Hollywood box office slumped to near 40-year low in 2020

Comscore did not release worldwide data for 2020, but Variety said global returns slumped some 71%.

The pandemic forced theatres to close around the world in mid-March, bringing some small and big chains like AMC Entertainment to the brink of bankruptcy. Theatres have still to reopen in the biggest U.S. markets of Los Angeles and New York City.

Some 274 movies – including blockbusters like No Time to Die, Top Gun: Maverick and the ninth Fast and Furious action film – were moved to 2021 release dates, according to the Comscore report.

That left Sony Pictures cop caper Bad Boys for Life, released in January last year, as the top-earning movie in North America for 2020 with $206 million. In 2019, Avengers: Endgame ruled the domestic box office with $858 million.

Thriller Tenet from Warner Bros, which hoped to tempt movie-goers back into theatres in the summer, took in just $58 million in the U.S. and Canada.

Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst with Comscore, said that 2020 revenue – much of it from drive-in venues – was grounds for hope given that some industry observers had feared the figure would be even smaller.

“That should be extremely encouraging to anyone who was worried that movie-going would not come back at all,” Dergarabedian said.

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