Has the Movie Industry Made a Comeback? No.

By Douglas A. McIntyre Published Jul 29, 6:40AM EDT

Follow 24/7 Wall St. on Google

This post may contain links from our sponsors and affiliates, and Flywheel Publishing may receive compensation for actions taken through them.

Has the Movie Industry Made a Comeback? No. — © Pgiam / E+ via Getty Images

24/7 Wall St. Insights

The success of “Deadpool & Wolverine” has heartened the movie industry.
However, ticket sales for the year will still be abysmal.
Also: 2 Dividend Legends to Hold Forever

The movie industry was heartened by the success of “Deadpool & Wolverine.” Its opening weekend brought in $205 million in North America, an all-time record for an R-rated movie, and $428 million worldwide. Hollywood has finally had a hit after months of weekends without one. However, it has barely moved the needle for a year in which ticket sales have been abysmal.

The last time the movie industry had a blockbuster year was before the COVID-19 pandemic. Total North American sales were $11.5 billion in 2019, but the pandemic crushed that down to $2.1 billion in 2020. Even as it dug itself out of that trough, sales reached only $8.9 billion last year. Some blame streaming more than the pandemic. Streaming kept people out of theaters in 2020 and likely kept them in their living rooms permanently.

So far in 2024, ticket sales have only been $4.6 billion. That means that even with “Deadpool & Wolverine,” this year will likely be below last. It will be another severe blow to the large companies with traditional studios. Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS | DIS Price Prediction), Universal, Paramount, and Warner Bros. will struggle financially.

There will be several winners in the sector. Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX), which continues to grow and is highly profitable, is at the top of that list. Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) does not break out the exact number for Prime Video, but it is assumed that it helps Amazon’s overall earnings.

Will the movie industry, at least based on traditional studio numbers, ever bounce back? Almost certainly not.

How Much Is a Trip to Disney World: On a Budget or in Style

About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.