Biggest Box Office Busts and Booms of 2020

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2020 was certainly an interesting year to say the least. Of the many industries affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, the movie industry may have taken one of the largest hits. At least on a financial level. This is largely because movie theaters everywhere closed. This caused movies to be pulled before release and sent to streaming services. The movie industry was not expecting this in any means, just as none of us were. So, it is interesting to take a look at the kind of year the box office had, given that theaters were closed or at half capacity nearly all of 2020.

The BUSTS

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Picture from the movie Bloodshot, 2020.

These are some of the biggest movies to bust over the course of 2020. I have only included the top 5. I also only included movies released during 2020, so nothing released towards the end of 2019.

When looking at these numbers keep in mind that the marketing budget is often not factored into the cost of production. The marketing budget often varies per movie. But if you remember seeing a lot of ads or commercials for the movie… Assume they spent a lot on marketing.

Onward

Release Date: March 6th, 2020 (Pre-Pandemic)

Box Office Gross: $142 Million

Cost of production: $175 - $200 Million

Net Loss: $33 - $58 Million

New Mutants

Release Date: August 28th, 2020 

Box Office Gross: $47 Million

Cost of production: $67 Million

Net Loss: $20 Million

The Call of the Wild

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Release Date: February 21st, 2020 (Pre-Pandemic)

Box Office Gross: $111 Million

Cost of production: $125 Million

Net Loss: $13 Million

Bloodshot

Release Date: March 5th, 2020 (Right as the pandemic began)

Box Office Gross: $34 Million

Cost of production: $45 Million

Net Loss: $11 Million

The Rhythm Section

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Release Date: January 27th, 2020 (Pre-Pandemic)

Box Office Gross: $6 Million

Cost of production: $50 Million

Net Loss: $46 Million

Proportionally this film may have been the biggest bust of 2020. It only made about 12% of its cost of production back.

The BOOMS

Here are the biggest box office booms of the year 2020. You will find that this was a small numbers year for the box office. Consider the fact that the top movie of 2020 didn't even crack $500 Million and we saw Avengers Endgame soar past $2.7 Billion last year. Also, I have only included movies released during 2020, just as I did for the busts. So here are the top 5.

Bad Boys for Life

Release Date: January 17th, 2020 (Pre-Pandemic)

Box Office Gross: $427 Million

Cost of production: $90 Million

Net Income: $337 Million

This was the top grossing American movie of 2020. 

Sonic The Hedgehog

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Release Date: February 14th, 2020 (Pre-Pandemic)

Box Office Gross: $320 Million

Cost of production: $87 Million

Net Income: $230 Million

This movie also postponed its release from November, 2019 to its actual release. This is because they completely redesigned Sonics character.

Tenet

Release Date: August 12th, 2020

Box Office Gross: $363 Million

Cost of production: $205 Million

Net Income: $158 Million

Even though this was the 2nd biggest American production released in 2020, it still nearly breaks even due to its high cost of production and marketing expenses which were noted to be high.

Birds of Prey

Release Date: February 7th, 2020 (Pre-Pandemic)

Box Office Gross: $202 Million

Cost of production: $82 Million

Net Income: $120 Million

DoLittle

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Release Date: January 17th, 2020 (Pre-Pandemic)

Box Office Gross: $175 Million

Cost of production: $245 Million

Net Income: $70 million 

For the amount of marketing this movie did, they probably broke even. But it still had the 4th biggest American production release of 2020.

Streaming Services

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Mulan

Mulan was the first and hopefully only movie that Disney chose to have a premium price for. Once they had to postpone the movie due to the pandemic, they chose to charge subscribers a $30 fee to watch the movie. They only made $66 Million, which is low for a movie of that caliber. Hopefully it steers them away from charging us extra for anything in the future.

Scoob

Scoob was one of the first movies that was sent straight to a streaming service. HBO Max was gifted the movie due to the deal they have with Warner Bros. They still made about $25 million and paved the way for Wonder Woman and Godzilla vs. Kong to do the same for their release. The only differences being the choice to watch those in theaters as well and a limited streaming window.

Wonder Woman

Easily the biggest movie to head to a streaming service. Its was finally released on Christmas day, 2020. So it still has plenty of time to make more money. As of right now it sits at $152 Million. Not bad for the many changes in schedule this movie has had.

Movies Postponed to 2021

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Black Widow

Initial Release: May 8th, 2020
2021 Release Date: May 7th, 2021

No Time To Die (James Bond)

Initial Release: April 3rd, 2020

2021 Release Date: October 8th, 2021

For more in depth box office numbers visit:

https://www.boxofficemojo.com/year/world/2020/