The 2018 summer box office has recorded the biggest year-on-year uptick in revenue, despite being the second worst in more than 25 years.
Thanks to hugely successful films Avengers: Infinity War and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, this year’s box office won’t earn the same fate as 2017’s revenue which was the worst in a decade, according to comScore.
Disney has been its saviour with not only Infinity War ($679m/£521.9m) but also Pixar smash Incredibles 2 which took $597.1m (£458.9m) after recording the highest-opening for an animated film of all time.
All other films comprising the domestic top 10 summer releases in North America are franchises:
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom ($413m/£317m)
Deadpool 2 ($318.4m/£244m)
Solo: A Star Wars Story ($213.6m/£163.6m)
Ant-Man and the Wasp ($211.5m/£162m)
Mission: Impossible – Fallout ($194m/£149m)
Hotel Transylvania 3: A Monster Vacation ($159m/£122m)
Ocean’s 8 ($139m/£106.8m)
Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again ($115m/£88.4m)
The success of these films aided in a 14 per cent rise in revenue with other titles, such as The Meg and Crazy Rich Asians also proving sleeper hits for Warner Bros.
Speaking about this year’s takings, comScore box-office analyst Paul Dergarbedian said: “The 2018 summer rebound has been nothing short of astounding, given the gloom-and-doom pronouncements about the movie theatre experience that dogged the industry exactly a year ago, when we neared the end of one of the worst-performing summer movie seasons ever.”
He continued: “A great slate of films that offered literally something for everyone resonated strongly with audiences. What a difference a year makes!”
The uptick is even more impressive when considering the larger number of digital platforms on offer.
The highest-performing original title was A Quiet Place ($188m/£144.5m), which was co-written and directed by its lead star, John Krasinski. The year’s biggest film – released ahead of summer – is Black Panther which amassed a haul of over $700m (£538m).
