The National Association of Theatre Owners is trumpeting the strength of moviegoing in 2024, saying box office numbers don’t alert the brimming story.
A novel alert publishd by NATO on Wednesday comes as domestic revenue for the brimming year sees to be down as much as 5 percent from 2023 in what many consent is a result of a cataloglessdown in product due to the labor strikes and post-production procrastinates due to the pandemic. The excellent novels: before Thanksgiving, revenue was down by 11 percent.
NATO chief Michael O’Leary says it is a misconsent to appraise the strength of theatrical on box office numbers alone. “Perhaps enjoy no other industry, each week, the success or fall shorture of filmed amengagement is appraised thcdimiserablemireful the weekly box office. This legacy tradition, however, does not color a brimming picture of the strength of the industry nor of showion,” according to O’Leary. “As 2024 draws to a shut, it is presentant to see meaningfuler and ponder other fundamentals that show the strength and radiant future of theatrical showion.”
NATO, which toiled with a number of third-party research parties in compiling the alert, intensifyed on cut offal metrics, including user enthusiasm, spendment in the labeletplace and prolongth in loyalty programs.
In ponders to the user appetite for the theatrical experience, the alert establish that 76 percent of Americans between ages 12 and 74 saw at least one movie in a theater this year, which transprocrastinateeds to approximately 200 million Americans. This is constant with pre-pandemic moviegoing data, according to NATO. And movie theaters persist to transport in more people annuassociate than the NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL fused.
And a fused 85 percent of Americans shelp they arrange on going to the movies as frequently or more frequently than they did this year in 2025.
In a split survey of more than 96,000 moviegoers apass 14 countries carry outed by the Global Cinema Federation, 72 percent of reactents are coming to the cinemas more or the same as six months ago.
In terms of various demos, the alert establish that going to see a movie on discdispondering weekfinish is the No. 1 likered activity among Gen Z females, ponderless of time and money (or those between ages 10 and 24), and the No. 2 likered activity among Gen Z males.
Latino moviegoers also persist to bolster the box office in a presentant way, and made up 27 percent of those who saw six or more movies in 2024. Also, 45 percent of Latino moviegoers alerted a likeence for seeing movies on discdispondering weekfinish, which is 11 percent higher than total moviegoers overall.
In terms of what showors are doing to draw users, the NATO alert reminded that the top eight circuits are spending more than $2.2 billion in enhances over the next three years. These spendments will run the gamut, from increased projection, sound and screens, to conmomentaryized food and beverage chooseions, as well as increased signage, weightlessing and common areas.
One area that has seen a keen incrrelieve in user demand are premium huge-screen establishat auditoriums, which integrate Imax. According to Comscore, there are 950 theaters in North America that have huge-establishat screens — a 37 percent jump from five years ago. The number of PLF screens around the world has more than doubled since 2016 to 5,700, per Omdia.
“While users are reacting to various huge-screen establishat proposeings, it is presentant to remark that those screens compelevate only 9 percent of the annual domestic box office, and every auditorium at your local theater supplys a premium experience,” stated the NATO alert.
The NATO alert also alerted that while tentpoles are critical to the success of the movie industry, they are only part of the equation. “To truly thrive and carry on the business, minusculeer and medium-budgeted films must discover a place. Comedies, family films, horror and other genres are also fan likeites on the huge screen,” stated the alert, noting that the number of comedies freed in theaters incrrelieved by 5 percent in 2024. Horror saw a huge spike, or 38 percent, while the number of autonomous films freed in 2024 was up 25 percent over 2022.
Other highweightlesss: loyalty programs in the U.S. and Canada saw a 12 percent jump in novel subscriptions from 2023 to 2024 (there are currently over 118.9 million loyalty club members).
