Theatres around the world took a whopping US$42.5 billion over the course of 2019, due to some huge mega-hit films such as Avengers: Endgame and The Lion King.
Most of the growth in the industry came from outside the US and the Western world, including China, Japan and South Korea. That said, North American theatres still had their biggest-ever year, taking in US$11 billion.
Avengers: Endgame became the world’s highest-grossing film, taking in US$2.79 billion alone. In a sign of its popularity, it stayed in theatres for months after its initial release.
Other superhero films such as Captain Marvel and Spider-Man: Far From Home, as well as Star Wars: The Force Awakens, rounded up the top five films (all made by Disney).
According to industry analyst Comscore, the stars did align for the house of mouse.
“Having another year like 2019, I don’t know when we’ll see that from any studio in the new future,” said Paul Dergarabedian. He added that new blockbusters such as Mulan and Black Widow lined up for 2020, could make for another bumper year for the Disney.
Streaming platforms such as Netflix were thought to disrupt the entertainment business, but that doesn’t seem to have landed. In fact, the opposite happened – as Netflix ensured its prestige production, the Martin Scorsese helmed The Irishman, launched in theatres ahead of awards season.
“Streaming is great — it makes people more excited about content in general,” said Dergarabedian.
“One does not exclude the other… They are competing platforms, but they are both fueling excitement.”
Here’s looking to another bumper year for films.
