2019 in film is an overview of events, including the highest-grossing films, award ceremonies, critics' lists of the best films of 2019, festivals, a list of country-specific lists of films released, and movie programming. Avengers Endgame was the year's highest grossing film and the highest-grossing of all-time until Avatar regained the top spot in 2021.
In his article highlighting the best movies of 2019, Richard BrodyofThe New Yorker said, "It's the year of apocalyptic cinema of the highest order, the year in which three of our best filmmakers have responded with vast ambition, invention, and inspiration to the crises at hand, including the threats to American democracy, the catastrophic menaces arising from global warming, the corrosive cruelty of ethnic hatreds and nationalist prejudices, and the poisonous overconcentration of money and power. At the same time, it's a year of inside-movies practicalities, of special attention to the business at hand, because of the structural threats to the movie business from new and powerful players. The major crisis specific to cinema outleaps even the great merits of individual movies and invokes basic and comprehensive questions of which movies can be seen and how those movies are acknowledged. It's a terrific year for movies, but it would seem much less so if we only considered movies in wide release. Versions of that refrain come up every year, but what used to be merely a gap between the multiplexes and limited releases has now become an abyss."[1]
China set the all-time biggest global one-month record in February 2019 with CN¥11.09 billion ($1.63 billion), as a result of Chinese New Year season, surpassing the previous record set by China in February 2018. The month's highest-grossing film was the domestic Chinese film The Wandering Earth, while the highest-grossing foreign film that month was Alita: Battle Angel.[4]
Toy Story 4, The Lion King, and Frozen II all earned over $1 billion in the same year, making it the first time three animated films surpassed $1 billion in the same year.
Walt Disney Studios became the first studio in history to surpass $10 billion in worldwide box office grosses in a year.[5]
Spider-Man: Far From Home became Sony Pictures' highest-grossing film. The record would be surpassed by 2021's Spider-Man: No Way Home.
With Toy Story 4, Pixar became the first animation studio to have four animated films (along with Toy Story 3, Finding Dory, and Incredibles 2) each surpass $1 billion at the worldwide box office,[6] and also the second animated film series to have two installments surpass $1 billion at the worldwide box office, after the Despicable Me franchise in 2017.
The Wandering Earth set the all-time opening record in China, grossing $349 million in its first seven days, which also made it the second biggest opening in any territory (after Star Wars: The Force Awakens in North America).[7]
Capernaum became the highest-grossing Middle-Eastern film of all time, having earned more than $50 million worldwide (including $43.5 million in China) by 16 May 2019.[14]
Aladdin became the highest-grossing release of all time in the Middle East,[15] and had the year's biggest opening weekend for a foreign film as well as this year's highest-grossing foreign film in Japan to date. The film has also surpassed Independence Day (1996) to become the highest-grossing film of Will Smith's career.[16] The film also became the highest-grossing Disney film ever in South Korea, not including films from the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
The Lion King set the record for the widest opening weekend and widest release ever for North American film history, with 4,725 and 4,802 theaters, respectively.[18] On August 11, the film surpassed Beauty and the Beast (2017) as the highest-grossing remake of all time worldwide.[19] On August 26, the film become the first animated film to grossed $1 billion at overseas box office outside North America.
The Lion King was also the first animated film since Finding Nemo in 2003 to be at the time the highest-grossing animated film of all time but not the highest-grossing film of its year overall.
Ne Zha set the record for the biggest opening for an animated film in China, with $91.5 million, this was also the highest for a non-Hollywood animated film. It later became the first non-Hollywood animated film to earn $500 million (in 17 days), $600 million (in 25 days), and $700 million (in 46 days) and the first animated film not released by Universal, Disney, or Fox to do so.
Joker became the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time, and the first R-rated film to pass the billion-dollar mark at the worldwide box office.[20]
In November, Frozen II surpassed the record set by The Lion King earlier in July, as the biggest opening weekend for an animated and musical film with $358.5 million worldwide.
2019 is the first year to have nine films cross the billion-dollar milestone, surpassing 2015's and 2018's record of five billion-dollar films.[6][21][22][23] Additionally, Disney (not counting Marvel StudiosorLucasfilm) saw four films cross $1 billion, the studio's highest amount in any calendar year.
November 23 – After a disorder following the screening of the gang-themed British film Blue Story (released the previous day) at Star City, in Birmingham, England, UK cinema chains cancel all screenings of the film.[25][26]
December 4 - CBS and Viacom agreed to merge back into one entity after 13 years.[27] Both companies came to an agreement on the management team for the merger. The reunited company's new name is ViacomCBS.
