I think really it depends on the movie. There are probably some movies that got a boost in places like California for representation but I doubt that boost could negate the amount of money lost if a movie is banned from less accepting countries.

There is a movie coming out soon with an entirely gay cast or something like that and in that case I’m pretty sure it’ll help the box office because it’ll most likely end up the only notable thing about the movie. At the same time though that’s a movie based entirely about representation as opposed to an average movie that adds a little bit of representation. It’s like saying Top Gun makes more money cos people like jets or Jurassic World for dinosaurs, no shit that’s the whole point of the film. It would be more interesting to look at blockbuster movies that include small amounts of representation.

Doctor Strange and Eternals were both banned across the Middle East and while that’s not the biggest market that’s still probably $5 million or something that Doctor Strange could’ve made if it was released in those countries, maybe $1 or $2 million for Eternals. Those aren’t really big numbers in comparison to the full gross but it’s still gonna have caused more losses for the movie than any possible gains.

I’m not sure there’s a way of actually objectively measuring that though.