Even with 2024 bringing a minor decline in the box office in North America and Europe, the Chinese market experienced a much steeper drop. Whereas the Domestic and European markets declined by low single digits from 2023 totals, the Chinese box office posted a concerning 22% drop from $7.5B in 2023 to $5.81B in 2024.
Analysts are pointing to the impact of a general economic downturn in China as well as a declining interest by moviegoers in seeing locally produced films. In 2024, only 16 Chinese movies earned over $70M at the box office, down from 31 movies in 2023. And while many Hollywood movies are continuing to struggle to find their audience in China, the decline in local films has been doubly concerning.
China’s bad year in 2024 marked a reversal of the post-pandemic trend for China’s box office to have expanded its share of the global box office. Of the top 10 highest-grossing movies worldwide in 2024, only one came from China – the film YOLO is about a woman who takes up boxing to lose weight and winds up becoming a boxing champion.
While YOLO came in 10th place on this list, the top 9 were all from Hollywood studios. For the time being, it seems that Hollywood Studios and the Domestic market have recovered their standing as the center of the movie business, claiming the box office crown in 2024 and all other post-COVID years.