What the Entertainment Industry Needs to Learn From 2023
By Movieguide® Contributor
While 2023 saw a 20% increase in box office revenue over the previous year, many experts believe it is time for the industry to change while the momentum is on its side. Otherwise, the theater business may die for good.
Since the box office was crippled in 2020 due to the pandemic, it has been an uphill battle to lure people back to theaters. Consumers became accustomed to watching movies at home, and with similar release timelines for theaters and streaming, there was no reason not to wait. This practice has continued three years later, and as streaming quality and internet speeds have continued to improve, 64% of Americans now prefer to watch movies at home compared to 43% in 2019.
While 2023 had multiple box office flops on movies that seemed like surefire hits, it also scored surprise blockbusters that provide insight into what will continue to work in the future.
BARBIE and OPPENHEIMER both landed in the top five domestic grosses for the year, carried in part by the “Barbenheimer” phenomenon that got people excited to see the movies in theaters. This is one of the keys for the industry moving forward; consumers need a reason to come to theaters rather than wait for the streaming release.
“The good news is that if the audience feels like there’s something fresh or exciting, they still love seeing movies in movie theaters,” said Lionsgate Motions Picture Group’s vice chair Adam Fogelson. “There are definitely genres that are more challenged now than they have ever been, and that’s an issue. Whether a short-term trend of a long-term reality, it’s definitely going to require everyone to be hypervigilant about what we decide to make and at what price point.”
The genre perhaps most feeling this squeeze is the superhero genre, which had flop after flop throughout the year. DC and Marvel were both unable to catch a break as audiences shied away from some of the most popular franchises in the industry.
“We are definitely going through an evolution, and we can’t just keep cranking out the same old franchise fare. We have to do better,” said one studio executive. “The ways we did things for decades don’t work anymore; now you have to hit the bull’s-eye or get close to it.”
While studios can no longer rely on established IPs to draw an audience solely through their name, this shift in consumer preferences has allowed for new IPs to shine. SOUND OF FREEDOM, for example, finished the year as the No. 10 movie at the domestic box office despite a minuscule budget and heavy competition with major IPs like INDIANA JONES and MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE.
This breakout success may not have been possible in the pre-pandemic market when franchise titles would crush box office competition.
While the box office has made a surging comeback since the pandemic, 2024 is shaping up to be a down year, especially as the release schedule faces scarcity following the dual strikes over the summer.
It is time for studios to shift their strategy and give movie lovers a reason to return to theaters. Executives would also do well to cater to the largest audience – families – and create content parents are comfortable to watch with their children.
Movieguide® previously reported:
Recovery from last year’s WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes may take longer than originally anticipated, analysts predict.
“[W]e were willing to shift our valuation buildups to 2025 to capture the projected industry recovery path after an expected hiccup in 2024,” B. Riley analyst Eric Wold wrote. “We are now reversing course and admitting that we may have been too optimistic and would probably be proven wrong with that view.”
“Full-year 2024 box office revenue, which Wold pegged at $8.61 billion last November, could now end up as low as $8 billion to $8.4 billion before rebounding to $9.92 billion in 2025,” per Deadline.
Due to the dual strikes, fewer movies are slated for this year than the previous year, with 107 movies set for wide theatrical releases versus 124 released last year, another Deadline article reports.
Studios are sharing their concern for this year as well. One executive said, “There’s no way that a labor stoppage as prolonged as chaotic as this wasn’t going to have consequences. Fire comes through and burns a forest and a town, and then the fire is over. But the consequences of the fire aren’t over: There’s mudslides, and there’s damaged infrastructure.”
