After coming just short of a $1 billion monthly total in June, the domestic box office reached the milestone in July for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic began, thanks in large part to the success of Universal/Illumination’s “Minions: The Rise of Gru” and Marvel Studios’ “Thor: Love and Thunder.”
The month began with a stronger-than-expected opening for “Rise of Gru”It was the first animated movie since 1997, and it cost $107 million. “Frozen II”To earn an opening of $100 million or more and to rank among the top 10 highest animation films ever. After its fourth weekend in theaters, the film had already made $300 million domestically.
After “Rise of Gru”Hit the theaters “Thor: Love and Thunder”It opened with a opening of $144.1 million, and has been able to gross just under $280million domestically. The film will not gross as much as other summer Marvel titles. “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,”It has surpassed $600 million globally this week.
The film of year is the third most-grossing this month. “Top Gun: Maverick.” In July, Paramount’s record-breaking legacy sequel became one of the top 10 highest-grossing films ever in North America with $637 million domestic and $1.28 billion worldwide. Released in late June “Elvis” also contributed $71 million while this past weekend’s No. $71 million, which was the No. 1 film this weekend. “Nope”In five days, it grossed $49 Million.
The box office still isn’t totally back to the levels seen before the pandemic. Except for 2014, the box office has topped $1 billion every July since 2003. The monthly total of $1.2 billion between 2017 and 2019 was also an exception. However, the box office success in the past three months has shown that audiences are more than willing to return to the cinemas with the right film. The monthly total for July should be over $1.1billion after this weekend.
The next challenge for studios and theaters is to build up a consistent stream of popular films, something that will take time given the COVID-19 pandemic’s ongoing strain on production pipelines. Expect box office results to slow down in August and September. However, they will start to rebound in Q4, which starts with “Black Adam” “Halloween Ends”In October “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”A crowded end to the year slate kicks off
