Hollywood executives and theatre owners have fretted loudly and often about the tough box office in the United States. Turns out, it is worse overseas.
Global ticket sales fell at a double-digit clip in 2024 due to a sharp drop in China, the world’s second-largest market, along with contractions in Japan, South Korea and Germany.
Worldwide revenue slumped 10 per cent to US$30.5 billion (S$41.8 billion) in 2024, according to data from researcher Gower Street Analytics, making the US and Canada a bright spot with a decline of just 3.3 per cent. China’s box office shrank by 25 per cent, while the rest of the international market was down 8.2 per cent.
The numbers show that sluggish theatre attendance was far more than just a domestic problem for Hollywood’s movie industry. Major releases, like 2024’s box-office leader Inside Out 2, can generate more than 60 per cent of their ticket revenue outside America, making falling international receipts a big concern.
Results worldwide were hurt by the 2023 strikes by actors and writers. Their walkouts halted production and forced studios to postpone a number of potential 2024 blockbusters. Those include Paramount Global’s Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning. Walt Disney Company had to shelve Snow White, Pixar’s Elio and two Marvel releases: Captain America: Brave New World and Fantastic Four: First Steps from its Marvel Studios.
The decline outside America was exacerbated by the strong dollar, which reduced the revenue American studios receive from foreign box-office sales, according to Mr Rob Mitchell, director of theatrical insights at Gower Street.
The strong dollar “impacts results from a huge number of markets”, he said.
But even in local currencies, the decline was steeper than in the US. In Japan, the No. 3 movie market, ticket sales measured in yen slumped 10 per cent in 2024. In Germany, they fell 8.4 per cent and, in South Korea, they declined 6.9 per cent, reported data tracker Comscore.
Of the top 10 markets outside the US and Canada, only Britain and France matched their 2023 sales.
While strikes and currency fluctuations explain part of the international slump, other forces are at work as well.
Audience tastes in China, historically the most dependable international market for Hollywood fare, changed in favour of local films over American productions. That coincided with deteriorating relations between the two countries.
The number of government-approved American releases in China plunged from a peak of over 60 in 2018 to as few as 15 in 2022, according to industry data. They rebounded to 35 in 2023 and totalled 31 in 2024.
Local-language films in China have soared in quality over that period, possibly blunting demand for American fare. More than 80 per cent of China’s box office is now generated by home-grown pictures. And the country’s deteriorating economy has curbed local spending on cinema tickets.
Like the American market, China’s theatre industry is suffering from the growing popularity of streaming. The Chinese online video market – which is dominated by platforms such as Tencent’s WeTV and Baidu’s iQiyi – is now worth US$31 billion, according to estimates from Media Partners Asia.
The so-called micro drama industry, which produces short television episodes that air on platforms such as Douyin, the Chinese version of ByteDance’s TikTok, swelled to US$6.9 billion in 2024, according to industry data, making the genre larger than the box office for the first time.
“Over the last 10 years, there are also more choices, streaming content, but also other out-of-home entertainment choices that compete for leisure time,” said Mr Rance Pow, chief executive officer of the film industry advisory firm Artisan Gateway.
Mr Mitchell is optimistic that the delayed films, and other titles such as Avatar: Fire And Ash on the 2025 calendar will see global ticket sales bounce back to US$33 billion.
That is still 22 per cent below the global high mark of US$42.3 billion set in 2019. BLOOMBERG
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