Despite several major film flops this year such as The Flash and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, 2023 was the best grossing year on record since the pandemic. The winner of the highest grossing film this year is Barbie, which grossed over $1.4 billion worldwide and $636 million in the US alone. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the total US film revenue in 2023 was a whopping $9 billion, an increase of over 20% from the previous year's total of $7.5 billion.
The last time it showed such high figures was in 2019 when the total reached 11.4 billion. So with 9.05 billion, we are now running in the year after the Covid pandemic in 2020, which ended up at 9.03 billion. Although we have not reached the pre-Covid figures, it has been a really good year for the film industry anyway. And that's largely thanks to the films Barbie and Oppenheimer, rounded off later with the surprises The Color Purple and Wonka.
Hollywood is obviously hoping for a continued record year in 2024, but there is a little gravel on the road largely because of the strikes that took place last summer when SAG-AFTRA and WGA fought for higher wages. This means that the entire 2024 release list is shaken up as this has caused major delays for many films that had to pause their productions. But the beginning of this film year still looks bright. On 1 March, Dune: Part Two will be released in 2023. The long-awaited Mad Max: Furiosa will also be released and hopefully these will get people lining up at the cinemas.
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