Record-breaking box office releases like ‘Moana 2’ & ‘Wicked’ gave malls a boost over the holidays

The best holiday season for Hollywood in years helped fuel foot traffic to malls and shopping centers.
November and December box office revenues were the highest on record since 2019 at $899.4 million and $985.7 million, respectively, according to Box Office Mojo, which receives data from film studios, distributors and sales agents. “Wicked” drove November with $242.9 million during the month and “Moana 2” led in December with $213.3 million, with “Gladiator II,” “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” and “Mufasa: The Lion King” also bringing dedicated fans to theaters. This Thanksgiving weekend was the biggest in U.S. and Canadian box office history, according to Reuters.
The film industry had a similar effect during the “Barbenheimer” phenomenon in summer 2023, when the dual releases of both “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” as well as “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” led box office grosses to surpass $1 billion in both June and July. However, unlike 2023, this convergence of big releases also coincided with the most important season for retailers — and movie theaters are often housed within malls.
“That converts into longer stays at your property,” said Michael Morgan, evp of asset management for Pacific Retail Capital Partners, which has 20 malls and shopping centers throughout the U.S. “People are going to linger longer. They’re going to meet for a drink before, they’re going to have a bite after, do a little bit of shopping. It was really meaningful; a lot of that helps support the other tenants, and vice versa.”
It also helps theater chains like AMC Theaters, which has yet to report its earnings for the fourth quarter but saw a 45% increase in revenue during the summer of “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer.”
Stephen Lebovitz, CEO of CBL Properties, which has movie theaters at about half of the malls in its portfolio, similarly said Hollywood releases helped drive traffic to malls and restaurants over the holidays. He said some releases, depending on the audience, can especially help retailers tailored to younger shoppers.
“It drives traffic to the properties,” Lebovitz said. “We find that they’re a great part of an overall mix. We’ve retained the movie theaters, they’ve invested with their seating and I mean, it’s become like an event. People will go to the same movie multiple times, and they’ll dress up. It’s become more of a phenomenon, a cultural phenomenon, especially for some of these big hits that have come out.”
Despite help from the major film releases, on a widespread level, malls only saw a modest rise in foot traffic over the past year. In 2024, visits to indoor malls and open-air shopping centers exceeded 2023 levels by 1.5% and 1.7%, respectively, according to Placer.ai. Mall visits are still down 4.3% from pre-pandemic levels in 2019.
As mall performance can vary based on factors such as location, tenants and redevelopment work, some landlords are reporting better results from their own portfolios.
In early December, Simon Property Group reported a 6.4% increase in year-over-year traffic at its shopping centers during Black Friday weekend. Brands in its portfolio reported double-digit sales over the weekend compared to last year, Simon chairman, president and CEO David Simon said in a news release.
In-store sales inside and outside of malls for Nov. 1 to Dec. 24 grew 2.9% from 2023 to 2024, according to Mastercard. Pacific Retail’s Morgan said that despite the shortened holiday season with five fewer shopping days between Thanksgiving and Christmas, “it really seemed like a lot of retailers were organized and had their promotions ready to go even before Black Friday.”
Lebovitz noticed that his properties had heavier traffic than they typically would during the week after Black Friday and Cyber Monday. He attributes that to buy online, pickup in-store and customers returning products to stores that they bought online.
“I think the retailers have done a really good job coming out of Covid of integrating their online shopping with their stores,” Lebovitz said. “It is a more seamless shopping experience that we’re seeing, and I think it’s helping our leasing and helping a number of the retailers share better results.”