Global Box Office Up 4% in 2024: Signs of Recovery?
Screendollars
Aug 10, 2025
Global box office delivered an estimated $3.53 billion in July as a strong roster of titles led by JURASSIC WORLD: REBIRTH met with enthusiastic responses from audiences. The Domestic and International (exc China) markets posted their biggest monthly results of 2025 so far in July with $1.14 billion and $1.82 billion, respectively.
Despite the success, the figures were not enough to match the Global or Domestic results for the month in the past two years, both of which saw $1 billion global releases in mid-July. The Barbenheimer-boosted July 2023 brought in a record-breaking $4.61 billion globally, +24% bigger than 2025’s July. The difference to 2024’s $3.68 billion, when DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE headed the business, was narrower (-4%). The Domestic market was also -4% behind 2024, while being -16% behind 2023.
However, the International (exc China) market was especially strong this year, with box office surpassing July 2024’s $1.745 billion by +4% at $1.82 billion. It still lagged behind that phenomenal 2023 result ($2.04bn), but by a slimmer 11%.
At the close of July Global box office stood at an estimated $19.8 billion. This is still tracking +6% ahead of 2024 at the same stage, but is -7% behind 2023. The Domestic, Chinese, and International (EC, China) markets are also all ahead of 2024 at the same stage, but behind 2023.
On this month’s Global Box Office Tracker (GBOT, above), the stacked bar graph on the left shows total box office levels split out by the three key global markets: Domestic, China, and International (excluding China). The pie chart indicates the current deficit compared to the average of the three pre-pandemic years (2017-2019) and where those losses are currently coming from. The bar graph on the bottom right displays the percentage drops globally.
Top Titles
JURASSIC WORLD: REBIRTH and SUPERMAN went tooth-to-cape, each winning different key markets. The dinosaurs dominated internationally and globally, with Global box office on the Universal title roaring home with $741.2 million.
The Domestic market accounted for $284.5 million of that figure, but the film had to settle for the runner-up spot in the market where SUPERMAN soared to $323.8 million. The superhero reboot, which marks the beginning of the new DCU, was second globally with $524.3 million in July.
Racing home in the third spot for July was Apple’s impressive holdover F1: THE MOVIE (distributed by Warner Bros.), which added approximately $360.3 million globally within July. This brought the film’s total through the close of July to $524.3 million – making it the highest-grossing film in Brad Pitt’s career.
Releasing late in the month, Disney’s THE FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS brought in $289.1 million by the end of the month after just a week on release, appropriately finishing in 4th place for the month.
Rounding out the Global top 5 for July was another holdover, Universal’s HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON, which added approximately $151.4 million within the month. With a Global box office standing at $614.4 million at the end of July and Japan still to come in September, er the film should continue to fly at the box office for a while yet.
China and Japan
Notably, the next two biggest Global titles in July were both single-market hits. China’s historical drama DEAD TO RIGHTS took in $126.4 million by the end of the month, having only opened on July 25. This was followed by Japan’s anime smash DEMON SLAYER: INFINITY CASTLE, which claimed $102.5 million in the month, having made its bow on July 18.
The latest DEMON SLAYER opened a massive +65% ahead of 2020’s MUGEN TRAIN – which went on to become the highest-grossing Japanese film of all-time! The film's success helped carry Japan's box office over $200 million within July, a massive +123% up year-on-year and +51% better than the 2017-2019 average.
China delivered a July box office of $566 million, coming in -24% behind July 2024 and -29% behind the average of the last three pre-pandemic years (2017-2019). As well as DEAD TO RIGHTS, import titles JURASSIC WORLD: REBIRTH and holdover F1® THE MOVIE proved strong draws for Chinese audiences in the month.
China’s year-to-date result now stands at $4.63 billion, putting it +13% ahead of 2024 at the same stage. However, it trails both 2023 and the 2017-2019 average by -5%. Asia Pacific (excluding China) has taken in $2.96 billion through July, putting the region just +0.1% ahead of 2024. It is -10% behind 2023 at the same stage and -24% behind the pre-pandemic average.
