THE WEDNESDAY CHARTS | Original non-series films update | June 18, 2025

Original movies in 2025 should improve at the box office over the 2024 lineup, but at subdued levels.

THE WEDNESDAY CHARTS | Original non-series films update | June 18, 2025

Sinners is the biggest original, non-series picture since Oppenheimer and Elemental in 2023. Writer/director Ryan Coogler has said he does not want to make a follow-up movie. Keep an eye on F1 in two weeks to challenge Sinners’ $370 million worldwide box office.

- Here's an update on original non-series films:

• The total wide release counts and the split between original non-series movies and franchise series movies have normalized following the pandemic and labor strikes.

  • Setting aside the variations from year-to-year, we're back to where we belong at 140 to 145 total wide releases per year (just under 3 per weekend), with 79 to 90 original titles and 55 to 62 franchise titles.

• We're also back to the box office split that we consider normal: 82% of Hollywood's worldwide box office comes from the series pictures, and 18% comes from the original pictures:

- 2023 was a particularly good year for original productions, led by Oppenheimer, Pixar's Elemental, two excellent Japanese animation titles Suzume and Studio Ghibli’s The Boy and the Heron, and the inspirational crime thriller Sound of Freedom.

• Following 2023’s strong year, 2024 was a down year — you can see it in both tables. The share of BO for original stories dropped to 13% in 2024.

- In 2025, we expect original films to rally but remain below both 2023 and pre-pandemic levels…