Global box office revenue 2014-2021, by format

In 2021, the global box office revenue added up to approximately 21.3 billion U.S. dollars, up from 11.8 billion dollars a year earlier – an annual increase of 80.5 percent. Still, the 2021 result amounted to only little more than half of the 42.3-billion-dollar box office revenue recorded in 2019, before the COVID-19 outbreak. Furthermore, the share of 3D films in the global revenue went from six percent in 2020 to 6.6 percent in 2021.

Cinema market: a challenging comeback

The pandemic changed the film industry by emptying movie theaters and accelerating the increase in video streaming penetration. In the so-called North American movie market – which consists of Canada and the United States (including the unincorporated territories of Guam and Puerto Rico) – the box office revenue more than doubled between 2020 and 2021. But the latter figure amounted to less than 40 percent of the pre-COVID-19 result. Meanwhile, subscription video-on-demand (SVoD) platforms went even further. Netflix kept the top spot while new competitors such as Disney+ diversified the offering.

Big players on the big screen

The global cinema segment spans way beyond North America, though. China alone sold more than 1.1 billion movie tickets throughout 2021, making it the leading market worldwide, right above the U.S. India ranked third with almost 380 million tickets sold that same year. With a vast film culture – even larger than its iconic Bollywood industry – India and its cinema feature a myriad of languages and advertising opportunities to its gargantuan audience.