A lot of industry leaders recently expressed outrage over Warner Bros.’ decision to release their lineup of 2021 blockbuster films concurrently on HBO Max and in theaters. A move, that in their view, will only further damage the medium amid the growing interest in streaming services.
This radical resolution was in part due to Christopher Nolan’s Tenet underperforming at the box office earlier this year. Though in the legendary director’s defense, many movies scheduled for release in 2020 were pushed back because of the COVID-19 pandemic. And those that made it to theaters had a difficult time breaking even with production costs, let alone bringing profit to distributors. In fact, when you take a look at the charts, not a single pic managed to pass the $500 million mark, which is more than mildly disturbing when you factor in the nine films in 2019 that easily flew well above $1 billion.
Now, thanks to a report by The Wrap, we’re learning that 2020’s global box office is down a staggering $30 billion compared to 2019. The domestic box office, meanwhile, was apparently a modest $2.06 billion, which is down 81% from a year ago.
Of course, these projections aren’t all that surprising when you consider the effects of the ongoing pandemic. The world is still grappling with the vicious virus, after all, and so long as social distancing laws prevail, movie theaters won’t be able to function properly, nor are audiences likely to visit them given the obvious health risks. This is part of the reason why directors like Nolan and James Cameron asked the US Congress to provide relief for the industry.
Hopefully, the start of mass vaccinations in many countries around the globe will bode well for theaters in the upcoming year and we’ll start to see a rise in box office projections as more films make it to the cinemas.
