2020 was a year for the movie box office like non other. We know theaters in many parts of the United States were closed for much of the year after the Spring. Some films like Tenet, The Croods: A New Age and Wonder Woman 1984 did eventually open in theaters in the second half of the year.
A $36.1 million opening weekend for Wonder Woman 1984 was considered above expectations by Warner Bros. That would have been a disastrous debut in a normal year for a film with a $200 million production budget and likely roughly the same money for marketing.
Via new data from Comscore, we have a view of the 2020 box office and how it compares to past years.
Box Office by the Numbers
North America box office was $2.25 billion in 2020. Comscore says that “showed that even amid a pandemically-challenged marketplace, several new movies found enthusiastic audiences both at the drive-in and in the limited number of brick-and-mortar theaters that were open despite an almost unlimited availability of filmed content at home on the small screen.”
In 2019, North America movie box office was $11.4 billion. The lowest box office year since 2012 was 2014 with $10.4 billion.
Shrinking Share of Global Box Office
North America’s share of the global box office contracted from 26.8% in 2019 to 18.4% in 2020.
Some international regions did better. Comscore’s data showed that China performed the strongest post lockdown. They closed in January 2020 for six months. Comscore says their local titles performed well.
China’s 2020 share of global box office increased to 31.2% from 29.6% a year prior.
Hopeful Future
“Though the pandemic has caused much disruption to the theatrical business, there are encouraging signs of recovery in many countries around the world. Today we know that audiences are anxious to return to enjoy the theatrical experience and the many notable successes prove that if cinemas are open and offer great content, moviegoers are indeed excited to watch appealing movies on the big screen.”
Paul Dergarabedian, Senior Media Analyst, Comscore
Movie theaters aren’t dead. In December, IPIC Theaters opened a nine-screen. 426 seat theater in Atlanta’s Midtown mixed used destination. Early this year, IPIC will be opened a 6,635 square foot bar and restaurant, called Serena Pastifico, at that theater.
AMC Theaters are in the process of trying to renegotiate its rent payments with landlords. The goal is to receive rent reductions, abatements and deferrals. Earlier this month they were still seeking a $550 million lifeline.
