Universal Beats Disney for 2023 Box Office Crown - Charts with Dan! 

No notification brings me as much enjoyment as a Dan Murrell notification, thanks for another year of this amazing channel. Here’s to many more.

I absolutely love that Cole specifies “long time listener, first time caller” despite the fact that all of us are going to be first time callers. I am so excited about this hotline and definitely want to call in when I have my next question for Dan.

I started watching this in February when I was looking for a more nuanced take on the opening of Quantumania. This show is can't miss stuff. So much box office coverage is surface level and Dan gives fantastic analysis every single week.

Looking at the originally planned release schedule for fall/holiday 2023, I am fully convinced that Dune: Part Two would've had a real chance of hitting that 600 million dollar bar for the worldwide top 10 of the year. It would've been surrounded by a whole bunch of nothin', and Kraven the Hunter, for weeks! I fear it's going to be buried by the competition this year. Villenueve deserves better.

While you were going over the top 10 highest grossing films of the year, I thought of a new chart you could possibly add: top 10 most profitable films of the (year, summer, fall, etc). I think this would give a better idea of which movies were successful because films like TLM, Quantumania, and MI lost money in the theatrical window. If a non-box office nerd took a look at the list of highest grossing films, they would likely assume these films as successes when that is not the case.

I think the "Road to Recovery" chart is going to have to stick around a little long, because 2024 is going to be bumpy with the twin strikes messing up so much of the movie release schedule for the new year.

I will never understand why a studio would think that naming an animated kids movie “Migration” was the very best title they could end up with.

Dan yelling numbers at me is always the best part of my day.

What a crazy year at the box office! Can't wait to hear all about it.

Pour one out for DVD/Blu-Ray sales at Best Buy. Truly the end of an era. I bought my first DVD player (Toshiba’s first US model) there in the late 90s along with, I believe, The Craft, The Usual Suspects, Fargo, and Contact. I also worked at Best Buy at the height of the physical media era (2000-2015) and can still remember the Tuesday morning where there would be dozens if not a hundred folks lined up out front for high profile releases like The Matrix, American Pie, Scarface, and the LoTR movies. Fun fact, the last VHS new release they stocked was The Two Towers.

I'm always super interested in January. It has gained a reputation as a dumping ground for films that are expected to underperform, so expectations are low and there might be a couple of surprise success stories in there.

The Boy and the Heron cracking the top 10 as foreign film that is also not in wide release is also pretty noteworthy I think.

The Mint Mobile hotline is a cool addition to the show. I was initially worried that those were the callers' phone numbers 😅

I feel like the theatrical releases will rebound when streaming starts to really take a dive. For most of the streaming companies, their business model is not sustainable, and consumers are moving away from having large numbers of subscriptions at once. That paired with changes coming do to the recent SAG and WGA negotiations, the quantity of movies and shows being released direct to streaming might go down. It is likely going to be more profitable for studios to do theatrical releases followed by licensing out to streamers, more like it used to be. We will see...

“If you’re a fan of the theatrical model, don’t look!” Me: *looks* Me: “Jesus H Christ.”

That description of streaming sounded like the prisoner's dilemma: if one studio started a streaming service, they'd get a bunch of profit; but because every studio started a streaming service they killed cable and thinned out the customer base between one another. On the other had, if they all kept licensing movies to Netflix and didn't invest billions in makeing a streaming service, they *all* would have continued to make modest profits post-theatrical release just like if no prisoners betray to others. They hit the "all prisoners betray" scenario and wrecked their entire market.

2023 was such an interesting year for the theatrical market, as despite having so much variety of films in the market. Only a handful of movies were hits whereas the majority of them were misses. And it looks like 2024 will be even more interesting as there won’t be that many movies this time around, but still so much to look forward to.

Seeing that box office flashback was staggering. Not the inflation-adjusted numbers but how the Top 5 were so evenly distributed. Shows how much people went to the movies of all kinds then.

This show is a must watch every week. Cant wait for more Charts!!!!

