(Credits: Far Out / The Castle Cinema)
Sat 21 June 2025 22:15, UK
It’s a great thing when any movie manages to draw people into the cinema, whether it be the crowds that flocked towards the big screen for Barbenheimer or those who convened for The Substance.
Bums on seats is always a good thing, leading to a thriving industry that has been under threat ever since the creation of streaming, leading more people to watch from the comfort of their homes instead of enjoying the magic of visiting the cinema.
The movie-watching experience took a hit after streaming giants like Netflix adopted a stance that was firmly against theatrical releases, with great directors like Martin Scorsese, Richard Linklater and Noah Baumbach making films that were barely given a chance to be seen on the big screen, despite the fact that many audience members would kill for the chance to experience this.
While some streaming services are becoming more flexible in their approach to theatrical releases, there are others who rally against this, leading to a strange cinematic landscape in which some independent directors can get their film made, but won’t be seen by many people due to a lack of marketing and screenings. But for huge commercial projects, such as the recent Mission: Impossible instalment or anything by Ridley Scott, there won’t be any issue in selling tickets because they’ll cram a hundred screenings into each cinema and plaster posters over every billboard.
It might be disheartening to see the wrong films receive this level of attention, with the unfounded success of the Minecraft Movie and recent Lilo and Stitch adaptation springing to mind, but at least people are still keeping some cinemas alive, even if many others are dying. But which films have been doing all the heavy lifting?
The only 21st-century movies to sell more than 300 million tickets
Marvel is known for having a huge and fairly intense fan base, with people going crazy each time a project is announced that is exactly the same as each one to come before it. The studio have perfected their formula, and people fall for it each time, with some great actors even falling for their gimmicks as the likes of Florence Pugh drift over to the dark side.
But for many actors, it’s about the size of the cheque involved in the project, something that naturally comes after becoming a huge box office success. Many of Marvel’s films have shattered records for ticket sales, but Avengers: Endgame was one of their crowning glories, with over $1.2 billion made in ticket sales in the first week of opening and selling 351.5 million tickets.
It might seem like an impossible feat, but other films have had similar success, with Avatar also earning a place in this category with 331 million ticket sales, with an overall box office of $2.92 billion. The last film to reach this success was Ne Zha 2, which was released in 2025 and sold 315 million tickets, becoming the highest-grossing animated film of all time. These numbers might be hard to comprehend, but perhaps we can only take it as a sign that cinema is alive and well.
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