International vs Domestic YTD
Overall, the International market (exc China) stands at $9.87 billion through July 31. This is +2% up on 2024, but -7% behind 2023 and still -18% short of the 2017-2019 average.
Through the end of July, the Domestic market’s year-to-date box office has reached $5.29 billion. This places it +9% ahead of 2024, but -9% behind 2023 at the same stage. It is still -25% short of the average pre-pandemic business.
Outlook
July did what it needed to with a varied roster of strong audience-appeal titles, but it lacked the $1 billion+ breakthroughs of the previous couple of years. That variety of titles continues as August closes out the summer, with hopefully some breakouts in the mix.
On this month’s Global Box Office Tracker (GBOT, above), the stacked bar graph on the left shows total box office levels split out by the three key global markets: Domestic, China, and International (excluding China). The pie chart indicates the current deficit compared to the average of the three pre-pandemic years (2017-2019) and where those losses are currently coming from. The bar graph on the bottom right displays the percentage drops globally.
Top Titles
JURASSIC WORLD: REBIRTH and SUPERMAN went tooth-to-cape, each winning different key markets. The dinosaurs dominated internationally and globally, with Global box office on the Universal title roaring home with $741.2 million.
The Domestic market accounted for $284.5 million of that figure, but the film had to settle for the runner-up spot in the market where SUPERMAN soared to $323.8 million. The superhero reboot, which marks the beginning of the new DCU, was second globally with $524.3 million in July.
Racing home in the third spot for July was Apple’s impressive holdover F1: THE MOVIE (distributed by Warner Bros.), which added approximately $360.3 million globally within July. This brought the film’s total through the close of July to $524.3 million – making it the highest-grossing film in Brad Pitt’s career.
Releasing late in the month, Disney’s THE FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS brought in $289.1 million by the end of the month after just a week on release, appropriately finishing in 4th place for the month.
Rounding out the Global top 5 for July was another holdover, Universal’s HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON, which added approximately $151.4 million within the month. With a Global box office standing at $614.4 million at the end of July and Japan still to come in September, er the film should continue to fly at the box office for a while yet.
China and Japan
Notably, the next two biggest Global titles in July were both single-market hits. China’s historical drama DEAD TO RIGHTS took in $126.4 million by the end of the month, having only opened on July 25. This was followed by Japan’s anime smash DEMON SLAYER: INFINITY CASTLE, which claimed $102.5 million in the month, having made its bow on July 18.
The latest DEMON SLAYER opened a massive +65% ahead of 2020’s MUGEN TRAIN – which went on to become the highest-grossing Japanese film of all-time! The film's success helped carry Japan's box office over $200 million within July, a massive +123% up year-on-year and +51% better than the 2017-2019 average.
China delivered a July box office of $566 million, coming in -24% behind July 2024 and -29% behind the average of the last three pre-pandemic years (2017-2019). As well as DEAD TO RIGHTS, import titles JURASSIC WORLD: REBIRTH and holdover F1® THE MOVIE proved strong draws for Chinese audiences in the month.
China’s year-to-date result now stands at $4.63 billion, putting it +13% ahead of 2024 at the same stage. However, it trails both 2023 and the 2017-2019 average by -5%. Asia Pacific (excluding China) has taken in $2.96 billion through July, putting the region just +0.1% ahead of 2024. It is -10% behind 2023 at the same stage and -24% behind the pre-pandemic average.
International vs Domestic YTD
Overall, the International market (exc China) stands at $9.87 billion through July 31. This is +2% up on 2024, but -7% behind 2023 and still -18% short of the 2017-2019 average.
Through the end of July, the Domestic market’s year-to-date box office has reached $5.29 billion. This places it +9% ahead of 2024, but -9% behind 2023 at the same stage. It is still -25% short of the average pre-pandemic business.
Outlook
July did what it needed to with a varied roster of strong audience-appeal titles, but it lacked the $1 billion+ breakthroughs of the previous couple of years. That variety of titles continues as August closes out the summer, with hopefully some breakouts in the mix.
