For the first time, China has supplanted North America as the largest cinema market in the world. Still, no country has been spared, as global box office revenue has likely dropped by more than 72%, including a 70% drop in the Middle Kingdom.
It’s official: North American box office revenue plummeted 80% in 2020 amid the new coronavirus pandemic and unprecedented movie closures, while global revenue plunged more than 70%.
As predicted, domestic cinema tickets sold between January 1 and December 31 generated about $ 2.3 billion (or $ 2.68 billion), compared to $ 11.4 billion in 2019, according to with Comscore estimates. This is the smallest exhibition in at least 40 years. The dramatic drop was expected, considering that many cinemas were closed for more than nine months in the United States
Globally, movie ticket sales for 2020 are expected to be between $ 11.5 billion and $ 12 billion, compared to $ 42.5 billion in 2019.
At first, China supplanted North America as the world cinema market in 2020, generating about $ 2.7 billion in ticket sales, by Comscore.
In another premiere, a Chinese film – the WWII epic The eight hundred – topped the worldwide box office chart with almost $ 440 million. Several other Chinese films, including My people, my homeland, populated the top of the chart, as well as Japan’s success Demon slayer. In times without a pandemic, Hollywood blockbusters often dominate.
No country has been spared the impact of the virus, however. China’s box office still fell 70 percent from 2019 to approximately $ 9 billion, although it recovered faster than the U.S. and much of Europe.
Hollywood’s biggest global winner in 2020 was Sony Bad boys for life, which opened in mid-January on the way to earning $ 413 million, according to Comscore. Sam Mendes’ 1917, which opened nationwide on January 10, raised about $ 385 million. Christopher Nolan’s Principle – the first supporting pillar in Hollywood to face a big-screen debut in the midst of the pandemic – reached an estimated $ 362 million worldwide after its launch in late summer.
The vast majority of the supporting pillars of Hollywood in 2020 have been postponed to 2021 and beyond, or sent / sold to streamers – the next big frontier in Hollywood.
COVID-19 marked a moment of reckoning for studios and exhibitors, and alters the once sacrosanct theater window.
WarnerMedia, whose empire includes Warner Bros., is opening its 2021-day films and dates on HBO Max and in theaters as much as Wonder Woman 1984 did at Christmas. And Universal struck a historic deal with major movie chains that will make their premium VOD titles available 17 days or more after their theatrical debut.
“The film industry will change forever, no doubt, but cinemas will be ready for their close-up and as things slowly return to normal, they will star in an uplifting sequence of their own,” says Paul Dergarabedian of Comscore. “2021 will undoubtedly be the most important year in the history of the big screen, and one that will bridge the gap between a devastating 2020 that tragically affected so many people and profoundly impacted many physical companies.”