It's interesting how clearly the pandemic affected movie theaters in such an irreversible way, probably a combination of many factors (movie-going culture, rise of streaming, ticket price vs. theater renovations, unrelated fall of superhero blockbusters)

Happy birthday week, Dan! Thanks for all the number crunching and hard work you put into this show!

Great as always. A thought on the Road to Recovery too: as the BO recovers and approaches the pre-COVID average, I’d be interested to see how current year compares to individual years within that pre-COVID average. In other words, say we’re only 5% off the average, well that’s close enough that maybe 2024 did better than 2018 but worse than 2019 and about the same as 2017, etc… Would be interesting to see

My new year's resolution is to see a new movie in theaters every week. Maybe I'll play a small part to bring the box office numbers back up.

Once again I'm absorbed in Charts with Dan. Great work. Thanks for making these statistics available in an easily consumable way.

Now I want an episode of Charts where Dan is literally yelling numbers at us. 😂

2023 has been a good year for international cinema, which enriches everyone.

Curious to see if we will ever return to pre pandemic levels myself. Disney might never fully recover, they really shot themselves in the foot with premiering films on Disney + (and probably hurt family films in general). For families, going to the theater has becoming a 100 dollar plus expenditure for four or more. I have seen Regal make small (doubt it will work) efforts, by charging adults childrens' rates (You save TWO WHOLE dollars a ticket! They are also offering a friends and family plan for Unlimited, but have no info on that. Super Mario Bros had the advantage of strong adult appeal (made up the bulk of the audience actually), and a multi-generational fanbase.

Thank you for a great year of videos, Dan!

Happy New Year, Dan!

Ok here's how you fix it... 1. Ditch monthly subscription services for Pay Per View digital libraries, Charge $1 per episode, $3 per Movie. 2. Drop digital purchase altogether and lean in hard on only owning it on physical media; including multi-season slipcases for film and tv series with the first part, to encourage future purchases. The hard part is getting all the studios to change together, because it would need to be uniform. What do you think?

What a year! Thank you for the charts Dan.

On streaming, I’m switching to physical media because these streaming services are expensive, there are too many, and I watch the same old shows because quality is down on many new shows. Think about it. Pay 20-30 dollars once or $7.99 to $17.99 a month while you forget about your subscriptions?

Thanks for making sense of the box office. Happy new year to you and your family

Well put

34:08 it feels so good to see that variety in the charts again ! …

I am happy that Sound of Freedom stayed in the top ten it was the little movie that could.

This channel is easily my favorite on RU-vid. Consistent quality and care. We love your work, Dan! (The mobile hotline is a good addition by the way!)

Always great! 🎉🎉🎉🎉 Your shows are the BEST !!! 🎉🎉🎉🎉 I love your new collaboration with Mint Mobile 📱📫

25:25 I think we'll see more and more product placements, and RU-vid-like advertising strategy. So, you'll need to pay more, not to see ads during a movie. Also, we could see the payment plans depending on the hours watched, like we have for mobile networks

so happy i found the Channel this year! Looking forward to 2024

Dan, great analysis as always. It’s surprising to see the drag 2023 has had on the recovery, but I do agree that 2024 could be even worse. Very surprising story about Wonka. I do have the answer about downstream of smaller titles! Also loved your adjusted inflation charts. Shocking.

Thanks for another year in charts Dan! 2023 definitely seems like another turning point and I'm curios how the studios will respond.

Comparing the performance of The Marvels against Aquaman 2 is like trying to to compare the sizes of 2 different turds

Not too surprised at all. Universal is the real and true box office winner and champion of 2023 just like they were in 2015. Glad that Wonka is definitely pure gold at the box office. However, I am surprised that Aquaman 2 is doing better than we all expected even though it will never surpass its predecessor.

I think aquaman 2 is going to eclipse around 400mil..black adam/shazam numbers.. Wonka doing good made me happy, really liked that movie.

Happy New Year, Dan! I agree, we are witnessing history, not just at the box office but in all facets of life, as we go into 2024.

