Domestic 2021 box office nearing $4.4 billion, down 61% from 2019

Last Updated on December 29, 2021

2021 has been the year that the movie industry did its very best to rebound from a troubling 2020 which saw movie theaters shuttered due to the pandemic and release dates moved or canceled resulting in deflated box office revenue for the year. While the year should be credited for the robust performances of Spider-Man: No Way Home, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, and Fast 9 to name a few, the overall domestic total is still below the take of 2019 and shows that movie theaters still have some rebounding to do in the year to reach their normal heights.

Per Comscore via “Variety“, early estimates show that the overall domestic box revenue in 2021 is projected to hit $4.4 billion through the last days of December. The final number is expected to fluctuate in the new few days because the stretch between Christmas to New Year’s is typically the busiest time for movie theaters. The caveat here is that the omicron variant of COVID-19 is rapidly spreading and the only film that seems up for the challenge to face it is Spider-Man: No Way Home which is expected to dominate the final days of 2021.

The good news for the year is that if estimates hold, it would be a massive 91% increase from 2020. The reason why most coverage is comparing this year’s total to 2019 is that, of course, 2020 sank to a 40-year low due to movie theaters being closed in the wake of the pandemic. Domestic earnings barely reached $2.2 billion in 2020 so 2021 was bound to top the 40-year low earned by last year’s efforts.

In the face of 2019, which was the last normal period for the domestic box office, revenues for 2021 will be down about 61%. 2019 saw the release of Avengers: Endgame, The Lion King, and Toy Story 4, which helped push grosses for the year to $11.39 billion.

2021 showed that movie theaters were up for the challenge of returning but certain demos were more willing to attend showings than others. Younger skewing films like Spider-Man: No Way Home ($467 million domestic), Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings ($224 million domestic), and Venom: Let There Be Carnage ($212 million domestic), showed that the movie theater business was still a presence. The same could not be said for more adult fare because that demo is still apprehensive about heading to their local multiplex due to COVID. West Side Story ($23 million domestic) and The Last Duel ($10 million domestic), showed that more needs to be done to either lure that audience to the movies or consider streaming options for films aimed at an adult audience until COVID is under control.

It should be noted that moviegoers had to deal with not one but two new COVID variants in 2021 and considering all the odds against it, I still think the year did as well as it could have for its box office return. There were some genuine hits released this year that held their own in the pandemic’s wake. Box office analysts weren’t expecting a true return to form in 2021 but their eyes are really on 2022 at this point. Unless we see some release date shuffling in the coming months, the new years promises a true blockbuster year with the release of The Batman in March, Black Panther 2: Wakanda Forever and Jurassic World: Dominion during the summer, and the animated Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse: Part 1 in the fall. That’s only a sample of some of the big releases of 2022 that hope to see a return to true normalcy at the box office. Let’s hope that the new year is up for the challenge.

What are YOUR thoughts on the domestic box office earnings of 2021? Will things be back to normal in 2022?