A box office or ticket office is a place where tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through a hole in a wall or window, or at a wicket. By extension, the term is frequently used, especially in the context of the film industry, as a metonym for the amount of business a particular production, such as a film or theatre show, receives. The term is also used to refer to a ticket office at an arena or a stadium.
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👉 Box office in the context of Glossary of theater terms
A list of theater terms, and brief descriptions, listed in alphabetical order.
- Act: A division of a play, may be further broken down into "scenes". Also, what the performers do on-stage.
- Ad-lib: When a performer improvises line on-stage. Derived from ad libitum (Latin).
- Aisle: An open space amongst seating for passage.
- Alternate: see Understudy.
- Amphitheater: an open-air theater, with seats rising in curved rows.
- Angel: An individual or organization which provides financial support for a production.
- Apron: The front area of the stage, nearest the audience; the portion of the stage in front of proscenium arch.
- Aside: A line spoken by an actor/actress directly to the audience, unheard by the other performers on-stage.
- Assistant director: Works very closely with the director and with the cast. They will gather research on the production, help keep the production true to the director's vision and help lead rehearsals should the director not be able to attend.
- Assistant stage manager: Assists the production stage manager, with everything from taping floor plan marking to making sure that everyone has a copy of the script. They also make sure that the set has the needed props. Before a rehearsal the assistant stage manager helps the stage manager make sure everything is ready. At the end of rehearsal the assistant stage manager along with the stage manager will make sure that the space is locked up. Often shortened to ASM.
- Audition: The activity where actors/actresses perform for the director or casting director, in order to obtain roles in a production.
- Auditorium: The portion of a theater which contains the audience seating.
- Avant-garde: Experimental or innovative works or people, derived from the French.
- Balcony: An elevated portion of seating in the back of the auditorium.
- Curtain Call: At the end of a live performance the cast will come out and do a bow while the audience applauds.
- Doubling: When an actor plays more than one character in a production. Most times this is done for economical reasons but it can be that because an actor would like to take on more than one role in the performance.
- Receiving house: (sometimes called a roadhouse) a theatre which does not produce its own repertoire but instead receives touring theatre companies, usually for a brief period such as three nights or an entire week. The incoming company may receive a share of the box office takings or a minimum guaranteed payment. West End theatres in London and most Broadway theatres in New York are also receiving houses, as the venue solely provides facilities to the incoming show even though the production may stay for many years. Theatres which produce their own shows are known as producing houses, and some regional theatres will do both.
- Understudy: A person who learns the part of a specific character or characters. Should the performer who is cast in those roles be unable to perform their part due for any reason (e.g. illness, injury etc.), the understudy will step in and perform the role. Also known as an Alternate.
In this Dossier
- ⭐ Core Definition: Box office
- 👉 Box office in the context of Glossary of theater terms
- Box office in the context of Film industry
- Box office in the context of Disney Renaissance
- Box office in the context of List of highest-grossing films
- Box office in the context of Walt Disney Studios (division)
- Box office in the context of Major film studios
- Box office in the context of List of highest-grossing actors
- Box office in the context of Nothing to Lose (1997 film)
Box office in the context of Film industry
The film industry or motion picture industry comprises the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking, i.e., film production companies, film studios, cinematography, animation, film production, screenwriting, pre-production, post-production, film festivals, distribution, and actors. Though the expense involved in making film almost immediately led film production to concentrate under the auspices of standing production companies, advances in affordable filmmaking equipment, as well as an expansion of opportunities to acquire investment capital from outside the film industry itself, have allowed independent film production to evolve.
In 2019, the global box office was worth $42.2 billion. When including box office and home entertainment revenue, the global film industry was worth $136 billion in 2018. Hollywood is the world's oldest national film industry, and largest in terms of box-office gross revenue.
Box office in the context of Disney Renaissance
The Disney Renaissance was a period from 1989 to 1999 during which Walt Disney Feature Animation returned to producing commercially and/or critically successful animated films. The ten feature films associated with this period are The Little Mermaid (1989), The Rescuers Down Under (1990), Beauty and the Beast (1991), Aladdin (1992), The Lion King (1994), Pocahontas (1995), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996), Hercules (1997), Mulan (1998), and Tarzan (1999).
The films were mostly musical adaptations of well-known stories, similar to the films produced by Walt Disney from the 1930s to 1960s. The resurgence allowed Disney's animated films to become a powerhouse of successes at the domestic and foreign box office, earning much greater profits.
