The US box office has just passed the $2 Billion mark, its November, for the past few years this has happened in March.

When the pandemic spread around the world, cinemas globally started closing down, in the US this is still ongoing.

This biggest movie of the year in the US is Bad Boys For Life which has taken over $204 Million in the US, and no film will overtake that total this year, the film was released in January of 2020 and had a good run at the box office.

In context of this the biggest movie in the US was Avengers: Endgame which took over $850 Million.

To start with all blockbusters started putting their release dates to later in the year or to 2021, but as it became clear that the pandemic would last far longer than originally expected movies started to appear on streaming services.

The effect of this is all those big Hollywood blockbusters that could have, and would have, grossed close a billion either took far less on basically limited release, or nothing due to a DVOD release.

Tenet was the first movie with blockbuster potential to be release during the pandemic and although it grossed over $50 Million in the US it was a potential $800 million plus grosser.

Drive-in theatres gave a small lifeline but even a blockbuster in this arena was worth just over a Million.

With a vaccine being likely by year out to hopefully go into mass production for 2021 we can hope that 2020 will go down in history as a one off, although with companies like Disney suggesting it will release future movies on Disney+ as exclusives or day and date releases it could be bad news for the cinema industry.

Blade Runner 2049 might not have set the box office on fire when it was released 3 weeks ago but it has managed something not many film do and go back to the top of the chart after being knocked off.

It was a relatively quiet weekend at UK cinemas and the Blade runner sequel took £1.8 million to go back on top, nearly 50% down on last weekend.

This means the film has now managed £12.7 million on its UK run, its hard to put this in context of the original movie which 3 weeks in had made £0.8 million.

If take inflated ticket prices into play then the original would have made £4.3 million at this stage so the sequel is over £10 million ahead.

Highest new film of the week, and despite the appalling reviews, is Geostorm starring Gerard Butler, which enters at number 2 with £1.6 million.

The weather disaster movie is a typical summer blockbuster movie so being released so late in the year probably meant the studio had little faith in the film.

Last weeks top film, The Lego Ninjago Movie, falls to number 3 this week with £1.3 million and a total gross so far of £5.5 million.

We have a change of longest running and top total grossing film this week with IT being around for 7 weeks and grossed a total of £32 million.

Historical charts

A year ago - Animated film Trolls took over at the top from The Girl On The Train which fell to number 3 after 2 weeks on top.

Five years ago - Madagascar 3: Europes Most Wanted was the top new film of the week entering the box office at number 1 while Taken 2 fell to number 3 after 2 weeks on top.

Ten years ago - Ratatouille spent a second weekend at the top while the top new film of the week was Stardust starring Claire Danes and Michelle Pfeiffer.

Fifteen years ago - Vin Diesel starred in XXX which was the top new film of the week at number 1 while Lilo and Stitch fell to number 2 after 2 weeks at the top.

Twenty years ago - Hercules spent its second weekend at the top while top new film was Shooting Fist at number 2.

Twenty five years ago - The animated Beauty and The Beast spent its second weekend on top while top new film Strictly Ballroom entered at number 2.

The American box office saw a massive boost this week with the release of The Secret Life of Pets, the movie makes its debut on the US box office with over $100 million.

To put this in context most Pixar films have massive opening weekend and this beat last years Inside Out which took $90 million on its debut.

The actual figure is $103 million which put it in the top 20 of the highest debut weekend of all time in America.

The film has had mediocre reviews but this doesn't seem to have harmed the debut at all, and with not much competition except the ageing Finding Dory.

Falling from the top is Finding Dory which falls to 3 this week, The Legend of Tarzan just about holding on at 2.

Dory has now grossed $422 million in American with a $20 million take this last weekend, the film is still to be released in many other countries.

Also new this week is Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates which lands at 4 with a $16 million debut weekend.