Are the Holiday Box Office Reports a Good Sign for Hollywood?
As we head into the New Year, it is time to reflect back on the past year of box office reports. 2025 was an uncertain time for theaters as streaming continued to dominate and mergers threatened theatrical releases. However, it does not seem like all is bad. The holiday season had anticipated titles like Marty Supreme and Avatar: Fire and Ash, and the reports of their earnings looked to shed some positivity on theatrical releases.
Deadline’s box office reporting puts theaters back on the map for moviegoers. With Marty Supreme‘s 4-day $27.1M and full ten-day run of $28.1M, and Avatar: Fire and Ash‘s 3-day of $64M, and Imax delivering another $8.7M, all hope doesn’t seem lost.
Comscore calculated the weekend around $176.8M for all titles, up roughly +3% from a year ago. A year ago, six movies made north of $11M+. 2025 saw seven films hit that figure.
We need a little good news about the state of films in Hollywood, as the news has largely been bleak this past year with continued box office bombs. December also saw Netflix acquiring Warner Bros. Discovery in one of the biggest mergers in history. Though not fully finalized yet as they seek government approval, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos has hinted that he believes that “windows,” which are the amount of time that movies play exclusively in theaters, are too long.
Seeing the grosses of the holiday films does seem promising. However, holidays are largely time when families go to the movies together, so it is uncertain if these numbers will hold up going into January.
Going to the movies now is more important than ever. Don’t wait for something to be on streaming; go see it as soon as you can. The more people who fill theater seats, the more studios and distributors can see that people do want to go to the movies.
“I would like to think that studios and distributors are looking at the trends and seeing that original, fresh stories are working,” said Mike Sherrill, the chief operating officer of dine-in cinema chain Alamo Drafthouse.. “So don’t just give me 20 more movies. Give me 20 more of the stuff that’s meaningful for people.”
(featured image: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures/A24)
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]
