| By Mike Tyrkus |
Sequels and superheroes once again reigned over the box office this past year. The undisputed king of the domestic box office was without a doubt Avengers: Endgame, which grossed an astounding $858 million domestically and an equally amazing $2.8 billion worldwide. This bested the records set by Black Panther—just one year earlier—to make the culmination of the current crop of films that make up the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) the highest-grossing film in the series (to date, at least).
In addition to becoming the most popular MCU film yet, the newest cream of the MCU crop also surpassed writer/director James Cameron’s Avatar (2009) to become the highest-grossing film of all time. When all was said and done, Avengers: Endgame bested Cameron’s science fiction epic domestically by over $100 million and worldwide by a much-tighter $8.1 million.
Elsewhere, Disney’s live-action reimagining of The Lion King finished in a distant second on the domestic front, earning over $500 million and around $1.6 billion worldwide. Not too far behind that was Marvel’s second superhero powerhouse entry of 2019—Captain Marvel. The Brie Larson‒led adventure finished with approximately $427 million domestically and a worldwide total of $1.1 billion, making it the sixth-highest-grossing MCU film to date. Disney/Pixar also enjoyed some non-Marvel success with Toy Story 4, which brought in $433 million domestically, besting the take of the previous installment of the franchise by approximately $18 million.
As has become the norm, the rest of the year’s top 10 was dominated by either sequels or remakes. The latest adventure of everyone’s favorite web slinger, Spider-Man: Far from Home, brought in $390 million domestically, while the live-action remake of Aladdin made $355 million. With Keanu Reeves as the hit man with a heart of gold, John Wick: Chapter 3—Parabellum made a $171 million killing domestically. Finally, the sequels How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World and The Secret Life of Pets 2 took in domestic totals of $161 million and $158 million respectively. In fact, the only original—as in, not a sequel or remake—film to finish among the top 10 domestic grosses for 2019 was writer-director Jordan Peele’s Us, which made $175 million domestically, making Peele’s follow-up to Get Out (2017) the seventh-highest-grossing film of the year. We’ll look forward to next year with hope that the movies will surprise and delight us yet again. Hopefully, you feel the same way and will continue to take VideoHound’s Golden Movie Retriever 2020 along as you explore the ever-expanding galaxy of movies available for your home entertainment purposes.
Remember, VideoHound has the scoop on almost 30,000 movies—all with entertaining plot synopses and critical reviews to help you find the best entertainment choice for your mood and taste. As always, there are more Category and Kibbles subjects to enjoy. Again, we strive to be as complete as possible for theatrical and higher-profile direct-to-video titles while still covering niche, foreign, and documentary movies. So please think of VideoHound’s Golden Movie Retriever 2020 as your go-to guide when looking for information and helpful reviews about the latest movies available in a variety of home entertainment formats.
VideoHound’s Golden Movie Retriever 2020 is available in print and eBook format on our platform, Gale eBooks.
Meet the Author
An award-winning independent filmmaker, co-writer and director of over a dozen short films, Mike Tyrkus has spent much of the last two decades as a writer and editor specializing in biographical and critical reference sources in literature and the cinema. He is a standing member of the Detroit Film Critics Society, as well as the group’s webmaster and current president. His contributions to the world of film criticism can be found in such places as the International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, Magill’s Cinema Annual, and the St. James Film Directors Encyclopedia (on which he collaborated with editor Andrew Sarris). Mike is also the editor of VideoHound’s Golden Movie Retriever. He currently lives in the Detroit area with his wife and their two dogs. You can find Mike on Twitter and Facebook, or at CinemaNerdz.com.