Avengers: Endgame dethroned the long-reigning Avatar as the highest-grossing film of all time in 2019. So, as you’d expect, the pic will from now on serve as a measure for the performance of many blockbusters at the box office, though the latest comparison may end up surprising you.
Due to the social distancing laws and other restrictions related to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, movie theaters around the world have been more or less out of business for nearly a year. Not only that, but a lot of production companies and distributors are having difficulties filming their upcoming projects. It’s safe to surmise, then, that overall, it’s been a terrible time for the industry, financially speaking. A recent report even concluded that the global box office is down $30 billion when compared to 2019.
Interestingly enough, though, one movie from last year made more money than the entire 2020 domestic return. As you may know, Avengers: Endgame ended up breaking many records on its opening weekend and grossed $2,797,800,564 worldwide, which is well above the $2.3 billion that the domestic box office pulled in during 2020. Many of the films released this year stood the chance of becoming big earners, mind you, but the outbreak of the deadly disease made things difficult for both the theater chains and audiences.
The issue has been so disconcerting, in fact, that Warner Bros. recently announced that all of their 2021 films will make their way to the company’s online streaming service, HBO Max, a decision that’s since been met with a lot of backlash and controversy, especially from leading figures within the industry like Christopher Nolan, and Denis Villeneuve.
Hopefully, though, the start of mass vaccinations around the globe will bode well for the future of theater revenues. And who knows, maybe one film this year will even end up defeating Avengers: Endgame?