Contributing Factors
The release of various movies that were well received by a diverse range of audience contributed to Box Office’s ability to experience a record-breaking performance in North America. Theater owner, as well as Hollywood,d got pleasant reports on Sunday when the 2018 box office revenue on a domestic level outperformed its previous record in 2016.
A quick glance at the statistics shows that the total ticket sales for 2018 has reached $11.383 billion and that is compared with the $11.393 billion records for 2016. A release of new movies including Bumblebee, Mary Poppins Returns, and Aquaman contributed to its ability to close the gap for the year.
At the current pace, there is a probability that the domestic revenue for 2018 would climb to $11.8 billion before December 31st. Attendance has also gone up on the yearly outlook between 5% and 7%. Disney again outperformed other studios and celebrated another milestone on Sunday.
For 2018, it was able to generate over $3 billion on a domestic scale, all thanks to the performance of Black Panther, Incredibles 2 and Avengers: Infinity War. That helped it top the current mark of the industry which the studio itself set two years ago.
Individual Performance
Black Panther grossed $700 million for the studio, Avengers: Infinity War grossed $678.8 million, Incredibles 2 made $608.6 million and the three took the 1st, 2nd and 3rd highest grossing domestic titles till date. Holding the 4th and 5th spot for highest grossing domestic titles till date are Jurassic World of Universal that grossed in $416.8 million, Deadpool 2 from Fox studios and $318.5 million.
Disney is reportedly close to the completion of the acquisition of 20th Century Fox. The studio currently controls 27% of the entire domestic market share which stands as an unprecedented performance.
In other words, Disney has over $1 billion more than Universal studio in North America. The studio’s global ticket sales already crossed the $7 billion mark for 2018 and that makes it the 2nd time a studio has been able to successfully achieve that feat. Disney was also the first to cross that mark.
Impact Of Fluctuating Currency
There are currently no statistics for the international box office for 2018, but the revenue overseas is already about 5% ahead of that of 2017. The fluctuations of foreign currency have contributed to that. In the past couple of years, ticket sales offshore have reportedly contributed to the growth in box office performance all around the world and the record of this year stands as a rare exception.
The performance of domestic box office keeps defying expectations and with just a couple of days till the end of the year, the revenue for 2018 is reportedly about 10% ahead of that of 2017 that had a total revenue record of $11.1 billion.
Performance Without Star Wars Movie
It is 6% ahead of 2016 record and analysts have opined that the cushion provided by the revenue is very necessary for Hollywood studios given that there is no release of any Star Wars movie at the end of the year for the very first time in about four years. This year, they rely on Christmas films such as Mary Poppins Returns and Aquaman.
2014 was the last time when they didn’t release a Star Wars movie and the revenue between the 12th of December and the 31st of December that year was at $832 million. Analysts of box office have expectations that the current holiday season would have similar performance with that of 2014 or even exceed it. That implies the total revenue could climb above $11.8 billion to close at $12 billion. The domestic revenue succeeded in reaching the $11 billion benchmark at an impressive record pace for the year.
