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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

Ticket sales at the box office were enough for second place behind Paramount's new video game adaptation, Street Fighter, which opened to $31 million in North America and $51.1 million globally.

From BBC ● Oct. 19, 2026

Netflix publicly reported box office results for the first time in its history this weekend as it released its queer drama “La Bola Negra” in U.S. theaters.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 18, 2026

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

Nomura’s focus is on box office revenue from Toho’s “Godzilla Minus Zero” film, which is scheduled for release in November, and earnings contributions from Toho’s “The Apothecary Diaries” anime series.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026

There was a grinding sound, like when movie tickets shoot up through the slot at the box office.

From "Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library" by Chris Grabenstein

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

The Angels were once a major box-office draw, attracting more than 3 million fans for 17 consecutive seasons in the wake of their lone World Series title in 2002, just before Moreno’s arrival.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 1, 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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