2019 Box Office Top Ten

With movie theaters closed, now’s a great time to continue my tradition of chatting about the biggest hits of a particular year, which in this case is last year. I usually give at least a month into the new year to help late releases finish up their runs (last year I blogged about it here for the first time, apparently as late as July!), which if this whole thing had played out a little differently (we heard about COVID-19 as early as January, remember) might have produced different results. Anyway, like last year I will list domestic and international results, with numbers rounded out from Box Office Mojo. As with last year, I’m talking about this here on my author’s blog both in an effort to incorporate my personal interests and as a reflection of popular tastes, which between books and movies, is far easier to do so with movies, which more people are liable to have seen than readers are to have experienced the same books. (Believe me: as a regular participant of Goodreads.com, overlap is rare, and critical response tends to be fairly worthless.)

2019 Domestic Top Ten

1. Avengers: Endgame ($858 million) This one came as no surprise. The MCU was a whole phenomenon built in part on the gradual build toward, well, this moment, a direct sequel to Avengers: Infinity War. This is a formula that will likely never be successfully duplicated.
2. The Lion King ($543 million) Disney’s extended family was responsible for the vast majority of major box office success throughout the year, and in the last few years as well. That success model will likely be winding down. The hype that led to Lion King’s success, for instance, didn’t really lead to the mind of widespread response the original animated version earned.
3. Toy Story 4 ($434 million) The third one was a cathartic moment for a lot of fans, culminating a central thesis that had been building since the first one, about the inevitability of leaving childhood behind. This one was more or less received as a victory lap.
4. Frozen II ($430 million) Another big success, but it’s impact is considerably muted compared to its predecessor (sensing a theme yet?).
5. Captain Marvel ($426 million) Aside from once again demolishing the notion that mass audiences won’t turn out for a blockbuster with a female lead, this one proved how invincible the MCU phenomenon had become at this point.
6. Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker ($390 million) Was probably always going to lag behind the MCU climax in the popular imagination. But the thing is, the MCU won’t be producing something forty years from now like this. (Annoyingly, Box Office Mojo changed how it listed yearly totals. Including 2020 grosses, Rise of Skywalker made $515 million, and up to third place. The only other film in the top ten that has a similar adjustment is Frozen II, which bumps up to $477 million.)
7. Spider-Man: Far from Home ($390 million) Considering that 2002-2007 Spider-Man was a headlining blockbuster act, this can only be considered disappointing, but on the other hand, he has more sustained viability than probably anyone else will have in the MCU. 
8. Aladdin ($355 million) Will Smith cleverly used this as a launching pad to an eventual popular comeback. That’s where the real value is in these things. Even Toy Story 4 was, for some fans, merely another vehicle for Keanu Reeves’ popular resurgence.
9. Joker ($333 million) The closest this year came to a traditional blockbuster, a version of the classic Batman villain as seen through a Martin Scorsese type lens, fueled by a widely acclaimed lead performance from Joaquin Phoenix.
10. It Chapter Two ($211 million) The first one may have gotten all the acclaim and buzz, but the second one was still enough of a success to reach the top ten. 

2019 International Top Ten

1. Avengers: Endgame ($2,797 billion) Obviously still the top box office draw. 
2. The Lion King ($1,656 billion) Still no variation.
3. Frozen II ($1,450 billion) Here you can see wiggle room for a property of more recent relevance.
4. Spider-Man: Far from Home ($1,131 billion) Here you can see Spider-Man’s vast continuing appeal more clearly.
5. Captain Marvel ($1,128 billion) The MCU was an unstoppable juggernaut.
6. Joker ($1,074 billion) Here you can see how significant this one’s cultural impact really was.
7. Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker ($1,074 billion) I think the popularly of Star Wars may have been more limited to Americans than it might have otherwise seemed, and the more the international perspective was taken into account, the more it affected perception, a phenomenon that has increased in recent years without anyone realizing it.
8. Toy Story 4 ($1,073 billion) Case in point: This is a franchise that began in the comparative distant past of 1995. 
9. Aladdin ($1,050 billion) On the one hand, it’s ridiculous to say a movie that made a billion dollars is somehow not wildly successful. But we’re literally at the point where it sounds like, “That’s all?” Coupled with the fact that Disney ploughed through its popular animated back catalog for these live action remakes, it suddenly doesn’t seem like the wisest course of action. It’s going to be very difficult for the umbrella studio to match this level of success again anytime soon.
10. Jumanji: The Next Level ($796 million) Back when the first one was released a few years ago, Dwayne Johnson also had a Fast & Furious movie out, and both came close to scoring a billion internationally. The same was true this year: the next movie on this particular list was Johnson’s Fast & Furious spin-off, Hobbs & Shaw. That’s the definition of modern movie star, folks. The twelfth and thirteenth biggest international releases were both Chinese (making the vast majority of their profit in China), including The Wandering Earth.