The global box office in 2025 is estimated to close out at $33.5B, per Gower Street Analytics, repping a nearly 12% increase on 2024, but that’s including a unique phenomenon in China where one local production did over $2B. Strip out China, and the global hike is about 8%, much better than the roughly 11% decrease we saw from the end of 2023 through 2024. The international box office, sans China, is forecast at $17.2B, also a 12% jump over last year. With China factored in, overseas is looking at $24.6B (+16%).
In general, when we sum up 2025, there’s good and not-so-hot news at the global and international box office but also optimism amid some uncertainty on the horizon. Windows remain a talking point — particularly amid a potential acquisition of a legacy studio by a streamer — as does volume and the shifting of moviegoing habits. And, though they may seem way in the past, the 2023 strikes also ended up impacting 2025 and the sequencing of when films could be finished. The year ahead should help to mitigate more of the impact.
One international distribution executive characterized 2025 as “a little disappointing” but also noted: “I think you can look forward to ’26 with some optimism that things are going to turn around. … Everybody measures this industry against 2019, which was pre-Covid, but that was also the all-time record year. Certainly at some point we’ll get back to those box office levels, just through inflation and more premium screens and currency. But I don’t know if we ever get back to those admission levels, just because I think consumer habits might have changed.”
Like every year, there were ups and downs in 2025, but it’s clear that there is still an audience for a theatrical event and the continuation of beloved franchises. The year started off slowly for Hollywood, with the first real breakout, Warner Bros’ A Minecraft Movie, catapulting us into the spring. It was followed by Disney’s Lilo & Stitch, which became the first billion-dollar movie for the studios in 2025, with 59.2% of business from overseas. Just last month, Disney’s Zootopia 2 exceeded that film as Dis reached an estimated $6.58B worldwide ($4.08B from the international space). That’s the biggest year for any studio since 2019. Also contributing, 20th Century’s Avatar: Fire and Ash will cross $1B this week.
See below for the global/international studio rankings chart.
After Minecraft got the ball rolling, Paramount’s Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning did 67% of its nearly $600M global business in offshore markets — making it the No. 9 title on the overseas chart — and played at the same time as Lilo & Stitch. Then Universal returned to How to Train Your Dragon (58.7% from overseas) and Jurassic World with Rebirth (61% internationally), and Apple’s F1 (via WB) roared with 70% of its haul from offshore.
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Japan got a jolt in midsummer with Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Infinity Castle, which carried into the fall as the movie released in markets outside Asia via Sony and Crunchyroll and including domestic, ultimately landing in the Top 10 worldwide. The early autumn, arguably apart from WB’s The Conjuring: Last Rites, was somewhat quiet, but things ramped up again with Universal’s Wicked: For Good, followed by Zoo 2 and Avatar.
It’s worth noting that there also were a number of bright spots for WB with titles including Final Destination Bloodlines, One Battle After Another, Sinners and Weapons. Although the latter two were bigger domestic plays, the studio reached nearly $4.4B on just 11 titles versus 20 the previous year.
International Swings
China, still the top overseas market, was heavily weighted by one movie: Ne Zha 2. The animated sensation released locally in late January and went on to become the highest-grossing title in the market’s history at 15.44B RMB ($2.2B+) as well as the biggest movie of the year worldwide and the No. 5 movie ever globally.
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China’s final box office for 2025 is estimated at roughly 51.8B RMB ($7.4B), per Maoyan, a more than 20% increase on 2024, though nearly 30% of grosses were from just that one film. Most agree that the market struggled in 2025, getting a boost of adrenaline from Disney’s Zootopia 2 in November, with Maoyan noting repeat viewings and “fan engagement and loyalty.” While Hollywood doesn’t really expect China to return to the pre-pandemic heyday, Zootopia demonstrated that audiences will turn out for event films and franchises for which they have an affinity.
Local midrange Chinese films saw a notable decline in numbers, “underscoring the market’s increasing concentration on blockbuster projects,” Maoyan said. However, the traditional “blockbuster model is no longer a guaranteed formula for box office success,” it cautioned.
Of the Top 10 international markets, Japan, at No. 2, was a standout with a roughly 35% increase over 2024 in local currency and up 33% in U.S. dollars, according to comScore figures through December 28. This was amid the success of Demon Slayer, Kokuho, the latest Detective Conan, Chainsaw Man — The Movie: Reze Arc and Zootopia 2.
Indeed, anime really spread its wings in 2025, including Demon Slayer and Chainsaw Man. This is a growing medium that is expanding globally and resonates with an underserved audience while also drawing new customers — there was so much heat around these movies that they became must-sees in all regions.
In the UK, the No. 3 market internationally, Uni’s Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy was huge, becoming the No. 3 movie of the year there with about $63M, whereas it went straight to Peacock in the U.S. It was a smart bet to release it theatrically overseas, particularly in the UK. Overall, the market essentially was flat with 2024, up a slight 2% in U.S. dollars.
At No. 4 on the international chart, France’s cinema admissions dropped 13.6% year-on-year in 2025, for a rough gross of $1.36B, according to figures released by France’s National Cinema Center. A lack of local drivers compared to last year was part of the issue.
