Family-friendly flicks make for strongest January box office since 2020

BY Nathan Jolly

February 7, 2025 7:30

Family-friendly flicks make for strongest January box office since 2020

The end of summer is still three or so weeks away, and already more than 13.5 million movie tickets have been sold at Australian cinemas, a 9% leap from the previous year.

Moana 2, Wicked, Sonic the Hedgehog 3, and Mufasa: The Lion King helped bring families to the cinema this summer, with ‘Family’ admissions and the P18-39 youth audience both up 8% from the prior year’s takings (last summer saw the likes of Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, Disney’s Wish, rom-com Anyone But You, and Universal’s animated bird comedy Migration).

Paddington in Peru came out on New Year’s Day to further drive audiences, the end result being 2025 started with the biggest January at the box office since 2020.

At the start of summer, Guy Burbidge, managing director of Val Morgan Cinema told Mumbrella they were expecting a big family-friendly slide into 2025.

“We knew this summer school holidays would be big, and these record-breaking results prove that Australian’s love for cinema has never been stronger,” Burbidge said.

“The growth across key demographics is a clear indication of the demand—and it’s only going to get bigger with the depth of content lined up this year.”

The standout film of the summer was Moana 2, which was seen by 3.07 million people, and is the third highest-grossing animated film of all time in Australia. This is a particularly amazing result, considering it was originally slated to be a straight-to-streaming film.

I bet Disney are glad they gave that a second thought — especially as it caps a 2024 that saw Inside Out 2 become the highest-grossing animation ever.

Wicked took 2.4 million admissions this summer, Sonic the Hedgehog sold 1.73 million tickets, and Mufasa: The Lion King has 1.48 million admissions and running.

Credit: Universal Pictures. (L-R): Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba, Ariana Grande as Glinda

New Year’s Day release Paddington in Peru has delivered 1.03 million admissions so far — as Hoyts pointed out — this surpassed the original 2014 Paddington by over 43%.

This week’s Guideline SMI data showed that, while the entire advertising sector dipped, cinema advertising rose 8.8%.

“There are plenty of opportunities for brands to connect with hard-to-reach audiences through cinema in 2025, especially with the lack of major sporting events,” notes Burbidge.

“Cinema delivers these audiences in spades, and if brands aren’t considering it in their plans, they’re missing a huge opportunity.”