Movie Theaters Are Not Dying!

As of late, many people across the entertainment industry have had movie theaters on the brain and, sadly, not in the best light. 6 months into the 2024 box office and, so far, only a handful of movies have been able to break through to audiences to bring in that sweet sweet mula. The notable moneymakers prior to the 2024 Summer movie season have included Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Two, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, and Kung Fu Panda 4 — all sequels in established franchises. One of the few releases not connected to an IP to make any success at the box office is Alex Garland’s Civil War, which is A24’s most expensive film to date and has made around $114 million worldwide.

So yes, everything I just mentioned has been a positive mark for the 2024 box office. However, these movies have been the exception rather than the rule. Not many movies have had huge opening weekends, nor have there been many movies that have come even close to that golden $1 billion achievement. Compared to this time last year, movies like The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Fast X, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, and, of course, the 1-2 punch of Barbenheimer, were doing incredibly well to bring audiences to the movie theaters. Heck, if you flash back to 2 years ago around this time, Top Gun: Maverick was being heralded as a savior for movie theaters, bringing so many audiences to the movie theater for the first time since before the Pandemic.

So, what the goofy goober has happened to the box office this year?! Is it the movies themselves not capturing audiences’ attention? Could it be a result of the writers’ and actors’ strikes from last year affecting the current landscape of releases? Or, perhaps the most discerning question to all cinephiles out there (myself included)… Do people just not care enough to go to the movies anymore? Many outlets have been pondering these questions over the last couple weeks; why wouldn’t they? The place we go to for magic is definitely sick right now, and people are desperate to find some sort of cure.

Although there are quite a lot of people shouting doomsday for the fate of movie theaters, I couldn’t bring myself to reach the same conclusion. Yes, movie theaters have been struggling in recent years, especially since everything changed when the Pandemic attacked. When people got so used to doing things inside, they got more comfortable with the idea of watching big movies from the comfort of their homes. However, what some people tend to forget is that, when people were able to safely return to theaters, they realized how much they had missed that type of experience.

Speaking from memory, I will never forget the first time I saw Spider-Man: No Way Home on opening night, with crowds that were as excited to see this historic event on the big screen. After seeing it again for the last round of Spider-Mondays, people in that theater were as excited to be there as they were 2.5 years ago. As Brad Pitt’s character said in Babylon, “That means something.” It means that people still cherish the theatrical experience.

On a different side of the industry, take a look at how many records Barbenheimer broke last Summer. It’s not an exaggeration to say that the double feature of Barbie and Oppenheimer became a cultural phenomenon! Everyone and their grandmother (Thelma included) was talking about how cool it was to see those films back-to-back with others who were there for the exact same reason: to see Barbie Girls and the Atomic Bomb BOTH on the big screen on the same day. Re-read that last sentence -- does that make any sense? It doesn’t, and yet people went in droves to see those movies together as one. That is the textbook definition of awesome.

Even on a smaller scale, people still enjoying going to the movies. Remember that little movie Everything Everywhere All at Once? You might think I’m joking, but these are the facts of the case, Your Honor: Everything Everywhere All at Once is an independent movie that grossed $143 million worldwide on a budget of around $25 million. Its theatrical run was something akin to The Little Engine That Could, where people saw it once and then kept telling everyone they knew to go see it until it ended up winning the Oscar for Best Picture. 

Another movie folks saw several times in theaters was -- wait for it -- a Netflix movie! Crazy, right?! Nevertheless, that’s just how remarkable it was to see Rian Johnson’s Glass Onion in theaters. After the movie had an incredibly successful premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, people were campaigning for Netflix to give the film a traditional theatrical release because of how well it played to a large crowd. Eventually, Netflix did budge by giving the Knives Out sequel a limited, one-week theatrical run in major movie theaters (not just their usual “bare minimum” release strategy to qualify for Oscars), a month prior to its release on the streamer. In about 600 theaters for one week only, Glass Onion grossed $15 million. Given the parameters of the release, that’s incredible!

So yes, the 2024 box office may be down but not for the count and, thankfully, the Summer movie season has finally started to pick up the pace. Although it was definitely off to a slow start, movies have been doing much better at the box office this past month than they had been 5 months prior. Bad Boys: Ride or Die has had an impressive run so far, with a total of $331 million worldwide (and counting) on a $100 million production budget — the movie officially broke even and is still making Sony money. Wanna know who else has been making just a little bit of money? Only that little indie studio Pixar with Inside Out 2 having the biggest opening weekend of the year at $154 million domestic and has quickly become the first movie of 2024 to cross $1 billion worldwide (and it has become the fastest animated movie to reach that milestone as well).

The box office sure has been making a lot of noise as of late, even for movies that are all about being quiet. Yup, I sure am talking about A Quiet Place: Day One, which has had the biggest opening for the franchise this past weekend at $99 million globally, and it’s not just a direct sequel; rather, it’s a spinoff/prequel that is breaking these barriers at the box office, and given how early it is in it’s theatrical run, it’s bound to keep audiences going to the theaters in the droves (albeit quietly... rules of the house).

Meanwhile, the much-anticipated Deadpool & Wolverine is slated to break records when it opens later this month (July 26), with the Marvel feature set to rake in about $160 million, which would not only be the biggest opening this year but the biggest opening ever for an R-rated movie! Couple that with Universal announcing it has moved up the release date of Wicked to coincide with the opening of Gladiator II (we may very well have the next Barbenheimer here, folks!), and it's safe to say that things are definitely looking up for movie theaters.

What’s the next movie you’re going to see in theaters?! Let us know and follow Young Hollywood for more on everything with movies and pop culture!