While #Barbenheimer has been a boom for cinema and has started the second half of 2023 right for the box office, the year was already well on its way to success with titles like Super Mario, Spider-Man, and Guardians of the Galaxy performing well at the box office. 

The more titles the better!

In this mid-year cinema recap, we looked only at titles that were released within each year, so as not to have a holiday release sway one year over the other. While this report focuses more on tickets sold, it's exciting to see that box office revenue is up roughly 15% in the first half of 2023 vs. 2022. By the end of the 2nd quarter of 2022 there had been close to 300M tickets sold while at the end of Q2 in 2023, tickets sold were up an additional 57M+ tickets to 357.6M.  

The top 25 titles typically deliver most admissions and this year was no exception as, similar to 2022, the vast majority of tickets sold (78%) came from the top 25 titles. When we broke it down even further we discovered that more than half of admissions (57%) have come from the top 10 titles alone. While these metrics may imply that only the top 25 titles matter, it’s important to remember that every single movie that is released contributes to a successful and demographically attractive box office. While the big recognizable titles deliver huge numbers and often remain at the top of the box office for multiple weeks, the smaller and limited release titles help to bring a variety of options to the box office which often translates into new moviegoers leaving their homes and visiting theaters.

Importance of MPAA ratings

When it comes to driving people to theaters, it’s important to highlight that while titles themselves matter, the rating of the title also plays a crucial role. Thus far, 2023 has been the year of family-driven titles as three of the top five movies of the year have been rated PG. The Super Mario Brothers, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, and The Little Mermaid (all PG) each sold over 100M tickets. Compare that to 2022 when there was just one PG movie (Sonic The Hedgehog 2) in the top 5 (all others were PG-13) selling 20M tickets.  

Having a variety of titles and MPAA ratings is paramount to the success of the box office. There needs to be something for everyone at various points during the year to fuel the box office recovery. In 2022, 67% of all tickets sold were for a PG-13 movie, followed by 20% for PG and 13% for R. In 2023 43% of tickets sold were for a PG-13 movie, and nearly double the amount of PG than last year (37%). Even R rated movies are up to 19% of tickets sold. All in all, it’s the big increase in PG ticket sales that has helped the box office to a strong first half. 

Last year’s top release in the first half of the year was Top Gun: Maverick which was rated PG-13. The blockbuster had 43M admissions from mid-May until end of June while this year’s top performer, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, is up to 53M admissions because its PG rating was able to attract a wider audience. The #2 movie of this year is also a PG-rated title, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.  

The big titles aren’t the only thing drawing people to the box office. 2023 has seen a variety of titles such as Asteroid City, Are You There God It’s Me Margaret, 80 For Brady, The Popes Exorcist, Cocaine Bear and others that bring in a cross section of demographics every week. These movies have delivered over a million admissions each, with some getting close to 6M tickets sold. 

Who’s going to the movies?

With so many family-friendly titles in the mix, it’s no wonder that 75% of the moviegoing audience is under the age of 35 this year. This is a slight difference than last year when 68% of the audience was under the age of 35. That’s not at the expense of the older audience either as Adult 55+ moviegoers still represent nearly 8% of the moviegoing audience which is similar to last year.

Titles such as John Wick: Chapter 4, Creed III, Scream VI, M3gan and A Man Called Otto all delivered over 5 million admissions and brought in a diverse audience mix, fueling the strength of 2023 to date. And then of course there was Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania to bring in the superhero audience. 2023 has had something for everyone so far.   

In looking at the gender distribution, we see that slightly more men went to the movies thus far this year (48% Female vs. 52% Male). The exception is for PG-rated movies which is driven by women (52% Female vs. 48% Male). Further looking at gender and age we see that it is women aged 18-34 that is driving that difference. This implies that moms may be taking the kids at a slightly higher rate than dads.

Certainly not to be passed over is the lure of the horror genre. Coming in #10 in 2022 for admissions is Scream. Coming in #10 in 2023 admissions is Scream VI. Scream 2022 delivered nearly 8 million admissions with 2023 Scream VI besting it, and adding another 1 million!

What’s in store for the remainder of 2023?

The year is going fantastically as we move into August with Barbie and Oppenheimer both beating predictions and bringing the box office to the 4th best weekend in history. That is no small feat, especially considering that was coming off a strong Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning open. Perhaps the best part of all is that there’s more to come.

Titles that will attract a wide spectrum of people are still slated for release this year. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, Wonka, The Marvels and Aquaman & The Lost Kingdom will certainly attract family and superhero fans, while titles such as The Color Purple are likely to bring in a slightly older, more diverse audience.

Put all of these movies together and it’s a recipe for a cinemagical rest of 2023 at the box office!

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