A box office is the place in a theater or cinema where tickets are sold, usually a small windowed booth or counter near the entrance. When you arrive at a movie theater, you go to the box office to buy your tickets before entering to watch the film.

The term also refers to how much money a movie earns from ticket sales. When people say a movie “did well at the box office,” they mean lots of people bought tickets to see it. A box office hit is a movie that makes a huge amount of money, while a box office flop loses money because too few people went to see it. News articles might report that a superhero movie earned $200 million at the box office during its opening weekend.

Movie studios care deeply about box office numbers because that's how they measure success and decide what kinds of movies to make next. A director known for making box office hits will have an easier time getting funding for future projects. When you hear someone called a “box office draw,” it means audiences will buy tickets just because that actor or director is involved, like how certain stars can fill theaters based purely on their name.