<\/p>\n
As \u201cAvatar: Fire and Ash\u201d headed to the big screen this month<\/a>, theater owners held their breath.<\/p>\n In an uneven year that saw two billion-dollar hits and a viral \u201cchicken jockey\u201d craze, but also a disastrous first quarter<\/a> and a nearly 30-year-low at the October box office, the end of December was the last chance for theaters to make up ground.<\/p>\n But even James Cameron and the Na\u2019vi \u2014 the latest \u201cAvatar\u201d film has already grossed more than $472 million globally \u2014 couldn\u2019t save 2025 from a disappointing conclusion.<\/p>\n Box-office revenue in the U.S. and Canada is expected to total $8.87 billion for the year, up just 1.5% from last year\u2019s disappointing $8.74 billion tally<\/a>, according to movie data firm Comscore. More troubling is that 2025\u2019s domestic box-office haul is projected to be down more than 20% compared with 2019, before the pandemic changed audiences\u2019 movie-going habits and turbocharged streaming in ways that the exhibition industry is still grappling with.<\/p>\n The problem: Fewer people are buying movie tickets. Theatrical attendance is running below last year\u2019s levels, with an estimated 760 million tickets sold as of Dec. 25, according to media and entertainment data firm EntTelligence. Last year, total ticket sales for 2024 exceeded 800 million.<\/p>\n Part of the explanation for the falloff in cinema revenue and admissions lies in the movies themselves.<\/p>\n Industry experts and theater owners say the quality and frequency of releases led to dips in the calendar that put extra pressure on the other movies to perform. Once-reliable genres such as comedies and dramas are facing a much tougher time in theaters, and female moviegoers \u2014 who came out in droves in 2023 for \u201cBarbie\u201d \u2014 were underserved in a year that largely skewed toward male-leaning blockbusters.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s fair to say that 2025 didn\u2019t quite reach the levels many of us expected at the start of the year,\u201d Eduardo Acuna, chief executive of Regal Cineworld, said in a statement. \u201cA big part of that comes down to a lack of depth in the release schedule, and the struggle of many smaller titles to break through.\u201d<\/p>\n Even big-name stars such as Margot Robbie, Colin Farrell, Dwayne Johnson and Sydney Sweeney couldn\u2019t prop up attendance for films such as Sony Pictures\u2019 \u201cA Big Bold Beautiful Journey,\u201d A24\u2019s \u201cThe Smashing Machine\u201d and Black Bear Pictures\u2019 \u201cChristy,\u201d all of which flopped.<\/p>\n And despite the critical acclaim and stacked cast list for Paul Thomas Anderson\u2019s \u201cOne Battle After Another,\u201d the film has stalled domestically at $71 million, with a global total of $205 million.<\/p>\n \u201cOne Battle After Another\u201d had a budget of about $130 million, while \u201cThe Smashing Machine\u201d reportedly cost $50 million and has grossed just $21 million worldwide.<\/p>\n \u201cThe challenge facing Hollywood is how to reconcile the budgets of these films with how much they can earn in theaters and down the road, eventually, in streaming,\u201d said Paul Dergarabedian, head of marketplace trends at Comscore.<\/p>\n Universal Pictures\u2019 \u201cWicked: For Good\u201d hauled in more than $324 million, but it was one of few big blockbusters targeted to women<\/a>. (Taylor Swift\u2019s \u201cThe Official Release Party of a Showgirl,\u201d which brought in $50 million globally, was another<\/a>.)<\/p>\n Though the summer was marked by a number of big films<\/a>, including Warner Bros.-owned DC Studios\u2019 \u201cSuperman,\u201d Universal\u2019s \u201cJurassic World Rebirth\u201d and Apple\u2019s \u201cF1 The Movie,\u201d most were geared toward male audiences.<\/p>\n Female-focused films are \u201care few and far between,\u201d said Jeff Bock, senior box-office analyst at Exhibitor Relations, an entertainment data and research firm. \u201cThere should be something for everyone playing most of the time, and that isn\u2019t the case.\u201d<\/p>\n To be sure, there were some bright spots for the industry, including success from young audiences.