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(Bloomberg) — It was the year that sequels saved Hollywood.

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Of the 10 highest-grossing films released domestically in 2024, all were in some way tied to previous movies, from Moana 2 to Despicable Me 4 to Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.

US and Canadian theaters finished 2024 with ticket sales down 3.3% to $8.75 billion, according to estimates from analyst Paul Dergarabedian at market researcher Comscore Inc. That’s a big improvement from where the industry closed the first half, when a string of duds and a release schedule crimped by the prior year’s strikes cut box-office receipts by 28%. 

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The tide began to turn in June after Walt Disney Co. released Inside Out 2, the sequel to the 2015 animated hit that became the year’s biggest picture. Next year’s lineup is a mix of retreads and original films that’s forecast to lift domestic ticket sales to $9.7 billion, the highest since the global pandemic, according to an estimate from Gower Street Analytics.

“The 2025 release calendar has everything,” Rob Mitchell, director of theatrical insights at Gower Street, said in an email. “There is huge potential for global breakouts even beyond our current projections.”

The domestic box office in 2025 should be buoyed by original pictures from marquee directors, such as Sinners from Ryan Coogler, Bong Joon-ho’s Mickey 17, Joseph Kosinski’s F1 and Antoine Fuqua’s Michael.  

There will also be new installments of well-known franchises, the titles of which seem to suggest a lot’s at stake for their studios and producers: Captain America: Brave New World; Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning; Jurassic World Rebirth; The Conjuring: Last Rites; Avatar: Fire and Ash; and The Passion of the Christ: Resurrection.

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Overall, at least 110 movies should get wide releases in 2025, up from 94 last year, according to figures from Comscore and the National Association of Theatre Owners.

The slate “offers a balanced array of original and franchise content that more closely resembles a pre-pandemic film mix, which we believe will attract a diverse audience of moviegoers,” Sean Gamble, chief executive officer of the Cinemark Holdings Inc. cinema chain, said in an email. 

Disney’s Comeback

After a slow couple of years, Disney came back to lead the box office in 2024 with successful sequels such as Marvel’s Deadpool & Wolverine, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes and Mufasa: The Lion King.

Comcast Corp.’s Universal Pictures finished second thanks to Wicked, a prequel to The Wizard of Oz, Kung Fu Panda 4 and a surprise original movie, The Wild Robot, an animated adventure about robot on an island inhabited by animals.

Paramount Global’s top films of 2024 took place in familiar worlds: Gladiator II, A Quiet Place: Day One and Sonic the Hedgehog 3. Sony Group Corp.’s It Ends With Us, adapted from the 2016 bestselling book of the same title, was a rarity among top films that hadn’t already hit the big screen in some fashion.

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All of that stands in sharp contrast to 2023, when two fresh ideas, Warner Bros. Discovery Inc.’s Barbie and Universal’s Oppenheimer, were among the industry’s biggest and most-talked-about films. 

Which is not to say franchise-focused pictures are a sure thing: Sony’s Madame Web and Kraven the Hunter, both Spider-Man spinoffs, failed in theaters, as did Warner Bros.’ Joker: Folie à Deux and Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga.  

Even if the domestic box office reaches Gower Street’s estimate of $9.7 billion this year, it will be 18% shy of the $11.9 billion record set in 2018. The number of tickets sold in the US and Canada is also down by roughly half over the past two decades, from 1.58 billion in 2002 to 805 million in 2024. 

Still, the performance of Nosferatu, a remake of a 1922 silent vampire film inspired by Bram Stoker’s Dracula, shows audiences will show up for fresh takes on popular stories. 

Nosferatu, released by Universal subsidiary Focus Features on Dec. 25, posted more than $40 million in ticket sales in its first five days, blowing past Box Office Pro’s estimate of up to $30 million. Stephanie Silverman, who runs the Belcourt Theatre in Nashville, said several Nosferatu screenings have sold out.

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