Very very good end of the year show 👏🏽 I'm glad you keep evolving the show and loving everything that relates to the box office. Have a greeat new year, Dan! I appreciate your channel a whole lot and I know many people look forward to your shows and reviews every week 🫶🏽👍🏽

I miss when you showed us what was coming “ this coming week” can you bring that back?

Brilliant video and I really enjoyed the hotline feature. Happy New Year Dan!

The Caleb question about theater chains subscription services, I've had that question for years! Good on you for taking that question

Saw Boys in the boat. Loved it

I'm glad you got your arms back!

Good job dan

Phew! Arms are back

I hope you hit 1 million subscribers this year. Happy new year Dan🎉

More than 45 minutes? Thank you so much!

Great show as always. There's one problem with the Les Miz comparison to Color Purple: Everybody at Les Miz knew it was a musical. There are a lot of people who probably went to Color Purple without knowing it was a musical. It's a good comparison, but the fact that Color Purple hid the musical ness of it in the marketing complicates things.

Can't believe some people are still trying to lecture Dan on the BO numbers. That's like telling Michael Jordan how to play basketball. The hubris!

New year of great movie videos let's go!!!🎉

Good to see your arms again Lt. Dan! 😂 Thanks for the great content - awesome episode!

Great analysis as usual, all year long, and I can't wait for more in 2024.

The model is simple, blockbuster movies on streaming platforms should be behind a paywall or with ads if you don't want to pay.

No…thank YOU for all the work that you put into this series. I also enjoy learning about those unique theaters around the country. Just saw Aquaman 2 in the theater last night. It was ok, not terrible, IMO. I saw it in Laser IMAX at AMC. I wish they would add Dolby Vision and the Dolby Cinema speakers to IMAX. Now, THAT would be a nice theater experience. Better seats too.

When TVs became mainstream in the 50s and threatened theatrical movies, at least the movie industry didn't do it to themselves. With streaming, the studios have become their own worst enemies.

Aquaman and the Lost Revenue.

Wow, the Hotline segment was the most interesting part or the show. Congratulations, Dan, on another great concept, well executed!

6:29 that Barbenheimer bump tho

We love watching you yell numbers at us, Dan 🎉❤😅

Keep yelling those numbers!

My god, what a fucking waste of a year for Hollywood.

I think 2023 showed us it is going to take a longer time for the movie box office to recover. Thank you for a full year of explaining the box office to us with kindness and patience.

Not worth going to the cinema anymore. With cost of living crisis and the fact you risk coming back with sickness. I went to see Wonka and the nearly $120 dollar experience (without replenishing adds) plus the dinner then the doctor and the medicine (because I came back home with covid) went over $300 dollars. I could have bought 3 major AAA games for that price and got countless more hours of entertainment out of them not to mention then being struck with the worst version of covid I’ve ever had. Not doing it anymore. I couldn’t care less now if theatres slowly start closing their doors for good.

With theatrical windows shorting, same day streaming releases and increased pricing, I don't foresee the line ever matching pre-pandemic.

We’ve lost 2000+ screens…we’re still in the rebuilding phase.

Crazy how on social media I just see everyone talking about the iron claw but it’s not making any money , yet wonka and Aquaman is doing better and no one is talking about those movies

Let's go Universal!!!

Hey Dan, love the show, good analysis, but I have a suggestion: would it be a useful supplement to the Road To Recovery chart if you showed cumulative box office totals alongside the rolling weekly results? I've seen industry analysis from other sources cite the total yearly takes a lot... just a thought!

How dare you Dan! Assumptions! I don't watch for 45 minutes... I only watch for about 42 minutes (I skip the ads ;) Seriously tho, love your shows, looking forward to the new year of what you have to put out, and I won't call it content for your sake! ;D

20:23 deadline is saying there were group bookings arranged on Day 1.. So opening was probably jacked and now we are seeing the truer numbers.. not an indictment, just positing

3 SRK led movies in Limited Release List

Man, that inflation adjusted annual totals chart winded me. It's hard to see how the theatrical experience can recover. I'm going as many times as I can but my local cinema is so quiet I dunno how long it'll even be open.

