25+ Striking U.S. Film Industry Statistics [2023]: Facts About The Video Production Industry In The U.S.

Film industry research summary. The U.S. film industry plays a crucial role in American culture as well as the economy. In fact, Hollywood is still the number one film industry in the world. Netflix and Amazon Prime are also huge. However, the COVID-19 Pandemic has also had a major impact on the industry. According to our extensive research:

• Domestic box office revenue reached $7.37 billion in 2022.

• Box office revenue was only $5.99 billion for the North American film industry in 2022.

• While this might seem like a lot, it was actually down from $11.32 billion in 2019.

• As of April 2021, 60% of North American theaters reopened for the first time in six months. However, U.S. box office revenue was still 76% lower than it was the same month prior to the Pandemic.

• The Film Industry is worth $42.5 billion, being vastly overtaken in the entertainment industry by Gaming, which is now worth $145.7 billion.

• Top Gun: Maverick was the top-grossing movie of 2022, with a total gross income of about $718.7 million.

For further analysis, we broke down the data in the following ways:
Customer | Employment | Pandemic Numbers and Post-Pandemic Predictions | Production

General U.S. film industry statistics

The film industry was hit hard by The COVID-19 Pandemic. But, seeing as movies are still being produced, it can be hard to tell just how rough things were. Overall, the current status of the industry seems to walk the tightrope between precariousness and absolute catastrophe. Here are some insights our research uncovered:

• Despite taking a hit from COVID-19, the U.S. film industry is expected to experience a CAGR of 8.3% between 2021 to 2027.

  And this is despite a market size decline of 10.2% per year between 2016 and 2021. In 2019, the industry was worth $42.2 million and wasn’t expected to exceed that former number until 2027, when the industry is estimated to reach $43.9million.

• Pre-Pandemic, Hollywood contributed $504 billion to the U.S. GDP.

  That’s at least 3.2% of the goods and services portion of GDP. But, these numbers have likely been reduced due to the Pandemic.

• In 2020, Film Entertainment revenue amounted to $25.9 billion.

  That’s a 27% decline from 2019 when revenue was at $35.3 billion. No doubt, this decrease is the result of COVID-19 and its impact on the industry.

• As of 2020, the U.S. movie industry is worth $91.83 billion.

  And this has continued to grow throughout the Pandemic, despite theater closures. The industry is expected to have a CAGR of 4.1% from 2018 to 2025.

• China had the highest box office revenue in 2020, amounting to $3.1 billion.

  Meanwhile, the North American box office revenue dropped to $2.09 billion, which is 33% lower than China’s. The film industry has since started to recover worldwide, but revenues are still only around half of what they were in 2019.

U.S. film industry customer statistics

Customers have always driven film industry success. After all, the inability of consumers to go to theaters was a huge hit to the industry throughout 2020. The question is, are customers still interested in the traditional film industry? Here are some insights our research uncovered:

• 41% of movie goers among adults rarely go to the movie theaters in 2022.

  In fact, 33% of said that they go to the movies sometimes. 18% said that they never go to the movies. Only 8% said that they go often. No doubt, this has had a huge impact on the film industry’s recent decline.



• Gen Z sees the most movies, with 43% reporting that they’ve seen a movie within the past month.

  Though it might be surprising when you consider digitization, the younger generations actually go to the theaters more often than the older ones.

  Only 34% of those in Gen X had seen a movie within the past month, and the number was even lower for Boomers. Of course, COVID-19 could have a hand in this, as older generations might feel less comfortable going out.

• When considering population percentage, theaters are most popular with Latin X people.

  Despite only making up 16.7% of the population, there were 10.4 million frequent Latin X moviegoers in 2019. While there were 22 million frequent moviegoers that were Caucasian, Caucasians constituted about 76.3%.

• In only 17 years, the cost of seeing a movie has doubled.

  In 2001, the average price of a single movie theater ticket was only $5.66. However, as of 2018, that number was up to $9.11. Families reported that they could easily spend upwards of $35 to see a movie, which had an impact on their decision to go.

• AMC Theaters is the largest in the United States and Canada, with 7,850 total screens as of 2022.

  While the second and third largest are Regal Entertainment Group with 6,851 and Cinemark USA, Inc. with 4,426.

U.S. film industry employment statistics

The film industry in the United States is massive, which means there are many people who rely on it for employment. Unsurprisingly, the COVID-19 Pandemic has had a huge negative effect. Here are the facts:

• The U.S. Film Industry employs roughly 2.5 million people.

  And that number spans 93,000 businesses, of which the majority had to close throughout 2020.

• The Film Industry pays out $188 billion per year in total wages.

  And there’s a large disparity, as the average movie theater usher only makes around $25,308 annually, while those involved in film production can make well over $100,000.

• Nearly all of the 125,000 movie theater employees were either laid off or furloughed due to the Pandemic.

  Plus, many of the 170,000 actors employed also weren’t working during the height of the Pandemic.

U.S. film industry pandemic numbers and post-pandemic predictions

During and post-Covid, the film Industry has changed in a huge way. Instead of attending theaters, many people switched to online streaming services to receive their entertainment. Here are the facts:

• The number of movie tickets sold plummeted by 82% between 2019 and 2020.

  In 2019, there were roughly 1.24 billion movie theater tickets sold. However, this number dropped to only 223 million in 2020.

• The market for streaming services grew by 37% in 2020.

