What the European Box Office Could Teach Hollywood

The inconsistent performance of the summer box office has underscored the challenge of Hollywood regaining its pre-COVID form in the long term. 

But across the pond, film exhibition is nearly back to what it once was. 

A new report from Omdia, commissioned by the International Confederation of Arthouse Cinemas, the International Union of Cinemas and the Europe Cinemas network, highlights the extent to which European nations’ continued investment in its own local fare has enabled the regional box office there to thrive. 

An organization devoted exclusively to the region’s own films, rather than American blockbusters, Europe Cinemas continues to add more existing screens into its network of theaters to showcase more locally produced films. Consequently, the collective box office in Europe has reached just about what it was before the pandemic, with 2023’s $1.8 billion total the first to match any of the years before 2020.  

That said, admissions were still about 26% down from 2019’s peak of 1.35 billion, a sign that higher ticket prices are largely making up the difference. Even so, the European success rate is staggering compared with what the U.S. has seen. Hollywood’s domestic box office still led the world with $9 billion in 2023, but that’s well under the $11.9 billion seen in 2018.  

Furthermore, 2024’s U.S. total was down 20% from last year at the start of summer, thanks to the combo of fewer releases after the strikes and underperforming tentpoles before “Inside Out 2” finally hit the mark in June. 

So what’s the big difference in Europe? Those territories’ box offices are dramatically smaller than the U.S. and China, the latter of which also has yet to catch up to its pre-pandemic gross standard. 

For one, Europe’s screen density is higher than expected. 

Despite the massive populations comprising Asian film markets, Europe offers far more screens for cinephiles, with a strong multipronged approach to moneymakers, local offerings and specialized screenings alike. Per Omdia, the region’s screens numbered just under 40,000 across 12,300 cinemas last year. 

More telling is that Europe Cinemas exclusive devotion to local titles accounted for as much as a quarter of 2023’s total gross in the region, highlighting the vibrance with which European filmgoers across the network’s 33 countries take a chance on their neighbors’ film efforts. 

In such a calendar-diminished year as 2024, this is where the strength of Hollywood tentpoles doubles as a weakness. Even with less franchise fare available, international releases barely seem to justify wider distribution than the limited releases required for awards consideration, despite their roots in the Cannes, Berlin and Venice festivals, where their distribution deals dominate headlines. Naturally, it doesn’t help that the biggest spenders these days are streamers with their own international slates to fill. 

To some, the distinction is obvious. European filmgoers are well accustomed to subtitles, be it movies from the U.S. or their neighbors, while Americans have long had the biggest film market cater to them. 

Look at Neon’s French import “Anatomy of a Fall.” The Palme d’Or- and Oscar-winning multilingual legal drama had enough spoken English that it was disqualified from best international feature by the Academy, but it grossed only $5 million in the U.S. after it thrived in its native France.  

Likewise, one of two Japanese films that did extraordinarily well in U.S. theaters in December, “The Boy and the Heron,” was still dubbed in English, a pattern that’s allowed several anime films from Sony’s Crunchyroll label to rise above other international fare stateside.  

Sony’s recent acquisition of Alamo Drafthouse may help such films from Crunchyroll and the studio’s Classics label to gain more traction. But for now, the return to normalcy in Europe leaves much to be desired across the Atlantic.