Image: Dune: Part One, Warner Bros. Pictures
The movie industry heavily relies on blockbuster titles. In a highly concentrated market, a few hit movies capture most of the attention and generate the bulk of box office revenue. This article examines the extent to which audience attention has focused on a small number of titles and how this has evolved, especially after events like the pandemic.
One way to analyze concentration is by examining the demand share for the most in-demand movies in a market. According to Parrot Analytics’ Demand 360, in the first half of 2024, the top 1% of movies in the US accounted for 11.4% of total demand, the lowest figure since 2021. Meanwhile, the top 10% and 20% of movies generated 48.9% and 66.6% of demand, respectively.
The data indicates a decline in demand share for top movies during 2020 and 2021, the years most impacted by the pandemic. The top 1% of movies experienced the most significant drop in demand share, which continued even post-pandemic. While the top 20% maintained a similar demand share in 2024 as in 2018, around two-thirds of the total demand, the top 1% share fell by 3.5 percentage points in 2024, and the top 10% share decreased by 1 percentage point.
The halt in movie releases during the pandemic, particularly big-budget blockbusters that typically dominate audience attention, led to more widespread distribution of attention across a broader set of titles during those years, including older movies.
This trend is also evident in the increasing supply and demand share for streaming-released movies over the past seven years. Typically not blockbuster titles that command most of the attention, streaming movies reached a peak demand share of around 7.0% in 2023. In the first half of 2024, this share decreased to 6.0% of the total demand for movies, still double the 3.0% demand share in 2019. Despite this growth, streaming movies continue to underperform, with their demand share remaining lower than their supply share.
