Top Grossing Movies 2020 UK: The cinema industry in the UK saw closures and reduced capacity for most of the year, 1917 released in January was the top movie of the year

In a year which saw a worrying trend of movies not getting a theatrical release due to the global pandemic that hit the world in 2020 its unsure if the industry will recover as studios see big returns for movies on streaming services rather than box office returns.

The biggest grossing movie in the UK for the year is 1917 from director Sam Mandes which was released in January and has not been challenged all year as movies after March had no chance of making a substantial box office return.

The two movies which tried the most were Tenet released in August and did manage to become the 5th top movie of the year and Wonder Woman 1984 which although released in December, after many release changes, was hit by another UK lockdown which has massively impacted its box office potential.

Of the top 5 movies in the UK 2 of them were released in 2019 and 2 of them released in early 2020 with Tenet being the other.

Worth of a mention is that apart from Tenet which is the top movie in the pandemic era sleeper hit After We Collided which was released in early September is the 20th top movie of the year with a total gross of £4 Million, a great achievement in the current market.

Also worthy of a mention is the success the Disney/Pixar movie Onward had at the box office, it was the top movie of the week in March when cinemas closed, then the movie continued to top the box office when cinemas re-opened in July despite already being available on Disney+, the movie is the 12 top movie of 2020 with £7.5 Million.

With a vaccine not hitting the UK in late 2020 the first part of 2021 might be slow for cinemas as well, but providing they can survive once we hit spring it is hopeful doors will start to open again and capacity can return to normal and the box office can start properly once more.

Here is a break down of the top 5 movies in the UK for 2020.

1917

Released in January of 2020 the single shot Oscar nominated movie took £43.7 Million by mid March when cinemas shut down.

The film took a total gross of £43.9 Million by the end of 2020 and is the top movie of the year.

Sonic The Hedgehog

After a troubled first showing of Sonic when the lead character was redesign at the request of the fans, the movie was delayed to mid February 2020 where it took just nuder five million pound on its opening weekend.

After a five week run the Jim Carey starring movie had taken £19 Million and then after cinemas re-opened it's total UK gross rose to £19.2 Million.

Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker

Released at the very end of 2019 the JJ Abrams directed, last of the Skywalker sega, took £29.4 Million during its release year.

The movie continued to pull in audiences on 2020 and took another £18.8 Million until the end of January.

Little Women

Released on the last weekend of 2019 where is took £3.5 Million the movie continued to do well into 2020 where it took an extra £17.5 Million until mid February.

Tenet

After getting its original release date moved to 28th August the movie was to be the saviour of cinema after 4 month of closures to help stop the spread of COVID-19.

Despite much criticism for Warner Bros. releasing the movie when not all cinemas had reopened and capacity was limited the movie spend 13 weeks on the chart taking £17.5 Million and scraped its way into the top 5 movies of 2020.