Updated on December 10, 2021
2018 saw some improvements from 2017 at the domestic box office, according to Variety. Films like “Black Panther” helped score a major domestic boost. Meanwhile, international box office figures were also helped by superheroes, with T’Challa, Thanos, and Arthur Curry doing well.
Here’s a look at the 10 top-grossing films domestically, globally, and for animation.
Domestic box office
Figures taken from Box Office Mojo as of January 17, 2019.
- Black Panther, $700 million
- Avengers: Infinity War, $678.8 million
- Incredibles 2, $608.6 million
- Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, $417.7 million
- Deadpool 2, $318.5 million
- Aquaman, $292.9 million
- The Grinch (2018 version), $270 million
- Mission: Impossible—Fallout, $220 million
- Ant-Man and the Wasp, $216.6 million
- Solo: A Star Wars Story, $213.8 million
As the above shows, superheroes dominated the North American box office, making up six of the 10 slots. “Black Panther,” of course, was the surprise mega-hit of the year, raking in $700 million as the year’s top movie.
Global box office
Figures taken from Box Office Mojo as of January 17, 2019.
- Avengers: Infinity War, $2.048 billion
- Black Panther, $1.347 billion
- Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, $1.31 billion
- Incredibles 2, $1.243 billion
- Aquaman, $1.037 billion
- Venom, $855.8 million
- Mission: Impossible—Fallout, $791.1 million
- Bohemian Rhapsody, $779.6 million
- Deadpool 2, $737.8 million
- Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, $648.8 million
As usual, what the world is interested in doesn’t always match what’s popular in North America.
The top-earning film of 2018 globally was “Infinity War,” though #2 was “Black Panther.” Superhero films made up six of the top 10 films globally as well.
“Aquaman” is finally DC’s first billion dollar movie in the “DCEU” era. That’s thanks to doing quite well overseas—about 72% of its revenue comes from outside North America. My guesses why: like “Guardians of the Galaxy,” Aquaman’s an “unconventional,” less familiar superhero; the Sea King doesn’t have the stigma overseas that some comic fans in North America hold about him; and perhaps the rest of the world enjoys ocean-based adventure stories more than North Americans do? (See: the similar lopsided overseas numbers for the “Pirates of the Caribbean” sequels.)
Similarly, Venom, Deadpool, and “Fantastic Beasts” also did well thanks to overseas box office figures; all of those films pulled in north of 70% of their revenue outside North America. Ditto “Bohemian Rhapsody,” this year’s Golden Globes winner for best picture, despite mixed reviews and a few other issues. Guess the rest of the world really likes Queen nostalgia?
Animated films box office (global)
Figures taken from Box Office Mojo as of January 17, 2019.
- Incredibles 2, $1.243 billion
- Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation, $527.3 million
- The Grinch (2018), $506.1 million
- Ralph Breaks the Internet, $435.6 million
- Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, $305.1 million
The long-awaited Disney/Pixar “Incredibles” sequel of course raked in a lot of cash, and was the year’s top animated film by a mile.
At #2 was “Hotel Transylvania”‘s third film, narrowly followed by the animated “Grinch.” Disney clocked in again at #4 with the “Wreck-It Ralph” sequel, while Miles Morales and company came in fifth place.
My 2018 movie watching
Last year, I managed to catch up on a lot of my movie watching. I’ll continue to do the same this year (Netflix price hikes and other changes notwithstanding), as there’s films from 2018 I haven’t watched yet.
