To begin with: This year, the global box office exceeded the total amount collected in “Covid” 2020 and amounted to 12 billion dollars at the end of August 2021. According to the forecasts of the analytical company Gower Street Analytics, it will reach 20.2 billion dollars by the end of 2021. The good news is that this represents a 68% recovery at the box office compared to last year. However, while the total will still be 52% below the record $42.3 billion set in 2019 and less than half the $41.9 billion average for the three pre-pandemic years (2017-19) .
So far in 2021, the combined box office from all international territories excluding China will be $5.22 billion, surpassing the $5.13 billion recorded in China as of September 11, 2021. The North American box office (also known as “domestic”) totals $2.31 billion to date.
Gower Street predicts that by the end of the year, total global sales will reach $9.1 billion, including $4.3 billion from EMEA, $3.85 billion from the Asia-Pacific region (excluding China) and $900 million from Latin America. The company predicts that China will end the year with $6.6 billion and North America with $4.5 billion. If these predictions come true, China will be the world’s largest box office market for the second year in a row and more than all European territories combined. However, the pandemic and other political conditions have made China’s box office market more closed and an increasingly difficult place for Hollywood to do business.
Gower Street said around $4.4 billion was taken globally in the last four months of 2020, despite much of the global rental sector being shut down. At the beginning of September 2020, 75% of cinemas from the entire market were operating. By the end of the year, that figure had dropped to 56% as governments responded to the second and third waves of the virus by reviving social distancing measures and mandatory cinema closures. A year later, as of September 11, 2021, slightly less than 88% of the world’s cinemas are open, judging by the market share before the pandemic. This is equal to the pandemic-era peak last recorded on July 31, 2021.
With little new competition, the blockbuster Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Disney/Marvel easily topped the box office for the third weekend in a row, taking in an estimated $21.7 million in its third outing. It ranks as the third-biggest opening weekend of the pandemic era, easily beating the $12 million for A Quiet Place Part II in June. With $176.89 million domestically, it’s the second-highest-grossing movie since the pandemic began in North America, trailing only Marvel’s Black Widow ($183.38), which it should easily surpass by next weekend.
In fact, this weekend’s runner-up went to Protagonist, which dropped just 7% to an estimated $5.2 million in its sixth weekend of release. The Ryan Reynolds-starrer’s action comedy currently stands at $108.6 million.
Cry Macho, the new film from 91-year-old director and actor Clint Eastwood, debuted in third place with a modest $4.52 million from 3,967 screens, thanks in part to a decision by Warner Bros. simultaneously show the film on the HBO Max streaming platform.