One-third of the movies released by US studios that grossed more than US$100 million in 2024 were family films, according to new data from Ampere Analysis, which paints a pretty compelling picture of how important this genre has become in the theatrical and streaming markets. 

Here are some other key takeaways from the report: 

Year-over-year: This 33% is up from 2023, when family films accounted for 29% of the total US studio output that cracked US$100 million.

Bigger long-term change: There’s been a much more dramatic increase since 2021 (earliest data available), when only 9% of these big earners were kids films. 

Driving force: Since 2023, studios have started bringing big-budget family films back to cinemas “to restore box-office revenues and rebuild cinema-going habits,” according to an Ampere release. 

Data on US studio films grossing more than US$100 million at the US box office by genre. There’s a big increase in the percentage of family films hitting that milestone from 2021 to 2024. Courtesy of Ampere.

SVOD game-changer: Studios with streamers—such as Disney+, Peacock, Paramount+ and HBO Max—have extended the time between the theatrical release and the platform rollout, with the average window now sitting at 95 days. And box-office hits Inside Out 2 (pictured), Moana 2 and Despicable Me 4 didn’t start streaming until 100 days later.

Family films are also great for streamers: Streamers are cutting back on commissioning original kids & family content and relying heavily on older acquisitions for this audience—as of Q1 2025, two-thirds of all scripted kids & family TV shows available on the US market’s major SVOD platforms were more than 10 years old. Ampere posits that adding recent theatrical releases is one way to freshen up these libraries and keep kids engaged. 

Ampere says: “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,” said the company’s executive director Richard Broughton. “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.”