The National Association of Theatre Owners and comScore have revealed the domestic gross revenue box office for 2018 has passed $6 billion before the end of June, marking the first time this achievement has been reached.
According to TheWrap, 2017 was the only year to come close to that mark, topping out at $5.64 billion by June 30th. 2018, however, is up nine percent over 2017, with a handful of days still left in June. While the second half of the year is expected to be slower, 2018 will still beat 2016’s previous record of $11.3 billion if it maintains at a 3.5 percent increase.
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The first quarter of 2018 started slow, with numbers not seen since 2012. But, thanks to a handful of record-breaking blockbusters, the revenue for the year has rebounded, thanks to The Greatest Showman and Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle‘s January releases, which were both unexpected successes, bringing in a combined $360 million. February’s Black Panther, meanwhile, broke almost every record in existence and became the biggest pre-summer release of all time, with a domestic total of just under $700 million.
The trend continued into the summer, where Avengers: Infinity War brought in $257.6 million and set a new record for the biggest opening weekend in movie history, while Deadpool 2 became only the fifth R-rated film in North America to pull in more than $300 million.
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More recently, The Incredibles 2 set an opening weekend record for animation, while Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom posted the second-highest opening in Universal’s history. Solo: A Star Wars Story, despite failing to meet expectations, still grossed more than $200 million.
With several big films still on the horizon, there’s every chance 2018 will be the biggest year for movies in history.