• by Wayne Friedman , December 24, 2019

With a week to go before the end of year -- and virtually all of the big holiday franchise films out in theaters -- U.S. box office revenues are down 4% season-to-date, with national TV ad spending for movies down 6%.

ShowBuzz Daily says that for the period from Jan. 1 through Dec. 22 versus a year ago, U.S. box office revenues are at $9.95 billion versus $10.4 billion in 2018. Worldwide theatrical revenues from U.S producers are down 1% from a year ago to to $26.3 billion.

Movie studios have spent an estimated $2.24 billion this year on national/regional TV advertising -- down 6% over the same period a year ago to $2.38 billion, according to iSpot.tv.

Although national TV spending by major studios is lower, there has been an increase in digital actions -- social, earned online views, and search. This year, there were 195.7 billion views of film content versus 47.9 billion views a year ago, says iSpot.tv.

This year there were 86.4 million social actions, 5.1 billion earned online views, and 2.3 million search actions for movies, compared to last year, when there were 91.1 million social actions, 4.3 billion earned online views and 2.6 million search actions.

Walt Disney has dominated all movie studios in 2019 -- pulling $3.79 billion in U.S. revenues and $10.4 billion worldwide. In a distant second place is Warner Bros. -- $1.4 billion in the U.S. and $3.5 billion worldwide.

Universal Pictures is next: $1.4 billion (U.S.) and $3.3 billion (worldwide). Sony Pictures Entertainment, $1.2 billion (U.S.) and $2.9 billion (worldwide). Lionsgate/Summit, $756 million (U.S.) and $1.4 billion (worldwide). Paramount Pictures, $507 million (U.S). and $1.2 billion (worldwide).

Biggest movies of the year: Disney’s “Avengers: Endgame”, $858 million in U.S. box office revenue and $2.8 billion worldwide; Disney’s “The Lion King”, $544 million (U.S.) and $1.7 billion (worldwide); Disney’s “Frozen II”, $439 million (U.S) and $1.16 billion (worldwide).

Next comes Sony’s “Spider-Man: Far From Home” at $390 million (U.S.) and $1.13 billion (worldwide) and Disney’s “Captain Marvel” at $427 million (U.S.) and $1.13 billion (worldwide).