When the cinema lights go down and the credits roll, it becomes clear that the major studio theatrical business is no longer a reliable growth engine. Yes, the occasional billion-dollar franchise still lands. But beneath the surface lies a shrinking marketplace, fewer wide releases, and an exodus of mid-budget films with nowhere to land.
For producers, distributors, and creators, the consequences are real: more risk, fewer buyers, compressed windows, and licensing terms that increasingly favor streamers over theaters.
With global box office still well below pre-lockdown peaks and U.S. and international market dynamics shifting rapidly, the whole picture is less a bounce-back than a reset.
The Shrinking Presence of Major Studios
From 1995 to 2009, Hollywood’s major studios averaged roughly 112 theatrical releases a year. Between 2010 and 2023, that number dropped to around 83 for the remaining majors, a decline accelerated by Disney’s acquisition of 20th Century Fox. In 2024, U.S. theaters hosted approximately 95 wide releases—films opening on 2,000 screens or more—and Comscore projects roughly 110 for 2025. Within that total, around 78 titles are expected from the major studios (including Amazon/MGM), suggesting that most of next year’s modest growth will come from the largest distributors rather than an industry-wide rebound.
Meanwhile, U.S. theatrical attendance continues to decline—ticket sales are down roughly 40% from a decade ago, while the average ticket price has risen about 35%. The global box office, which once generated around $40 billion annually between 2017 and 2019, remains far from recovery. In 2024, domestic box office revenue reached $8.7 billion (down 3% from 2023), and early 2025 totals hover near $6.9 billion. Fewer releases, fewer screens, and reduced audience demand have resulted in a marketplace increasingly dominated by a handful of blockbusters.
Exhibitor Pressure: Stocks Slide as Screens Shrink
U.S. exhibitors remain under acute pressure, and their share prices reflect it. AMC’s stock has declined roughly 29% year-to-date in 2025, as ongoing debt exchanges and new equity issuance reduced leverage but diluted shareholders. AMC’s latest quarterly filing warns its stock “may continue to fluctuate or decline significantly,” underscoring continued fragility despite occasional box-office hits.
Cinemark has fared better operationally but still faces a more challenging market; its shares have fallen 15% in 2025, and the company reports a smaller exhibition footprint—4,249 U.S. screens and 1,398 in Latin America—which magnifies title concentration risk when slates thin out. Regional operator Marcus Theatres also signaled softness: in its most recent quarter, same-store admission revenue declined 16% on a less favorable film mix.
Taken together, exhibitor filings paint a similar picture—fewer wide releases, a heavier reliance on tentpoles, and capital structures still recovering from the lockdowns have left U.S. theater stocks struggling to regain investor confidence.
The Limited Impact of Streaming
Streaming has not fully backfilled the theatrical shortfall. Premium SVOD subscriptions in the U.S. increased by about 10% year over year in 2024, but engagement remains concentrated on series content rather than films. Across SVOD, series account for roughly 78% of viewing time, compared to 22% for films, reinforcing why streamers lean into episodic content over one-off features.
The film side is also being right-sized. Netflix has scaled back its English-language movie output in 2025, following a “patchier than normal” 2024 slate, and has leaned more on licensed movies as originals underperform relative to its big series. Third-party analyses show that original Netflix film viewing hours have declined over the last two years, even as overall platform viewing rises.
Internationally, catalog composition is broad but fragmented: SVOD lineups skew heavily towards non-national titles, with EU non-national films representing the largest share of films on SVOD—useful for library depth but not a guaranteed driver of fresh demand. In short, streaming adds valuable windows, but its film economics—fewer originals, more licensing, and audience time tilted to series—do not replace the revenue and discovery role once played by robust theatrical pipelines.
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Studio System Scorecard: 2025 and Beyond
The major studios are no longer competing on volume but on precision. As theatrical output contracts, each company is reshaping its strategy: Universal is doubling down on franchises, Warner is rebuilding through global IP, Paramount is integrating streaming windows, Sony is diversifying, and Disney is prioritizing quality over quantity.
NBCUniversal: Franchises, Focus, and Forward Strategy
NBCUniversal remains one of the few studios delivering steady theatrical performance. Its 2024 slate grossed around $3.8 billion worldwide, led by “Wicked,” “Despicable Me 4,” and “The Wild Robot,” reinforcing Universal’s strength in franchises and global genre appeal. Building on “Oppenheimer” and “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” the studio has perfected a formula that blends branded IP with calculated creative risk.
With Peacock now integrated into release planning, Universal continues to optimize across windows—fewer, bigger event films that sustain value through streaming and licensing. Unlike many competitors, it’s managing the transition from theatrical to hybrid monetization while retaining creative momentum.
Warner Bros. Discovery: Rebuilding Through Global IP
Warner Bros. regained footing with a focused mix of blockbusters and event titles. “Dune: Part Two,” “Godzilla x Kong,” and “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” powered a return to billion-dollar box-office territory in 2024, while 2025 adds “Minecraft” and “Sinners.” The studio’s future hinges on revitalizing the DC universe and leveraging proven franchises, such as the Monsterverse and legacy animation.
Strategically, Warner is consolidating around fewer, larger releases while extracting more value downstream through Max and global licensing. The approach aims to re-establish Warner as a cornerstone of global IP while reducing exposure to volatile theatrical cycles.
However, with Paramount—fresh off its deal with Skydance, now pursuing a potential takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery, the studio’s next evolution may be shaped less by creative recalibration and more by corporate consolidation at the highest level.
Paramount Global: Streamlined Slate, Strategic Windows
Paramount is reshaping its film business around efficiency and brand discipline. After years of uneven returns, the studio is adopting a “fewer, bigger, better” model, balancing major tentpoles like “Mission: Impossible” and “A Quiet Place” with lower-cost genre fare and co-financed projects.
With Paramount+ reaching 77 million subscribers, the company now views theatrical releases as one window in a broader strategy, maximizing pay-one value, optimizing release timing, and utilizing third-party licensing when it outperforms in-house distribution. Paramount’s focus is clear: fewer bets, faster recoupment, and tighter alignment between theaters and streaming.
Sony Pictures: Diversified and Disciplined
Sony’s success rests on diversification rather than volume. Its 2024 performance combined reliable IP (“Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” “Bad Boys: Ride or Die”) with anime expansion through Crunchyroll, helping offset a softer domestic market. The integrated film-TV-anime model gives Sony an edge in regions where the Western box office is weak.
Sony’s strategy emphasizes spending control and cross-platform synergy—balancing theatrical releases with specialty titles (Stage 6, SPC) and leveraging the global anime fandom. The result is consistent, if unspectacular, profitability built on flexibility and a balanced portfolio.
Disney Studios: Quality Over Quantity
Disney’s 2024 rebound underscored a shift toward selectivity over scale. Event releases such as “Inside Out 2,” “Wish,” and Marvel’s latest entries delivered steady returns while restoring some creative confidence after several underperforming years.
The studio continues to prioritize fewer, high-impact releases across Pixar, Disney Animation, Marvel, and live-action re-imaginings—timed for global tentpole seasons. The guiding principle is to restore creative trust, then monetize deeply through Disney+ and international licensing, while maintaining franchise value across every window.
FilmTake Away: A Smaller, Sharper Hollywood
The global film industry is stabilizing at a lower baseline; fewer films, fewer studios, but more deliberate strategies. Theatrical exhibition will endure, though as one window among many rather than the defining one. For filmmakers and distributors, opportunity now lies in precision: aligning with the right partners, leveraging data, and navigating a market where fewer bets must matter more.