Box office data sounds like it should be simple, but once you step outside major studio releases, it becomes surprisingly difficult to track. A large number of films, especially independent and genre titles, never get a meaningful theatrical run and instead go straight to VOD or streaming, where viewing figures and revenue are not publicly shared.
We’re trying to give a bit more insight into how the industry actually works, pulling together information from a range of sources that don’t always get surfaced in the same place. That said, box office data is one area we’re still finding difficult to pin down, with a lot of the numbers either fragmented, delayed, or simply not made public at all.
Even when films do reach cinemas, reporting is inconsistent. There isn’t a single global system, and numbers are often split by territory, distributor, and release strategy. Some figures are reported, others aren’t, and what you see publicly is often only part of the picture.
Then there’s the bigger issue, which is that much of a film’s financial performance isn’t tied to box office at all. Sales deals, advances, and licensing agreements are often made privately, particularly at markets like Cannes or AFM, and those numbers are rarely disclosed. A film can be profitable before it’s even released, but you wouldn’t see that reflected anywhere publicly.
Streaming makes it even more opaque. Platforms don’t release revenue data in a traditional sense, and even when viewing figures are shared, they’re selective and often presented without context.
So when you’re looking at films, the absence of box office numbers doesn’t mean they haven’t performed. It usually means the performance is happening somewhere else, in deals, platforms, and territories that aren’t visible.