2018 Is Officially The Highest Earning Year Of All-Time At The Domestic Box Office
The domestic box office just broke the record for the highest-grossing year of all time. For two years, 2016 held the title for the year with the best box office numbers, but it has just been dethroned by 2018. As of December 23, the domestic box office sits at $11.380 billion, according to Box Office Mojo, just topping the $11.377 billion from 2016. With one more weekend left in 2018, and with mega movies like Aquaman, Mary Poppins Returns, and Bumblebee still fresh, the yearly total has a chance to gain a few more hundred million dollars.
It was those three movies that pushed 2018 over the threshold this weekend as, combined, they added $110 million to the domestic totals for the year. While Aquaman, Mary Poppins, and Bumblebee did great this weekend, they actually failed in comparison to some of the biggest movies of the year.
Thanks to blockbusters like Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War, and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, 2016 never had a chance of reigning supreme.
Here are the top 20 earners for 2018:
- Black Panther — $700 million
- Avengers: Infinity War — $678 million
- Incredibles 2 — $608 million
- Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom — $416 million
- Deadpool 2 — $318 million
- Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch — $253 million
- Mission: Impossible – Fallout — $220 million
- Ant-Man and the Wasp — $216 million
- Solo: A Star Wars Story — $213.7 million
- Venom — $213 million
- A Star is Born — $200 million
- A Quiet Place — $188 million
- Bohemian Rhapsody — $184 million
- Crazy Rich Asians — $174 million
- Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation — $167 million
- Ralph Breaks the Internet — $162 million
- Halloween — $159 million
- Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald — $154 million
- The Meg — $145 million
- Ocean’s 8 — $140 million
The Marvel Cinematic Universe didn’t even give 2016 a chance by releasing Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War. The two films are the highest grossing in the MCU and singlehandedly kept 2018 afloat. The top 20 for each year are quite different as 2018 has a handful of heavy hitters where 2016 has more films that circled the $300 million range. Also contributing to 2016’s success was Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Finding Dory, Captain America: Civil War, The Secret Life of Pets, and The Jungle Book.
It’s unlikely that 2018 will hold the title for more than one year, as 2019 is about to release some of the biggest movies of all time. It’s a year of highly-anticipated sequels whose originals already outperformed in the box office. It’s also a huge year for animated features that will, without a doubt, break all records. Next year will see the releases of Captain Marvel, Avengers: Endgame, The Lion King, Aladdin, Frozen 2, Toy Story 4, The Secret Life of Pets 2, Star Wars: Episode IX, and Spider-Man: Far From Home, just to name a few.
