixth with $580 million. Wait until you see this year-on-year, though… up 623% from 2022! Why? The triple threat of The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes ($323M), John Wick: Chapter 4 ($187M), and Saw X ($111M).
Amazon MGM was seventh with $270 million, they saw an impressive 164% increase driven by Creed III ($156M).
Even with stronger post-pandemic growth, the pipeline is depleted entering next year due to the strikes, and box office is expected to come in over $1 billion down on this year.
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