It hardly mattered what the top-grossing movies at the box office were in 2020 and 2021. The COVID-19 pandemic nearly ruined the movie theater industry, even threatening the existence of industry giant AMC. After annual domestic box office totals that topped $11 billion from 2015 through 2019, the number dropped to $2.1 billion in 2020. Most of this came in during the first 10 weeks of the year. There was a modest recovery in 2021 in which the number hit $4.5 billion.
Movie theaters were replaced to a large extent by streaming, which had already been successful for years via companies which included Netflix and Amazon. People turned to these for entertainment and the term “binge-watching” became popular. People sat at home and watched hour after hour of streaming video. The trend helped the launch of other services, most notably Disney+ and Apple TV+.
The streaming industry became so successful that Netflix and Amazon have production budgets as large as traditional studios like Warner Bros. The movie business will never be the same.
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To pick the top domestic grossing movie of 2021, 24/7 ranked all movies released in 2021 by their domestic box office gross, using data from The Numbers. Data on opening gross box office and production studios are also for The Numbers.
Moviegoers in 2021 flocked to see superhero films such as “Venom: Let There be Carnage,” “Eternals,” and “Black Widow.” None of those movies will likely make any critics’ favorites list by year end, but all three made north of $160 million in domestic box office.
Animation films were popular this year, among them Warner Bros.’ “Space Jam: A New Legacy,” Disney’s offering “Encanto,” and the United Artists’ film “The Addams Family 2.”
Critics and audiences found the tension-filled horror movie “A Quiet Place: Part II” as frightening as the original. Other horror flicks released in 2021 included “Halloween Kills” and “Candyman.”
The top-grossing movie of 2021 was “Spider-Man: No Way Home.” Here are the details:
> Distributor: Sony Pictures
> Domestic box office: $735.9 million
> Opening box office weekend: $260.1 million
> Max theater count: 4,336
Click here to see America’s top-grossing movies in 2021.
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