  And while this percentage accounts for Disney+, Netflix, and Hulu, a majority of the growth can be attributed to Disney+.

• U.S. streaming services were worth $24 billion, as of 2020, while box office revenue was only $2.09 billion.

  That means that streaming services receive nearly 91% more income.

• Online streaming services are expected to experience a CAGR of 21.0% from 2021 to 2028.

  This is significantly larger than the 8.3% expected from the overall film industry. No doubt, the COVID-19 Pandemic has had a huge impact on the public’s interest in digital media.

U.S. film industry production statistics

The film industry continues to produce movies and other media, despite the impacts of recent years. While production did slow down, there were still some major movie releases. Here’s what we found:

• The Film Industry’s production spending increased by 16.1% in North America.

  In 2020, global production spending reached an all-time high of $220.2 billion, with companies like Disney spending $28.6 billion alone.

• Within the past five years, the most expensive film produced was 2019’s Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.

  This film cost a whopping $416 million to make. Second most expensive film is 2019’s Avengers: Endgame ($356 million) third place goes to 2022’s Avatar: The Way Of Water ($350 million).

• Including distributing and marketing, the average movie costs at least $100 million to make.

  Movie production alone can cost upwards of $65 million, while marketing and distribution cost $35 million. That means that when movies flop at the theater, the company that made them can be hit pretty hard.

U.S. film industry FAQ

1. Is the U.S. film industry the largest in the world?

   Yes and no, while Hollywood is the largest industry, China actually has the highest box office revenue in the world. The 2020 Coronavirus Pandemic severely affected American theaters. Due to that, China has overtaken the U.S. in box office revenue by 33%.

2. How much is the movie industry worth in the U.S.?

   The U.S. movie industry is worth $95.45 billion as of 2022. Surprisingly, the movie industry continued to grow slowly throughout the pandemic. The industry is expected to have a CAGR of 4.1% from 2018 to 2025.

3. How many people does the film industry employ in the U.S.?

   The film industry employs roughly 2.1 million people in the U.S. These employees work across a wide range of job types, fields, and salaries.

4. How much does the film industry contribute to the U.S. economy?

   The film industry provides a substantial contribution to the U.S. economy. Pre-Pandemic, Hollywood contributed $504 billion to the U.S. GDP or 3.2% of the goods and services portion of GDP.

Conclusion

With U.S. box office revenue being 76% lower immediately after theaters reopened, the film industry has a long way to climb to recover from the COVID-19 Pandemic. In fact, at only $5.99 billion in 2022, box office revenue is down 47% from 2019.

However, it’s not all doom and gloom for the film industry. The industry is expecting to experience a CAGR of 8.3% between 2021 to 2027. And, that number is even higher for online streaming, in which experts are predicting a massive CAGR of 21.0% from 2021 to 2028.

Overall, it’s clear that the American public might be moving away from theaters in favor of streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, and Disney+.

Sources

1. Observer. “Reality Check: The Film Industry Is Still in Grave Danger.” Accessed on September 21st, 2021.

2. Raise Your Skillz. “Gaming Industry vs. Other Entertainment Industries (2021).” Accessed on September 21st, 2021.

3. Allied Market Research. “Motion Picture Industry by Genre.” Accessed on September 23rd, 2021.

4. Statista. “Film Industry – statistics facts.” Accessed on September 23rd, 2021.

5. Statista. “Number of frequent moviegoers in the United States from 2017 to 2019, by ethnicity.” Accessed on September 23rd, 2021.

6. The Hollywood Reporter. “Hollywood, Creative Industries Add $504 Billion to U.S. GDP.” Accessed on September 24th, 2021.

7. Motion Picture Association. “Driving Economic Growth.” Accessed on September 24th, 2021.

8. Zippia. “Theater Usher Overview.” Accessed on September 4th, 2021.

9. Variety. “Hollywood’s Great Depression: Meet the Entertainment Workers Left Jobless by the Coronavirus Pandemic.” Accessed on September 4th, 2021.

10. ScreenRant. “How Much Streaming Services Actually Grew During 2020.” Accessed on September 4th, 2021.

11. Grand View Analysis. “Video Streaming Market.” Accessed on September 4th, 2021.

12. Televisual. “Global content spend hit record high of $220bn in 2020.” Accessed on September 4th, 2021.

13. Investopedia. “Why Movies Cost So Much To Make.” Accessed on September 4th, 2021.

14. Grand View Analysis. “Movies and Entertainment Market.” Accessed on September 4th, 2021.

15. Statista. “Box office revenue in the United States and Canada from 1980 to 2022.” Accessed on March 6th, 2023.

16. Box Office Mojo. “Domestic Bos Office for 2022.” Accessed on March 6th, 2023.

17. Wikipedia. “List of most expensive films.” Accessed on March 6th, 2022.

18. Statista. “Frequency of going to movie theaters to see a movie among adults in the United States as of May 2022.” Accessed on March 6th, 2023.

19. Statista. “Leading cinema circuits in the United States and in Canada as of March 2022, by number of screens.” Accessed on March 6th, 2023.

Author

Matthew Zane

Matthew Zane is the lead editor of Zippia's How To Get A Job Guides. He is a teacher, writer, and world-traveler that wants to help people at every stage of the career life cycle. He completed his masters in American Literature from Trinity College Dublin and BA in English from the University of Connecticut.