Box office in the context of List of highest-grossing films
Films generate income from several revenue streams, including theatrical exhibition, home video, television broadcast rights, and merchandising. However, theatrical box-office earnings are the primary metric for trade publications in assessing the success of a film, mostly because of the availability of the data compared to sales figures for home video and broadcast rights, but also because of historical practice. Included on the list are charts of the top box-office earners (ranked by both the nominal and real value of their revenue), a chart of high-grossing films by calendar year, a timeline showing the transition of the highest-grossing film record, and a chart of the highest-grossing film franchises and series. All charts are ranked by international theatrical box-office performance where possible, excluding income derived from home video, broadcasting rights, and merchandise.
Traditionally, war films, musicals, and historical dramas have been the most popular genres, but franchise films have been among the best performers of the 21st century. There is strong interest in the superhero genre, with eleven films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe featuring among the nominal top-earners. The most successful superhero film, Avengers: Endgame, is also the second-highest-grossing film on the nominal earnings chart, and there are four films in total based on the Avengers comic books charting in the top twenty. Other Marvel Comics adaptations have also had success with the Spider-Man and X-Men properties, while films based on Batman and Superman from DC Comics have generally performed well. Star Wars is also represented in the nominal earnings chart with five films, while the Jurassic Park franchise features prominently. Although the nominal earnings chart is dominated by films adapted from pre-existing properties and sequels, it is headed by Avatar, which is an original work. Animated family films have performed consistently well, with Disney films enjoying lucrative re-releases prior to the home-video era. Disney also enjoyed later success with films such as Frozen and its sequel, and The Lion King (along with its computer-animated remake), as well as its Pixar division, of which Inside Out 2, Incredibles 2, and Toy Story 3 and 4 have been the best performers. Beyond Disney and Pixar animation, China's Ne Zha 2 (the highest-grossing animated film), and the Despicable Me and Shrek series have met with the most success.
Box office in the context of Walt Disney Studios (division)
The Walt Disney Studios is a major division of the Disney Entertainment business segment of the Walt Disney Company best known for housing its multifaceted film studio divisions. Founded on October 16, 1923, and based mainly at the namesake studio lot in Burbank, California, it is the largest film studio in Hollywood, the seventh-oldest global film studio and the fifth-oldest in the United States, a member of the Motion Picture Association (MPA) and one of the "Big Five" major film studios.
Walt Disney Studios has prominent film production companies including Walt Disney Pictures, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar, Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, 20th Century Studios and Searchlight Pictures. Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures distributes and markets the majority of the content produced by these studios for both theatrical exhibition and the company's streaming services. In 2019, Disney posted an industry record of $13.2 billion at the global box office. The studio owns eight of the top ten highest-grossing films of all time worldwide, and several of the highest-grossing film franchises of all time.
Box office in the context of Major film studios
Major film studios are production and distribution companies that release a substantial number of films annually and consistently command a significant share of box office revenue in a given market. In the American and international markets, the major film studios, often known simply as the majors or the Big Five studios, are commonly regarded as the five diversified media conglomerates whose various film production and distribution subsidiaries collectively command approximately 80 to 85% of American box office revenue. The term may also be applied more specifically to the primary motion picture business subsidiary of each respective conglomerate.
Since the dawn of filmmaking, the major American film studios have dominated both American cinema and the global film industry. American studios have benefited from a strong first-mover advantage in that they were the first to industrialize filmmaking and master the art of mass-producing and distributing high-quality films with broad cross-cultural appeal. Today, the Big Five majors – Universal Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros., Walt Disney Studios, and Sony Pictures – routinely distribute hundreds of films every year into all significant international markets (that is, where discretionary income is high enough for consumers to afford to watch films). The majors enjoy "significant internal economies of scale" from their "extensive and efficient [distribution] infrastructure," while it is "nearly impossible" for a film to reach a broad international theatrical audience without being first picked up by one of the majors for distribution. Today, all the Big Five major studios are also members of the Motion Picture Association (MPA) and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).
Box office in the context of List of highest-grossing actors
The following are non-definitive lists of the actors with the highest career-film grosses. There are box-office gross revenue lists, which are not adjusted for inflation, as well as lists for the number of box-office ticket sales.
Box office in the context of Nothing to Lose (1997 film)
Nothing to Lose is a 1997 American buddy action comedy film starring Tim Robbins and Martin Lawrence. The film was written and directed by Steve Oedekerk, who also makes a cameo appearance in a minor role.
The film was released in July 1997 to negative reviews from critics, but went on to gross over US$40 million at the box office. The theme song was "If I Had No Loot" by Tony! Toni! Toné!, but it was a remixed version of the song "Not Tonight"—performed by Lil' Kim and featuring Da Brat, Left Eye, Angie Martinez, and Missy Elliott—that garnered the most attention from the soundtrack as it gained much airplay on television and radio and reached the top ten on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.