It feels like it flew by in the blink of an eye, but 2018 is almost over. With so many great films that came out this year, it’s hard to remember what the actual timeline was and what movies performed best. Although it’s not a race or a contest, this year it looks like Marvel characters were loved by fans all year long; at least that’s what we can tell from the box office numbers!
Now, we may be a little biased in our excitement, but that doesn’t change the fact that out of the top 10 films of 2018 at the US box office, five of them were movies starring Marvel characters.
The first Marvel film of the year was Black Panther, and you’d have to be living under a rock to not be aware of the massive impact that it made on the entertainment industry. Wakanda has been the talk of the town since Black Panther’s release in February with a global gross of over a billion dollars worldwide, but the focus here is on the numbers in the US. Domestically, Black Panther racked up $700 million, and besides claiming the number one box office spot in the US, the movie also went on to become the third highest grossing film of all time here in the States, just behind Avatar and Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Money aside, it’s undeniable how culturally significant the movie instantly became. People weren’t chanting “Wakanda Forever” for nothing!
Next up, debuting only about 10 weeks after Black Panther, was the film that changed it all, Avengers: Infinity War. What is interesting about these numbers is that Infinity War grossed less than Black Panther domestically, but it outranked it overseas: The domestic haul hit just below Black Panther at $678 million, ranking it second at the US box office, but worldwide, Infinity War landed as the fourth highest grossing film of all time, so it’s quite alright that Black Panther is number one of 2018 in the US. It’s what we like to call a win-win… for everyone except the Avengers who perished after Thanos’ finger snap, that is.
A few weeks after Infinity War, Fox released the long-awaited sequel to 2016’s Deadpool, Deadpool 2. The marketing strategy for this film was genius, but even without that, the movie really sold itself thanks to all the hard work by Ryan Reynolds and the rest of the team. Sitting at the fifth spot of the top 10, Deadpool 2 brought in a domestic score of $318 million and still broke a few records of its own, like the highest international gross in Fox Studios’ history. Not bad for an ugly mug like Wade Wilson.
Below Deadpool 2 at eighth highest grossing film of the year in the US is the only MCU sequel to come out this year (not counting Infinity War), Ant-Man and the Wasp. With a domestic gross of $216 million, the film did well for itself, especially since the stakes were considerably lower than Infinity War before it. The worldwide gross hit over half a billion at $622 million, which still ended up being a profit of three times its budget.
Rounding out the top 10 list is Sony Studios’ Venom. For a film that came out in the last part of the year, this is a great achievement. The domestic gross, which currently sits at close to $213 million, is less than $1 million short of the number nine spot, taken by Solo: A Star Wars Story. The movie may have received mixed reviews, but it still brought fans to the theater in masses and broke the record for October opening weekend gross. Since Venom is still in theaters, it can jump up a spot or two, so definitely keep an eye on this one!
Next up for Marvel is Captain Marvel opening next March, so it will be interesting to see how that film stacks up against its predecessors. Captain Marvel is one of our only hopes to reverse Thanos’ finger snap of doom thus far, so the numbers will likely be high—not to mention the fact that it’s the first Marvel movie with a female titular character.
We’ll see you in the new year to hopefully start another roster of top grossing Marvel films!