Summer Box Office 2023: ‘Barbenheimer’ Brought Audiences Back, But Uncertainty Around Strikes Could Capsize 2024
01.09.2023 - 00:07
/ deadline.com
This summer’s box office is set to hit $4 billion for the 13th time ever, +16% over last summer. Barbie and Oppenheimer, which together rep 22% of that figure created a blast radius, finally bringing infrequent moviegoers back to cinemas after Covid sidelined audiences.
However, with the ongoing strikes set to upset both the production and post-production pipeline, next summer may not be so rich.
“The spring movies will wind up becoming the summer movies next year,” one box office insider predicts with doom and gloom.
How big was this summer in terms of demand? It was the season that made moviegoing a special participatory-grab-your-friends-get excited-thing again, which the industry was even lacking a bit despite the 2022 rally of Top Gun: Maverick and the previous 2021 carryover success of Spider-Man: No Way Home. It was a moment when 6AM Imax showtimes of Oppenheimer were added at the last minute and sold out at Hollywood’s TCL Chinese Theater. It was the summer when girls dressed up in Barbie pink satin evening dresses and dudes as J. Robert Oppenheimer in fedoras and trench coats, crowding cinemas.
In total there were 13 movies that grossed over $100M this summer versus nine a year ago. Additionally, there were five movies which minted north of $200M; the same number as last summer.
In addition to the summer B.O. figures from ComScore, admissions exploded to 330M per EntTelligence for the May 5-Sept. 4 frame, +16% as well for the same frame a year ago.
It’s disappointing: Every time the industry feels like it’s getting its momentum back, a natural or unnatural disaster puts the theatrical business back on its heels. Regal just emerged from bankruptcy this summer, while AMC avoided Chapter 11 after it received
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