The global box office had its highest-grossing month since 2020 this July after topping $4.5bn, thanks in part to the record-breaking releases of Warner Bros’ Barbie and Universal’s Oppenheimer, according to the film data and insights company Gower Street Analytics.
The July 2023 total was 17% ahead of the pre-pandemic average (2017-2019) of the same month. It is the first time since the pandemic that the domestic market, the China market and the international market (excluding China) have all been ahead of the pre-pandemic average.
In particular, China’s July box office was tracking 53% above the pre-pandemic average with $1.2bn, compared to $0.8bn in 2017-2019.
Despite both films not releasing until July 21, ‘Barbenheimer’ accounted for 27% of the global total for the month at $1.2bn. As of July 30, Barbie had reached $775m while Oppenheimer was standing at $400m.
The bigger picture
The global box office total for the year currently stands at $20.95 billion and is now tracking just 11% behind the pre-pandemic average, up from the end of June when it stood at -17%.
As such, Gower Street has preliminary increased its 2023 year-end prediction from $32bn to $34bn, though the estimate won’t be officially revised until September once the impact of the SAG-AFTRA strike on the release calendar for Q3 and Q4 is made clearer.
The UK’s box office is now predicted to hit £1.05bn by the end of the year which would be up for the 2022 year-end total of £978m.
“We do not anticipate a major impact on 2023 projections from the titles that have announced moves to date,” said Rob Mitchell, Gower Street’s director of theatrical insights. “However, we would expect a significantly higher impact were key Q3 or Q4 titles such as The Marvels, Dune: Part Two, Wonka, The Hunger Games: The Ballad Of Songbirds And Snakes, or Trolls Band Together to move out of year.”
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