Pandemic does not make loss for all, Some break the record of earning
1 The Eight Hundred CMC Pictures Holdings $461,339,5282
2 Bad Boys for Life Sony Pictures $426,505,2443
3 My People, My Homeland China Lion Film Distribution $422,384,0944
4 Tenet Warner Bros. $362,629,0005
5 Demon Slayer: Mugen Train Toho / Aniplex (Sony Music Japan) $340,173,2086
6 Sonic the Hedgehog Paramount $320,954,0267
7 Dolittle Universal $250,482,8638
8 Jiang Ziya Beijing Enlight Pictures $243,843,1059
9 Birds of Prey Warner Bros. $201,858,46110
10 The Sacrifice Beijing Enlight Pictures $170,730,000
China overtook the United States as the world's largest box office market for the first time in 2020. This has been largely attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic having a negative impact on the global box office, particularly in North America.
Because of the relatively smaller impact of the pandemic on Asian film markets, half of the top ten highest-grossing films of the year are non-Hollywood (specifically Chinese and Japanese) productions for the first time in history, as the rankings were previously always dominated by North American productions.
Sonic the Hedgehog broke Pokemon: Detective Pikachu's record for the highest opening weekend for a film based on a video game, with $70 million 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 (from 2010 to 2019).
The Eight Hundred, a Chinese film, became the first ever non-Hollywood film production to become the highest-grossing film of the year. In previous years, the highest-grossing film of the year was always a Hollywood production. This record has been largely attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Demon Slayer: Mugen Train, a Japanese anime film based on the manga series Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, broke a number of box office records in Asia.
In Japan, Mugen Train set the first-day opening record with ¥1.2 billion ($11.3 million), before breaking the opening weekend record with ¥4.6 billion ($43.8 million) over three days. It went on to have the highest-grossing second weekend, and in ten days became the fastest film to cross ¥10 billion ($96.7 million), surpassing Spirited Away (2001) which had previously crossed the ¥10 billion milestone in 19 days and held the record for 19 years. Mugen Train also became the fastest film to cross ¥20 billion 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 (2018). In 59 days, Mugen Train set another record as the fastest film to cross the ¥30 billion 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 (since the charts began publication in 2004). In 73 days, Mugen Train grossed ¥32.48 billion 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 NT$360 million (US$12.6 million) in 17 days, setting the record for the highest-grossing animated film of all time in Taiwan, surpassing the previous record holders Frozen 2 (2019) and Your Name (2016). In 20 days, Mugen Train became the first animated film to cross NT$400 million in Taiwan, before later crossing the NT$500 million milestone.
For the first time in box office history, two non-American animated film productions (specifically Asian films), Demon Slayer: Mugen Train from Japan and Jiang Ziya from China, have become the highest-grossing animated films of the year. This has also been partly attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is also the first time since 1987 that a non-American animated film (specifically Japanese anime), Demon Slayer: Mugen Train, became the highest-grossing animated film of the year.