What are some of the big-picture box office trends from the past few years?
Dergarabedian: The total domestic box office pre-pandemic was hovering at around $11 billion annually. In 2020, that wound up being about $2.5 billion. It has climbed steadily since then, and in 2023 we hit $9 billion. In the summer season alone last year, Barbie, Oppenheimer and Sound of Freedom generated $1.15 billion. The 2023 summer box office hit $4.1 billion, which we hadn’t seen since 2019. But we have to disabuse ourselves of the idea that success means getting back to $11 billion a year. The new normal is fewer screens and theaters chasing $9 billion or $10 billion.
O’Bryan: What happened between then and now was COVID and streaming — lots of streaming, right? Consumer behavior is just different now. People want to get out of their houses and go to the movies. We all do. We’re just more particular than we were before.
Dergarabedian: The good news is that 2025 is looking really strong. And by the way, the [box office] comps to this year will be a lot more favorable. Last year, we were thriving in this Barbenheimer-powered world, which has at this point made year-over-year comps really tough.
Any highly anticipated titles coming out later this year that could make a difference?
Dergarabedian: This summer, you’ve got Despicable Me 4, Deadpool & Wolverine and Twisters. Obviously, Deadpool & Wolverine is going to be huge. Twisters is a disaster movie with the actor Glen Powell, who is on a tear right now. Right after the summer, it’s [the] Beetlejuice [sequel] and Wicked, which will be, well, wicked. Also, “Moana 2” is going to be a theatrical release for the holidays.