Box office numbers from 2023 show that movie adaptations of video games are challenging the superhero genre’s one-time stronghold in theaters.
According to numbers from media analytics company Comscore (via The Wall Street Journal), video game adaptations in theaters gave superhero adaptations a run for their money in 2023, earning more than $712 million in domestic ticket sales versus the $1.02 billion taken in by comic book movies.
That’s a big leap upward from the $340 million video game adaptations earned at the domestic box office in 2022 when comic book superhero films were far more popular with moviegoers with $1.75 billion in ticket sales.
Helping lead the charge for video game adaptations was The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which had a domestic take of $574.9 million, which was good for a No. 2 finish at the North American box office in 2023 behind the $636.2 million earned by the summer smash Barbie.
While the superhero genre was aided domestically by Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse — which made $381 million for a No. 3 finish of the 2023 box office chart — and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (No. 4 with $358.9 million), audiences weren’t as eager to see a pair of the Guardians’ Marvel Cinematic Universe counterparts.
As such, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania took in a mere $214.5 million while The Marvels hit the wall with an $84.4 million domestic tally. DC’s superhero movies didn’t far much better, as The Flash earned $101 million domestically while Blue Beetle took in $72.5 million.
In the WSJ article, Comscore’s metrics tracked both video game and comic book superhero adaptations from 2018 to 2023 for films that opened in more than 2,000 theaters in the respective years they were released.
Superhero Box Office Earnings In 2023 Are Far Less Than 2018’s Numbers
Perhaps the most telling sign of the rise in film adaptations of video games and the fall of superhero movies comes with Comscore’s numbers from 2018, when superhero films’ combined domestic earnings were triple the amount of what the genre earned in 2023.
Led by the blazing success of Marvel’s superhero blockbusters Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War — which had domestic takes of $700 million and $678.8 million, respectively — Comscore reported the genre took in $3.3 billion at the box office stateside while movies adapted from video games took in a mere $160 million.
Superhero movies also topped video game adaptations in 2019 thanks to the success of Avengers: Endgame, which earned $858.3 million domestically to become the highest-earning release of the year. Meanwhile, video game adaptations only took in $190 million in North American ticket sales, Comscore reported.
Not surprisingly, the movie box office flatlined for both video game adaptations and comic book superhero movies in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic shut down businesses worldwide.
As for 2024, the big showdown between the superhero and video game movie genres won’t happen until summer, when Marvel’s Deadpool and Wolverine is released on July 26 and Borderlands stakes its box office claim on August 9.
From there, the superhero genre will marshal its forces and try to restore its former dominance of the box office with Kraven the Hunter on August 30, Joker: Folie à Deux on October 4 and Venom: The Last Dance on October 25.
That’s not to say video game adaptations won’t be putting up a fight. On December 20, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 scurries into theaters with a loyal audience that’s increasing in size. Opening a few weeks before COVID-19 shut down theaters in 2020, the first Sonic video game adaptation made $148.9 million in domestic ticket sales and Sonic the Hedgehog 2 earned $190.8 million stateside in 2022.