The Canadian box office had a big comeback in 2023.
As revealed by the Movie Theatre Association of Canada, national movie ticket sales rose to $897.7 million, up 34 percent from the year prior. This is the highest the box office has fared in Canada since the start of the pandemic. While it’s not as high as the $1.02 billion mark set in 2019, it should be noted that that year was particularly huge for movies thanks to juggernauts like Avengers: Endgame, Spider-Man: Far From Home, Captain Marvel, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Frozen II and Joker.
On the flip side, 2023 marked a huge dropoff for superhero movies, with the likes of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, The Flash, Aquaman II and The Marvels all disappointing. Instead, last year’s box office was bolstered by the one-two punch of “Barbenheimer,” in which Warner Bros.’ Barbie topped $1 billion USD (about $1.35 billion CAD) globally while Universal’s Oppenheimer surpassing $900 million USD (about $1.2 billion CAD).
To capitalize on the massive hype for these two films, Cineplex and Landmark, Canada’s two leading theatre chains, both adopted “variable pricing.” This practice sees cinemas charging higher ticket prices amid increased demand. (It’s worth noting that 2023 was also the first full year in which Cineplex charged its $1.50 online booking fee, which is at the centre of a Competition Bureau lawsuit.)
Elsewhere, the Movie Theatre Association of Canada singled out Canadian James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water (which was released in December 2022 but maintained popularity into the new year) and Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour film.
Meanwhile, Universal’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie was the only other film to crack $1 billion, while Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and Sony’s Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse also performed well.
It remains to be seen how the box office will fare in 2024. Seeing a slew of 2023 box office bombs, particularly in the superhero space, suggests those films aren’t the surefire hits they once were. Additionally, many films were delayed out of 2024 due to the writers and actors strikes, including Marvel’s Captain America: New World Order and Paramount’s Mission: Impossible: Dead Reckoning sequel.
Some of the bigger movies still set to hit theatres this year include Warner Bros.’ Dune: Part 2 (directed by Canada’s Denis Villeneuve) and Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga on March 1st and May 23rd, respectively, Pixar’s Inside Out 2 on June 14th and Marvel’s Deadpool 3 (directed by Montreal’s Shawn Levy and starring Vancouver’s Ryan Reynolds) on July 26th.
Image credit: Universal/Warner Bros.
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