2023’s domestic box office came in at just over $9 Billion, about 21% ahead of 2022 but still unfortunately trailing 2019 also by 21%. Universal stole the crown from Disney for the biggest distributor of 2023 both globally and domestically by just a sliver. 2023 was a crazy year for movies, from Barbie and bomb-making (both literally and box office-wise for some), to animation domination from newer faces, here is a look at 2023 in film.
The year began with the behemoth record-breaking performance of Avatar: The Way of Water (2022), which dominated the box office until February when Ant Man and the Wasp: Quantumania failed at the box office. March saw Creed III, Scream VI, and John Wick Chapter 4 succeed while Shazam! Fury of The Gods and Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves bombed. April was dominated by The Super Mario Bros Movie which became the highest-grossing video game film. May saw Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and Fast X succeed while The Little Mermaid floundered. June had another animation hit with Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse, meanwhile, Transformers: Rise of The Beasts and Indiana Jones and The Dial of Destiny bombed. Despite having the worst opening ever for Pixar, Elemental ultimately prospered grossing $496 million. Finally, DC’s The Flash absolutely failed, becoming one of the biggest box office bombs of all time losing $200 million.
Things heated up in July with the “Barbenheimer” phenomenon. To start, Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning: Part One bombed despite massive critical acclaim (96% Rotten Tomatoes). This was due to the “Barbenheimer ” phenomenon and an unusual audience reluctance to see the film in theaters. Haunted Mansion also bombed. Later the “Barbenheimer” July 21st weekend saw Barbie and Oppenheimer bring in one of the biggest domestic box office weekends ever (#4). Barbie became Warner Bros.’ highest-grossing film surpassing Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows-Part 2, and Oppenheimer became the highest-grossing World War II film and the 2nd highest-grossing R-rated film.
August was quiet, Meg 2: The Trench and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem succeeded while DC’s Blue Beetle bombed. In September, Gareth Edwards’ (Rogue One: a Star Wars Story and Godzilla 2014) AI sci-fi pic The Creator underperformed. October saw The Exorcist: Believer, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour (now the highest-grossing concert film), and Five Nights at Freddy’s triumph while Killers of The Flower Moon underperformed. November saw The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes and Trolls Band Together become modest hits. Disney’s Wish and Ridley Scott’s Napoleon underperformed and The Marvels like The Flash became one of the biggest box office disasters of all time.
December was a quiet month, lacking a behemoth historic box office grosser like Avatar: The Way of Water (2022) or Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015). Despite this, Wonka was a hit while, as expected, Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom underperformed.
