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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

Etymology

Origin of box office¹

First recorded in 1780–90

Origin of box-office²

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

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

box office box-office

The verdict from fans remains to be seen, but Resident Evil looks to be on track to have a successful opening weekend at the box office.

From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026

The box office success of "Obsession" has been the subject of much debate in Hollywood as the industry continues working to boost theater audiences to levels seen before the Covid-19 pandemic.

From Barron's ● Sep. 13, 2026

Gen Z returned to theaters for “Backrooms,” an eerie joint that cashed in on Gen Z’s infatuation with liminal spaces, and opened with an estimated $81.5 million at the domestic box office.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 12, 2026

What do you do when a creative team mounts an acclaimed production of a beloved play, breaking box office records as one of the most successful shows in your theater’s more than 100-year history?

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026

Her sister was in trouble, and this was the kind of box office nonsense that could wait.

From "Night Owls" by A.R. Vishny

“There was a general philosophy in Hollywood that the billion-dollar-movie box-office days were behind us,” said Sanford Panitch, president of the motion picture group at Sony Pictures.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2026

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

From BBC ● Sep. 7, 2026

But “with one or two box-office successes I was completely restored in the Hollywood community,” he wrote.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2026

But after an indie distributor rescued it, the Looney Tunes flick made a triumphant debut in theaters, earning the No. 2 box-office slot this weekend.

From Slate ● Sep. 1, 2026

There does not seem to be a particular section for the circus; bits of it are mixed in with books of theater receipts and lists of box-office returns.

From "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern

Related Words

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