Even ‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’ can’t lift 2025 box office out of pandemic-crisis doldrums

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As “Avatar: Fire and Ash” headed to the big screen this month, theater owners held their breath.

Despite a year of ups and downs – including some blockbuster movies, a popular online trend, and a very slow start and weak October – movie theaters were hoping for a strong finish in late December to boost their overall earnings.

Despite the huge success of the new “Avatar” film – it’s already made over $472 million worldwide – 2025 still ended up being a letdown.

Comscore, a movie data firm, estimates that U.S. and Canadian box office revenue will reach $8.87 billion this year, a slight increase of 1.5% from last year’s $8.74 billion. However, projections for 2025 are concerning, with expected revenue down over 20% compared to pre-pandemic levels in 2019. This suggests the movie theater industry is still struggling to adapt to changes in how people watch movies, particularly the rise of streaming.

Movie ticket sales are down this year. As of December 25th, around 760 million tickets have been sold, according to EntTelligence, a media data firm. This is lower than the 800 million tickets sold for the entire year of 2023.

One reason why fewer people are going to the movies is simply that the films aren’t as appealing as they used to be.

Movie industry professionals and theater owners agree that fewer high-quality films being released created gaps in the movie schedule, which put more pressure on the remaining films to succeed. Traditionally popular genres like comedies and dramas are now struggling to attract audiences in theaters. Additionally, female moviegoers, who strongly supported films like “Barbie” in 2023, had fewer options, as most of the year’s biggest hits were action-focused and appealed more to male audiences.

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With so many comedies doing well in theaters lately, filmmakers are hoping people will choose to go out and enjoy a laugh with others.

Regal Cineworld CEO Eduardo Acuna noted that 2025 hasn’t been as successful as initially hoped. He explained that this is largely due to fewer major movie releases and the difficulty smaller films have had gaining traction with audiences.

Despite featuring popular actors like Margot Robbie, Colin Farrell, Dwayne Johnson, and Sydney Sweeney, several recent movies – including “A Big Bold Beautiful Journey,” “The Smashing Machine,” and “Christy” – weren’t successful at the box office.

Despite receiving positive reviews and featuring a talented cast, Paul Thomas Anderson’s film, “One Battle After Another,” hasn’t performed as well as expected at the box office, earning $71 million in the US and $205 million worldwide.

“One Battle After Another” cost around $130 million to make. In contrast, “The Smashing Machine” cost about $50 million but has only earned $21 million worldwide.

Hollywood is struggling to balance the high costs of making movies with how much money they can make from ticket sales and later, from streaming services,” explains Paul Dergarabedian, a media analyst at Comscore.

Universal Pictures’ “Wicked: For Good” earned over $324 million, but it stood out as one of the few major movie hits specifically aimed at female audiences. Taylor Swift’s concert film, “The Official Release Party of a Showgirl,” with $50 million in global earnings, was another example.

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The upcoming Superman movie, with David Corenswet in the lead role, is meant to be the start of a fresh direction for DC Studios, which hasn’t had consistent success with its superhero films lately.

While several major movies were released this summer – like “Superman” from DC Studios, “Jurassic World Rebirth” from Universal, and Apple’s “F1 The Movie” – most of them primarily appealed to men.

Movies specifically made for women are rare, according to Jeff Bock, a box-office analyst at the entertainment research firm Exhibitor Relations. He believes there should be a wider variety of films available so that everyone has something to watch.

To be sure, there were some bright spots for the industry, including success from young audiences.

This year, “A Minecraft Movie” from Warner Bros. Pictures earned the most domestically, bringing in $423.9 million. Disney’s live-action remake of “Lilo & Stitch” was a close second, with $423.8 million in the U.S. and Canada, and a global total of $1 billion.

Including “Wicked: For Good,” “Zootopia 2,” and “How to Train Your Dragon,” five of the year’s ten highest-grossing films in the U.S. were rated PG.

According to Tom Rothman, head of Sony Pictures’ film division, a positive trend this year was that most of the biggest movie successes were popular with younger viewers. He described it as a surge in popularity among young people.

Disney capitalized on the big year for family-friendly fare.

As a huge movie fan, I was thrilled to see Disney surpass $6 billion worldwide at the box office this year! Blockbusters like “Lilo & Stitch” and “Zootopia 2” really drove that success, making it their best year since 2019. It wasn’t a perfect run, though. Pixar’s “Elio” didn’t quite connect with audiences, and the live-action “Snow White” remake faced a lot of issues and didn’t perform as hoped.

“Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle,” a film from Sony Pictures and Crunchyroll, proved to be a hit with younger audiences. It earned $70 million during its opening weekend in July and went on to gross $134 million domestically and $715 million worldwide, demonstrating the growing appeal of anime.

Rothman noted that anime’s success in movie theaters this year was a major development and a positive indicator, as it’s attracting a younger audience.

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When “Lilo & Stitch” first came out in theaters in 2002, it earned $273 million. However, Stitch has remained popular ever since, leading to strong merchandise sales and a new live-action film.

As expected, movies based on familiar stories and brands – like video games, popular franchises, books, and comics – were the most successful at the domestic box office this year, making up nine of the top ten films.

Recognizable names at the box office are important because moviegoers, especially families, often choose films they already know. People are careful with their money and time, and are often hesitant to risk seeing a movie they aren’t familiar with.

While well-known stories still draw audiences to movie theaters, they aren’t the only factor for success, according to Adam Fogelson, head of Lionsgate’s film division. This year, Lionsgate saw positive results with both an adaptation of Stephen King’s ‘The Long Walk’ and the latest film in the ‘Now You See Me’ series.

Horror movies were big earners in 2025. Warner Bros. especially did well with scary films, releasing hits like Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners,” “The Conjuring: Last Rites,” Zach Cregger’s “Weapons,” and “Final Destination Bloodlines.”

Blumhouse, known for successful horror films, experienced an unusual setback with “M3GAN 2.0,” the sequel to the 2022 hit. According to Blumhouse CEO Jason Blum, speaking on “The Town” podcast, the sequel didn’t perform as well because it shifted away from the original film’s genre.

With 2025 ending, people in the film industry and cinema owners are feeling hopeful about how much money movies will make next year.

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Movie theater owners are worried that if Warner Bros. is bought by a larger company, it could lead to fewer movies being made, adding to the challenges the film industry is already facing.

Movie fans have a lot to look forward to in 2026! Big releases planned include Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey,” the next Marvel team-up movie, “Avengers: Doomsday,” the third installment in Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune” series, plus “Toy Story 5” from Disney and Pixar, and “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” from Universal, Nintendo, and Illumination.

This excitement is tempered by concerns about the upcoming Warner Bros. merger and how it will affect future film releases.

Cinema owners are worried that if Netflix buys Warner Bros., it might stop releasing their films exclusively in theaters. Netflix has stated they will keep their current and future agreements to show films on the big screen, however. There’s also concern that if Paramount were to acquire Warner Bros., it could lead to fewer movies being made, which would mean less content for theaters to show. Paramount’s CEO has said they don’t intend to release fewer films.

Any deal is expected to take at least a year to complete.

In the meantime, Hollywood will wait to see how strong the 2026 slate truly is.

Many exciting movies are on the horizon, leading some to believe 2026 will be a particularly strong year for film, according to Exhibitor Relations’ Bock. However, the big question is whether Hollywood can consistently produce quality films year after year.

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2025-12-29 14:32