And the No. 5 market, Germany, was up 6% in local currency (+10% in U.S. dollars). Whereas 2024’s Top 5 movies were Hollywood titles, the No. 1 movie in the market in 2025, per comScore, was Das Kanu des Manitu (Manitou’s Canoe).
Windows
Although it has improved to a degree, France still has a fairly arcane windowing system. But globally, windows are on everyone’s minds, an issue which Deadline’s Anthony D’Alessandro already has written about extensively.
Internationally, some execs contend that it’s not always a one-size-fits-all approach because habits are different in myriad overseas markets. Said one: “Habits, good or bad, can change within weeks, and when they do, they can settle in as the new normal. The new windowing patterns have changed the audience’s habit from going to ‘The Movies’ to going to ‘A Movie.’ International markets have had varying degrees of impact from this.”
Also stressed by an international exec is that the impact of shorter, inconsistent windowing ultimately is what has negatively changed audience moviegoing habits, putting the impetus on every movie to create a cultural moment. If, for whatever reason, audiences don’t go to the cinema on opening weekend, their mindset shifts, focusing on the conveniences of home viewing with the assumption that the movie will be imminently available, doing so with little knowledge of when each movie actually will be available outside cinemas.
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Yet another international distribution maven said: “Windowing has always been a hot button in the industry, but windowing is not a bad thing. … Part of the issue is that the intense competition has increased the price of content. So how do you maximize the gross? And when we talk about windows, what we don’t do adequately is talk about what the consumer wants. … We have to make those decisions in a way that’s smart.”
One person, however, took issue with exhibition already accepting Netflix movies on a condensed run. “I don’t understand why a lot of these exhibitors around the world are playing Netflix content on these short windows. Windows are important to protect the theatrical experience, and they need to think about the long-term health of the business. I don’t think you can have it both ways.”
Problem Areas
Asia remains a concern for the studios, with some markets losing per-capita moviegoing and Korea notably suffering amid lots of in-home competition from local series. In 2024, four of the Top 5 films in the market were local, while in 2025, only one was Korean.
Elsewhere in Asia, local product tends to be working better — think Indonesia and its horror titles. For Hollywood, however, we’re told that some markets are still off more than 50% from 2019. Said an international distribution exec: “We had a region that was in consistent growth for years, and then as soon as we came out of the pandemic, it went backwards fairly quickly. … Local-market audience tastes have changed. They’ve leaned into local filmmaking, which makes sense as those are relatable local stories.”
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The studios and local exhibition are working together to try and reverse this downward trend as everyone is striving toward a healthier overall market.
Final Thoughts
Some folks wonder about continuing to leverage popular IP in a surprising way. It’s key to deliver content that is relevant but also to take swings. When it comes to international, it can be a challenge to have product that resonates across a multitude of markets. Choice and more volume also are necessary, as are the collaboration between studios and exhibitors and spreading out the calendar.
As noted above, audiences still come out for the big blockbusters, but there were some disappointments, particularly for superhero films. 2025 was the first year since 2020 that the Top 10 worldwide chart did not include a Marvel title. WB/DC’s Superman did rank No. 10 but skewed heavily domestic. Upcoming this year, there’s plenty of reason to hope Spider-Man: Brand New Day and Avengers: Doomsday will perform strongly around the world.
Although it’s expensive and logistically challenging, we saw more talent travel internationally in 2025, and that can pay dividends as it brings the audience in on the experience and drives awareness and want-to-see.
An annual refrain in the post-pandemic years has been that the industry could do a better job of spreading some of the wealth across 12 months so there are no significant fallow periods.
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While there’s a lot of content in summer, 2026’s Q1 does look better leveled out including Sony’s 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple and Amazon MGM’s Mercy in January; WB’s Wuthering Heights,Sony’s GOAT and Paramount’s Scream 7 in February; then Amazon MGM’s Ryan Gosling starrer Project Hail Mary and Disney’s Hoppers in March.
The rest of the year is well-stacked.
Look for Universal/Illumination’s The Super Mario Galaxy Movie and Lionsgate’s Michael (which Universal has internationally) to light up April; followed by Disney’s The Devil Wears Prada 2 and Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu in May. The next month marks the return of Steven Spielberg with Disclosure Day from Uni, then Dis/Pixar’s Toy Story 5 and WB/DC’s Supergirl. July trots out Uni/Illumination’s Minions 3, then Dis’ live-action Moana and Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey from Uni — and at the end of the month, Spidey swings in with Brand New Day from Sony/Marvel. August gets Par’s PAW Patrol: The Dino Movie and Blumhouse/Sony’s Insidious: The Bleeding World. September brings a new Resident Evil from Sony and WB’s Practical Magic 2. In October, Tom Cruise no doubt will be out in support of Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Digger from WB. November rhymes in with WB’s The Cat in the Hat, then Lionsgate’s The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping and Par’s Focker-In-Law. The year closes out with Sony’s Jumanji 3, WB/Legendary’s Dune: Part Three and Disney/Marvel’s Avengers: Doomsday in December.
And that’s just the major titles — there’s a lot to look forward to from Hollywood in 26. Happy new year, indeed!
