Corona-Crisis Cuts Into Box Office Revenues

While official estimates of US consumer demand are currently available only for January 2020, so-called 'alternative data' can help us to make preliminary estimates of how hard household consumption is being hit by the coronavirus pandemic on the basis of daily and even hourly data. Each industry is affected differently. Some, like transportation and entertainment, will suffer the most.

From the 007 Bond series to the much anticipated live Mulan, Hollywood is pushing back theatre release dates in hopes of ensuring the expected big dollar box office openings befitting movies of this caliber. And, yet, the numbers we feature below show clearly the lasting effect of this virus within the industry, a trend that will like remain for the next couple of months at least.

• The charts below show US domestic box office daily revenue starting from the first day of the 9th week of each year. Last Friday (20 March, 2020), box office revenues were down to $0 due to theatres closure nationwide.
• Box office revenue in the 11th week of 2020 (e.g. 13-19 March 2020) amounted to $59 million, which is $238 million less than could be expected from historical data.