Disney Recaptured Its Dominance in 2024 as Family Films and Sequels Ruled the Box Office

variety.com:

box office are due to higher ticket prices,” says Eric Handler, managing director at Roth Capital Partners. “Theaters need to do a better job of promoting the cinema experience and getting people to come back.” Over the past few years, the movie business has suffered one setback after another.

First, COVID shuttered theaters for months, prompting a wave of release-date delays, and halted filming on major movies, which only resumed with costly new health measures in place that added millions to budgets.

Then, 2023 saw historic writers and actors strikes that scuttled production once again, resulting in another monthslong work stoppage as a fresh crop of films saw their opening weekends pushed back.

All of this has left theaters with fewer films to showcase, which analysts believe is partly the cause of the decline in year-over-year revenues. “We’re still in a post-pandemic recovery mode,” says Eric Wold, an analyst with B.