As expected, theatrical box office was down against 2023 in most, though not all, countries during the January through June time frame. Last year’s dual labor strikes in Hollywood are partly to blame for a reduced release slate as are challenges from streaming services.

If there’s some good news to be found in the numbers in North America it’s that with 25% fewer wide releases in the first half of 2024, box office through June only dropped 19% year-over-year – from USD $4.54 billion in 2023 to USD $3.60 billion this year. China’s box office is also down 9% from last year to USD $3.4 billion (CNY 23.9 billion). Nearly 34% of theatrical revenue, USD $1.1 billion (CNY 8.1 billion) came during the eight day Lunar Near Year period.

In Asia, though trade bodies in Japan don’t release figures until the end of each year, South Korea has defied the odds and avoided a theatrical downturn in 2024 (so far) with ticket sales up a few percentage points. Meanwhile box office in India is up 3% through June. In Europe, attendance in France was down 7.2% while box office in the UK and Ireland was similarly off by 7%.