A look at the summer 2024 movie box office
I admit I don’t go to the movies as much as I used to; movies are expensive, I’m not interested in many of the films being heavily promoted, and streaming/physical media/media servers exist. However, I still like to write about each summer’s box office. Thus, I’ve taken an annual look back at the summer box office around every September. Below is my look at the 2024 summer movie box office.
Information is taken from Box Office Mojo, Wikipedia, and The Numbers. Figures are as of September 7, 2024.
The top 10 films (domestic)
Figures below are from May 3 to September 2. Numbers in parentheses are Metacritic scores (green = good, orange = mixed, red = poor).
Inside Out 2, $650,825,110 (Disney/Pixar) (73)
Deadpool & Wolverine, $603,907,246 (Disney/Marvel) (56)
Despicable Me 4, $355,536,680 (Illumination) (52)
Twisters, $260,715,155 (Universal/WB) (65)
Bad Boys: Ride or Die, $193,570,675 (Sony) (54)
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, $171,130,165 (20th Century Studios) (66)
A Quiet Place: Day One, $138,930,553 (Paramount) (68)
It Ends With Us, $135,643,781 (Sony) (53)
IF, $111,149,917 (Paramount) (46)
The Fall Guy, $92,900,355 (Universal) (73)
The top 10 films (global)
Figures below are as of September 7.
Inside Out 2, $1,668,645,335 (Disney/Pixar) (73)
Deadpool & Wolverine, $1,267,643,094 (Disney/Marvel) (56)
Despicable Me 4, $914,066,614 (Illumination) (52)
Bad Boys: Ride or Die, $403,369,844 (Sony) (54)
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, $397,378,150 (20th Century Studios) (66)
Twisters, $363,552,150 (Universal/WB) (65)
Alien: Romulus, $290,717,297 (20th Century Studios) (64)
It Ends With Us, $287,380,247 (Sony) (53)
A Quiet Place: Day One, $261,523,954 (Paramount) (68)
The Garfield Movie, $231,417,212 (Sony) (31)
My thoughts
This year’s summer box office is down 10% from last year. Of course, last year was the “Barbenheimer” double feature phenomenon, with “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” raking in the box office. This year’s summer also got off to a slow start; despite decent reviews, “The Fall Guy” flopped, to Hollywood’s surprise, but not mine. They really expected a movie based on a mostly-forgotten 40+-year-old TV show to be a massive money maker, Ryan Gosling or not?
The big success story this summer is Pixar, with “Inside Out 2” the year’s top-grossing film and breaking multiple records:
The highest-grossing animated film of all time (yes, even over the “photo-realistic” CGI “Lion King” remake Disney doesn’t consider animated).
The first animated film to earn over $1 billion from international box office alone.
Pixar’s highest-grossing film, of course.
While it’s a sequel (with more on the way, including “Toy Story 5”… sigh), it’s nice that Pixar’s seeing a creative spark again. Disney’s also surely pleased that they also own the #2 top-grossing film (and only other film to date this year to earn over $1 billion worldwide) “Deadpool and Wolverine.”
Meanwhile, “Despicable Me 4” is this year’s second-highest earning animated film, earning over $900 million. Thus proving that people (or at least kids) can’t get enough of the Minions?
Also still popular is Will Smith, with “Bad Boys: Ride or Die” earning over $400 million globally. The previous installment, “Bad Boys for Life,” ended up being the highest-grossing domestic film of 2020 thanks to the pandemic.
A surprising entry in the top 10 is “The Garfield Movie,” which did well, earning $231 million on a $60 million budget. It’s also the highest-grossing “Garfield” theatrical film to date, not adjusting for inflation, outpacing 2004’s “Garfield: The Movie.”
The only original film in the top 10 is “It Ends with Us,” a romantic drama based on a novel of the same name.
Recommended films
The 90s TV show "The Critic" saw Jay Sherman in one episode recommend skipping films that are: based on a TV show; past part two; or a remake of a classic. By that logic, the only films listed above that'd make the cut are: "Inside Out 2," "It Ends with Us," "The Garfield Movie" (despite poor reviews), and "IF."
Going by positive Metacritic scores, the recommended films to see from this summer are:
"Inside Out 2"
"Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes"
"Twisters"
"Alien: Romulus"
"A Quiet Place: Day One"
"The Fall Guy"
Conclusion
The only film above I'm really interested in seeing is "Inside Out 2."
Did you see any of this summer's films? Or agree/disagree with the critics' assessments?