The stunning box office statistics for 2024 confirm that Netflix is ​​the modern king of Hollywood

2024 was a mixed year at the box office. Things started off horribly as the first half of the year was full of flops, disappointments, and films that simply couldn’t handle the load after the 2023 SAG and WGA strikes upended the entire release calendar. Fortunately, things changed in the second half of the year thanks to… Hit movies like “Wicked,” “Deadpool & Wolverine,” and “Inside Out 2” turned things around.. Despite all that, the global box office finished well below that for 2023, slowing the industry’s recovery in the wake of lockdowns in 2020. At the same time, streaming’s position as a more robust future has been cemented.

According to Gower Street Analytics (via Delivery time), the total global box office for 2024 was $30 billion, compared to $33.9 billion in 2023. This figure includes $8.75 billion in domestic ticket sales, which were Down from 2023 when that number topped $9 billion. Given the strikes and slow start to last year, this number could have been much worse. There’s a lot to be said about that, and we’ll dig into it a little more here in a moment. But there is one eye-catching statistic that helps put all of this into perspective; Specifically, Netflix’s total revenue for the fiscal year ending September 2024 was $37.5 billion (or, in other words, 25% more than last year’s global box office total).

It’s definitely an apples to oranges equation, as Netflix is ​​a subscription streaming service that has movies and TV shows to attract customers. However, if there is any question about which section of the business is most important to Hollywood’s future, there shouldn’t be.

It’s also clear that Netflix is ​​the king of the streaming wars Despite being just one of many competitors in this field. That’s not to mention Disney+, Hulu, Max, Paramount+, or Peacock, not to mention smaller services like Shudder. Together, streaming is casting a shadow over the theatrical market.

Although revenue doesn’t equal profit, Netflix has unsurprisingly become very profitable recently, posting profits of more than $17 billion during the fiscal year ending September 2024. This represents a 31% increase from the previous year. Meanwhile, many theater chains are struggling to keep the lights on After Regal’s parent company Cineworld went bankrupt in 2022 And AMC, the world’s largest movie theater chain, is currently saddled with billions in debt. There was also a surprising development last year when Sony Pictures has purchased the popular Alamo Drafthouse theater chain. That may help the company survive, but it also means that one of the major studios is now investing directly in theaters, which complicates matters.

This might help explain why Netflix isn’t that interested in releasing its movies theatrically, even if it is Theater owners will welcome Netflix movies with open arms (Under the correct conditions). A streamer generally releases their films theatrically only to either ensure that they are eligible for awards and/or to please certain filmmakers. He simply doesn’t care about the box office.

All that said, box office is still remarkably important to the future of filmmaking, including streaming. We’ve seen time and time again that movies released theatrically do better on streaming. This is pretty much a universal rule, even if the film in question was a theatrical flop. For example, Nicolas Cage’s “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent” recently climbed into the top 10 charts on Netflix. Two and a half years after its theatrical release. So, yes, Netflix originals like Back in Action will have their moment in the sun, but will they have the same kind of staying power? Even at this very moment, the top 10 movies on Netflix are dominated by “Despicable Me,” “Hotel Transylvania 2,” “Trolls Band Together,” “Trolls Band Together,” and “The Boss Baby.”

So, yes, streaming is undoubtedly the future of Hollywood, and until something dramatic changes, Netflix is ​​the king of that future. But without a healthy theatrical market, it will be difficult to keep Hollywood going. Studios need that revenue, and more importantly, movies need the word-of-mouth that a theatrical release provides them. It remains a symbiotic relationship, even if there is a clearly dominant force on one side of the equation.