Yay, I'm impressive!

No special comments to make or anguish to rant, just a thank you to Dan Murrell for being such a conscientious reviewer, excellent number cruncher and the only person on this planet who has ever gotten me to be excited about statistics.

That 23 years chart of box office revenue.... Auch

Thanks for another great episode to close the charts of 2023 (for now), congratulations to Universal to take the crown this year, let's hope a miracle happen and 2024 be a better year if not....welp will be at least entertain to hear how Hollywood suits lost their minds with the upcoming loses if they not steer the ship in a better direction.

Can we give props to “Anyone but You”? I was surprised by how much I liked it and it feels like it’s been forever since we’ve had a successful rom com in wide release. I’m curious to see it’s legs compared to other recent rom coms.

Great video, Dan. I wonder will you do reviews on Attack on Titan or Jujutsu Kaisen? If you don't wanna do it, then maybe a post on Threads or anywhere else?

The Illumination charts are interesting. Two movies released in 2023, one is their best release ever, one is their worst (so far). Truly for Illumination, 2023 "was the best of times, it was the worst of times."

It’s also like to see that total annual revenue chart vs total annual budget

I suggest demographic analysis. What ages, genders, etc, are staying away from cinema theaters today when compared to 20 years ago? Before covid, inflatiob, streaming, twitter... and the prices? How much the cost of tickets and snacks and parking has increased compared to wages? And the impact of less movies being shown in China? Just analysis suggestions. Thank you for your work!

Honestly, the only movie The Color Purple can be compared to is DreamGirls. All black cast. Lead by singer. From a Broadway play. Comparable budget. Same Release date. TCP and Into the Heights are targeted very specifically - that has to be taken into consideration, they can't just be randomly thrown up against Les Miserables and Chicago. The fact of the matter is when films are targeted with 'all' any specific demographic cast - the result is going to be varying when it comes to box office.... for varying reasons.... which I'll leave alone. But one thing I do know, it's not because of quality with TCP that's for sure. But it's typical Hollywood to point the finger and say, 'look how bad it's doing, no one must want to see that' and then we don't get any other films about us (sigh).

Freddys is the King of 2nd weekend Drops

Paramount's box office this year puts into perspective how much Top Gun Maverick carried them last year

Streaming was always gonna infect the box office permanently. Unfortunately for Hollywood the pandemic, the severe lack of quality control and overspending on movie budgets in the last 10 years have sped up that process by like 10-15 years. Back in the 1970s the style of movies Hollywood was putting out changed due to a sleuth of new directors that saved Hollywood from the old Hollywood studios system that was dying. Then we had physical media enter the scene starting in the 1980s where people could only watch a movie, not in theatres if they owned it, borrowed it or rented it. Streaming takes away all those limitations that Betamax, VHS, Laserdisc, DVD and even Blu-Ray at the beginning had. Now people have huge digital video stores for a fixed monthly price and they can just watch what they want from huge catalogues that streaming platforms provide. No longer the hassle of actually leaving your house or hoping that your video store close by actually had a copy for you of the movie you came to rent that just came out on physical media

Fantabulous et cetera 😂

The Holdovers or Iron Claw should have been the Christmas season movie. They were genuinely good.

Like you said, "Hollywood would love to have a weekend like 1995." Sure, then make movies like it's 1995!! Originality! Low cost productions! Movies for specific quadrants of people! 2024 is a bleak lineup of prequels and largely uninteresting sequels. If they want business like the 90s, they need to provide a better product.

A lot less movies this year. I was in & out of the theaters, in March. So many pictures came out.....

Dan, there must be a mistake on the Road To Recovery chart. That spike at the end of the year moved to the left in a way that doesn’t make sense, when you include 2023 into the red line. Are you sure you haven’t missed a cell in your spreadsheet or something?

There was a time back in the 1970s, 80s and 90s when Universal and Paramount regularly dominated the box office. The idea that Disney would dominate seemed very slim. Then Warner Bros dominated in the 2000s and then Disney in the 2010s. It could be a new Universal era of dominance in the future.