Ticket sales are expected to finish 2022 at around $7.4 billion, down about 35% from 2019. Blame a lack of wide-release films and a few high-profile disappointments.
It was the year that the box office recovery from the COVID-19 catastrophe began to take shape.
With such a thin slate, the box office became increasingly reliant on the home runs, and there weren’t enough of what studio executives call singles, doubles and triples — the kinds of mid-budget films that sustained theaters year-round. A pair of Disney animated bombs sparked worries that the company’s streaming strategy had trained loyal fans to look for its movies primarily on Disney+ rather than buy tickets.Finally, many top releases were clumped together within a couple months of one another, resulting in long stretches without any blockbusters.
“If it was just that people didn’t want to go back to the movies, then the summer would have sucked too,” Dergarabedian said. “What changed was that there were fewer movies, and then this unusual circumstance threw the release calendar into disarray.”Cineworld, owner of the nation’s second largest theater chain, Regal, filed for bankruptcy in September, citing the weak slate and a heavy debt burden. The stock price of the No.
Wall Street has started to demand profits rather than subscriber numbers at all costs. Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav, in contrast with the preceding AT&T regime, has rejected big streaming movies as boondoggles. Paramount’s upcoming comedy “80 for Brady” was at first intended for streaming, but is getting a theatrical release instead. Ditto for “Magic Mike‘s Last Dance,” which was planned for HBO Max, but is now set for the big screen next year.
“I don’t think it’s going to be one-size-fits all,” said Jim Orr, president of domestic distribution for Universal Pictures. “Still, I think some consistency across the windows is a decent thing.”Paramount Pictures enjoyed unusual levels of success in 2022, releasing “Jackass Forever” and a “Scream” reboot early in the year, facing minimal competition. The long-awaited “Top Gun: Maverick” became the year’s highest-grossing release, with $1.49 billion in ticket sales.
Disney, in contrast to its struggles in animation, did well with superhero titles, taking the current No. 2 and No. 3 spots with “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” and the “Doctor Strange” sequel , respectively. Warner Bros. found success with “The Batman” and “Elvis” . But some “specialty” releases fared well, at least those that were entertaining and skewed young, such as Searchlight’s “The Menu” and A24’s “Everything Everywhere All at Once.”
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