Family films are playing an increasingly vital role in Hollywood’s box office success, according to a report from Ampere Analysis. In 2024, 33 per cent of US studio films that grossed over $100 million were family-oriented titles—up from just 20 per cent in 2022. With their significant spend on streaming, pay-TV, cinema visits, and other entertainment services, families are a disproportionately valuable segment of the media market. Yet as streamers cut back on commissioning original family content, they’re increasingly reliant on evergreen shows and recent theatrical releases to serve this key demographic. A regular flow of new family films now delivers not just box office returns, but vital licensing opportunities—helping platforms retain and engage this crucial audience segment.

Alice Thorpe, Research Manager at Ampere Analysis, commented: “Catering to families has always been a key factor in studio decision-making, but recent years have reinforced just how critical this audience is to the theatrical market.”

Key findings: 

• Families represent a disproportionately valuable segment of the media market, with a higher media spend and more frequent use of services such as pay-TV, subscription streaming and cinema trips. According to Ampere’s consumer data, 53 per cent of global internet users aged 18–64 who regularly attend the cinema live with children, compared to 46 per cent of those without children.
• Streamers have had great success at maximising the demand for family-friendly content, with Disney+ particularly adept at attracting this lucrative audience. Increasingly the first choice for the Children & Family genre, the major streamers have built up catalogues of evergreen titles – especially TV series.
• Offering appealing titles for the whole household is the top driver for families choosing which OTT or pay-TV service to purchase. Nearly two-thirds (65 per cent) of families report watching content together, higher than the overall average of 56 per cent.
• The streamers’ TV content is older than movie catalogues on the platforms as they and other groups have reduced their commissions for family and kids & TV. Of all Scripted Children & Family TV Shows in major streaming catalogues in the US in Q1 2025, two-thirds were over 10 years old.
• Players are reliant on evergreen TV shows and new release family movies to engage audiences. Films are now a key part of family viewing on these platforms.
• Since 2023, studios’ strategies have pivoted to bring big-budget family titles back to cinemas to restore box office revenues and rebuild cinema-going habits. The SVoD-invested studios such as Disney+, Peacock, Paramount+ and HBO Max have extended the time they keep movies off their platforms, with the average window now 95 days. Box office hits such as Inside Out 2, Moana 2 and Despicable Me 4 remained off streaming sites for over 100 days.
• Family movies now rival the dominant Sci-Fi & Fantasy genre in scale.

Richard Broughton, Executive Director at Ampere Analysis, added: “Sustained investment in family-friendly movies is not just a strategy for near-term box office success in a challenging theatrical market, but also a long-term play to rebuild the cinema-going habit among younger audiences. As these young moviegoers mature, their continued engagement with theatrical releases could shape future patterns of media consumption. For studios, this underscores the importance of treating the development and distribution of kids’ movies not only as a commercial imperative, but as a key part of a long-range audience strategy.”

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Tags: Ampere Analysis, cinema, Disney, inside out, moana