2021 box office rebounds to nearly double 2020

The 2021 box office year started out slow as the U.S. remained in the grip of the COVID-19 pandemic and a winter surge in cases was underway. Then the vaccine rollout began, and studios committed to theatrical release dates for films that had been delayed in 2020. The chance of a moderate rebound sparked when "Godzilla vs. Kong" was released in theaters and on HBO Max on March 31, 2021, grossing $48.1 million in its first five days in theaters. It propelled week 14 box office to $65.4 million, the highest weekly tally since the pandemic closed theaters in March 2020. The spring season closed out with $422.9 million in 2021, down 77.6% from the $1.89 billion in 2020.

The summer season started slowly before audiences filled theaters over Memorial Day weekend to watch "A Quiet Place Part II," which landed a $47.5 million opening weekend on its way to becoming the first film to pass $100 million since the pandemic began. Weekly grosses picked up after that weekend, and the overall summer season grossed $1.63 billion. The summer total was promising that a recovery was beginning considering the $32.7 million grossed in 2020, but it was still about a third of a typical summer before the pandemic.

The fall season did well, with the release of "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings," "Venom: Let There Be Carnage" and "No Time to Die" propelling the season to $918.6 million, which was down 33.9% when compared to the $1.39 billion grossed in 2019.

The films "Eternals," "Ghostbusters: Afterlife," "Encanto" and "Spider-Man: No Way Home" carried the winter season. Total winter box office ended at $1.36 billion and was 33.9% lower than the $2.05 billion grossed in 2019.

Overall, total box office grew 98.3% from $2.18 billion in 2020 to $4.33 billion in 2021, but there is still a steep hill to climb to get back to the $11.06 billion average total box office gross from 2012 through 2019.

The summer season may have logged the largest box office total of the season, thanks to having the most weeks in our box office calendar, but the films that ran in the winter season had the best average gross per film. The winter films averaged $13.6 million per film while the summer films averaged $9.6 million per film.

The summer season logged the most admissions with 173.7 million while the winter season was second with 144.8 million. Overall, admissions increased 94.1% from 237.9 million in 2020 to 461.7 million in 2021.

Walt Disney Co. reclaimed its box office crown in 2021 as its 21 films grossed $1.15 billion, accounting for 26.6% of the year's total gross. Its flagship studio, Walt Disney Studio Motion Pictures, was the top-grossing studio of the year with $919.1 million. Its 10 films averaged $91.9 million per film, with the top-grossing film being "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings" with its $224.5 million.

Sony Group Corp. was not too far behind in second place with a 22.2% market share from $958.5 million in domestic box office. Its top studio was Columbia Pictures with $874.6 million and a 20.2% market share. Sony had the top-grossing film of the year with "Spider-Man: No Way Home" and its $470.4 million.

There were 13 films that passed $100 million at the domestic box office in 2021, besting the five films in 2020. The top 25 films of the year grossed $3.10 billion in 2021, averaging $124.0 million per film.

Economics of TV & Film is a regular feature from Kagan, a media research group within S&P Global Market Intelligence's TMT offering, providing exclusive research and commentary.

This article was published by S&P Global Market Intelligence and not by S&P Global Ratings, which is a separately managed division of S&P Global.