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• box office
  box office

  noun

  the office of a theater, stadium, or the like, at which tickets are sold.
• box-office
  box-office

  adjective

  of or relating to the box office or to the business and commercial aspects of the theater.

box office

¹ American  

noun

• box offices
  plural

1. the office of a theater, stadium, or the like, at which tickets are sold.

2. Theater.

   1. receipts from a play or other entertainment.

   2. entertainment popular enough to attract paying audiences and make a profit.

      This show will be good box office.

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box-office ² American  

[boks-aw-fis, -of-is] / ˈbɒksˌɔ fɪs, -ˌɒf ɪs /

adjective

1. of or relating to the box office or to the business and commercial aspects of the theater.

   a box-office window; box-office receipts; a box-office attraction.

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box office British  

noun

1. an office at a theatre, cinema, etc, where tickets are sold

2. the receipts from a play, film, etc

3. 1. the public appeal of an actor or production

      the musical was bad box office

   2. ( as modifier )

      a box-office success

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box office Idioms  

1. The office where seats for a play, concert, or other form of entertainment may be purchased, as in Tickets are available at the box office . It is so called because originally (17th century) it was the place for hiring a box, a special compartment of theater seats set aside for ladies. [Second half of 1700s]

2. The financial receipts from a performance; also, a show's relative success in attracting a paying audience. For example, You may not consider it great art, but this play is good box office . [c. 1900]

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• box offices
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of box office¹

First recorded in 1780–90

Origin of box-office²

First recorded in 1805–15; adj. use of box office

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

box office box-office

It's a contrast to Resident Evil, released last month, which was almost universally praised by critics and hit $300m at the global box office four weeks after release.

From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2026

But a film’s domestic reception, and to some extent, its international box office revenue, does play a role in the value of those downstream revenue opportunities, experts said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 12, 2026

North American ticket sales for “Other Mommy,” the new horror movie from Universal Pictures, leading the domestic box office despite poor reviews by both theatergoers and critics.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2026

The presence of Cruise -- a man sometimes credited with rescuing the box office after its pandemic slump with "Top Gun: Maverick" -- was always going to make the film stand out.

From Barron's ● Oct. 12, 2026

But apparently Boaz had gefilte fish for a brain, because in spite of everything, he looked at her with the same expression he had that day in the box office.

From "Night Owls" by A.R. Vishny

But when he’s recognized on the street, it’s usually for his appearance in a 40-year-old box-office flop about BMX racing.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 18, 2026

Take Anne Hathaway, fresh off a string of box-office smashes in “The Odyssey,” “The Devil Wears Prada 2,” “The End of Oak Street” and “Mother Mary.”

From Salon ● Oct. 9, 2026

That figure exceeded the venue’s full-year box-office results for 98 of the 99 years it has been in business, Brett Fellman, president of film and marketing at the theater, said in late August.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2026

Either way, it promises to be box-office stuff.

From BBC ● Sep. 7, 2026

Then, in 1750, he premiered a controversial new work that was a box-office flop.

From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall

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