2020 in film

Evaluation of the year

Highest-grossing films

2020 box office records

• China overtook North America as the world's largest box office market for the first time in 2020. China generated in theatrical revenue compared to North America's, the lowest for the North American box office in at least 40 years. This has been largely attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has had a greater negative impact in North America than in Asia.
• Because of the relatively smaller impact of the pandemic on Asian film markets, the majority of the top ten highest-grossing films of the year are East Asian productions for the first time in history, as the rankings were previously dominated by North American productions.

  Film records

• At the end of 2020, The Eight Hundred became the first Chinese and first non-Hollywood film to top the global box office with more than $450 million in gross. It was later overtaken by Demon Slayer the Movie: Mugen Train in May 2021.
• Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train, a Japanese anime film based on the manga series Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, broke a number of box office records.
• * It became the first ever non-Hollywood film production to become the highest-grossing film of the year and the first 2D-animated feature to become the highest grossing movie of the year since Disney's The Lion King in 1994.
• * It set the all-time box office records for the highest-grossing Japanese film, the highest-grossing anime film, and the highest-grossing R-rated animated film.
• * In Japan, Mugen Train set the first-day opening record with , before breaking the opening weekend record with over three days. It went on to have the highest-grossing second weekend and, in ten days, became the fastest film to cross , surpassing Spirited Away, which had previously crossed the milestone in 19 days and held the record for 19 years. Mugen Train also became the fastest film to cross in Japan, again faster than Spirited Away. It also set the record for the highest-grossing IMAX release in Japan, surpassing the previous record holder, Bohemian Rhapsody. In 59 days, Mugen Train set another record as the fastest film to cross the milestone, faster than Spirited Away, which took 253 days to reach the same milestone. In 66 days, the film set another record as the first film to top the Japanese box office charts for ten straight weekends. In 73 days, Mugen Train grossed to become the highest-grossing film of all time in Japan, surpassing Spirited Away, which held the record for 19 years.
• * In Taiwan, Mugen Train grossed in 17 days, setting the record for the highest-grossing animated film of all time in Taiwan, surpassing the previous record holders Frozen 2 and Your Name. In 20 days, Mugen Train became the first animated film to cross in Taiwan, before later crossing the milestone.
• *The film was also the first R-rated film since Die Hard with a Vengeance in 1995 to be the highest-grossing film of the year overall.
• *The film was also the first animated film since The Jungle Book in 1967 to be the highest-grossing film of the year overall and not the highest-grossing animated film of all time at the time.
• Sonic the Hedgehog broke Pokémon: Detective Pikachus record for the highest opening weekend for a film based on a video game, with $70 million in domestic gross in the United States and Canada. It went on to become the highest-grossing film based on a video game in the United States and Canada, surpassing Detective Pikachu, although it did not beat it in the worldwide box office. Sonic the Hedgehog is also the highest-grossing superhero film of 2020, ending the Marvel Cinematic Universe's decade-long run of having the highest-grossing superhero film of the year.
• For the first time in box office history, two non-American animated film productions, Demon Slayer the Movie: Mugen Train from Japan and Jiang Ziya from China, have become the highest-grossing animated films of the year. This has been partly attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is also the first time since 1987 that a non-American animated film, Demon Slayer the Movie: Mugen Train, became the highest-grossing animated film of the year, and the first time an anime has made it to the top 10 highest-grossing films of the year worldwide.
• 2020 was the first year since 2007 not to have a film gross $1 billion during its theatrical run, the first year since 2005 not to have a film gross over $900 million, and the first year since 2000 not to have a film gross over $600 million, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• 2020 was the first year since 1995 in which no film was among the 20 highest-grossing films of all time at the time due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

  Events

• April 28, 2020 - AMC Theaters announces they will not carry films from Universal Pictures following the premium video on demand release of DreamWorks Animation's Trolls World Tour due to the COVID-19 pandemic, after NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell commented in The Wall Street Journal that the studio wanted to release films via premium video-on-demand simultaneously with theatrical releases.
• July 28, 2020 - AMC and Universal resolves their dispute, with AMC agreeing to a shorter theatrical window of 17 days before Universal could release their films via premium VOD, as well as revenue sharing on the premium VOD window.

  Award ceremonies