<\/p>\n Warner Bros. Pictures\u2019 \u201cA Minecraft Movie\u201d was the highest-grossing domestic film this year, with $423.9 million. Close behind was Walt Disney Co.\u2019s live-action adaptation \u201cLilo & Stitch,\u201d which collected $423.8 million in the U.S. and Canada and a total of $1 billion worldwide<\/a>.<\/p>\n Counting those two, five of the year\u2019s top 10 domestic-grossing films had PG ratings, including \u201cWicked: For Good,\u201d Disney\u2019s animated \u201cZootopia 2\u201d and Universal\u2019s live-action \u201cHow to Train Your Dragon.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cIn general, the good news about the year is that most of the big hits involved young audiences,\u201d said Tom Rothman, chair and CEO chief executive of Sony Pictures\u2019 motion picture group. \u201cThere is a bit of a youth-quake.\u201d<\/p>\n Disney capitalized on the big year for family-friendly fare. <\/p>\n The Burbank entertainment giant recently crossed $6 billion at the global box office for the year, powered by billion-dollar hits such as \u201cLilo & Stitch\u201d and \u201cZootopia 2,\u201d and marking the company\u2019s biggest year since 2019. (Though it wasn\u2019t all sunny for Disney this year, as Pixar\u2019s original animated film \u201cElio\u201d misfired<\/a>, as did the live-action film, \u201cSnow White,\u201d which was mired in controversy<\/a>.) <\/p>\n Another notable youth driver was \u201cDemon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle\u201d from Sony Pictures in partnership with its anime banner, Crunchyroll. The film had a massive opening weekend haul of $70 million in July on its way to a domestic gross of $134 million and a global total of $715 million, highlighting the increasing popularity of anime<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe mainstreaming of anime at the theatrical box office is a really significant part of what happened this year and a really good sign,\u201d Rothman said. \u201cYou\u2019re bringing in young audiences.\u201d<\/p>\n Not surprisingly, established intellectual property \u2014 whether video games<\/a>, known franchises, novels or comic books \u2014 still topped the charts this year, with nine of the top 10 domestic films tied to an existing title.<\/p>\n That familiarity at the box office counts when moviegoers, particularly families, are looking for movies to watch. Viewers can be choosy about how they spend their cash and time, and may not always want to gamble on a movie they\u2019ve never heard of.<\/p>\n \u201cMeaningful IP still has an advantage in getting people to come to the theater, though it\u2019s not the only way to do it,\u201d said Adam Fogelson, chair of Lionsgate\u2019s motion picture group, which saw success this year with an adaptation of Stephen King\u2019s novel \u201cThe Long Walk,\u201d as well as franchise film \u201cNow You See Me: Now You Don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n Horror flicks also scared up plenty of business in 2025. Warner Bros., in particular, had a string of wins in fearful films, including Ryan Coogler\u2019s \u201cSinners,\u201d \u201cThe Conjuring: Last Rites,\u201d Zach Cregger\u2019s \u201cWeapons\u201d and \u201cFinal Destination Bloodlines.\u201d<\/p>\n In one notable exception, Blumhouse had a rare miss with \u201cM3GAN 2.0,\u201d the follow-up to the 2022 cult favorite. In an interview on \u201cThe Town\u201d<\/a> podcast, Blumhouse Productions Chief Executive Jason Blum blamed the sequel\u2019s shortcomings on a change in genre from the original.<\/p>\n As 2025 draws to a close, industry insiders and theater owners are more optimistic about next year\u2019s box office prospects.<\/p>\n Several big films are set to release in 2026, including Christopher Nolan\u2019s much anticipated \u201cThe Odyssey,\u201d Disney and Marvel Studios\u2019 \u201cAvengers: Doomsday,\u201d Denis Villeneuve\u2019s \u201cDune: Part Three,\u201d as well as Disney and Pixar\u2019s \u201cToy Story 5\u201d and \u201cThe Super Mario Galaxy Movie\u201d from Universal, Nintendo and Illumination Entertainment.<\/p>\n