2021 in film is an overview of events, including the highest-grossing films, award ceremonies, festivals, a list of country-specific lists of films released, and movie programming.

Evaluation of the year

In his article highlighting the best movies of 2021, Richard Brody of ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'' said, "From an artistic perspective, 2021 has been an excellent cinematic vintage, yet the bounty is shadowed by an air of doom. The reopening of theatres has brought many great movies—some of which were postponed from last year—to the big screen, but fewer people to see them. The biggest successes, as usual, have been superhero and franchise films. '' The French Dispatch'' has done respectably in wide release, and '' Licorice Pizza'' is doing superbly on four screens in New York and Los Angeles, but few, if any, of the year’s best films are likely to reach high on the box-office charts. The shift toward streaming was already under way when the pandemic struck, and as the trend has accelerated it’s had a paradoxical effect on movies. On the one hand, a streaming release is a wide release, happily accessible to all (or to all subscribers). On the other, an online release usually registers as a nonevent, and many of the great movies hardly make a blip on the mediascape despite being more accessible than ever."

Highest-grossing films

2021 box office records

* Worldwide, the global box office ended the year at $21.4 billion, a figure 78% higher than 2020. * China was the highest-grossing country of 2021 with $7.3 billion. * In the United States and Canada, theaters earned an estimated $4.55 billion throughout 2021, a statistic 100% higher than 2020's $2.28 billion and 60% lower than 2019's $11.4 billion.

Film records

* The

Marvel Cinematic Universe The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is an American media franchise and shared universe centered on List of Marvel Cinematic Universe films, a series of superhero films produced by Marvel Studios. The films are based on characters that appe ...

became the first film franchise to gross $23 billion, $24 billion, and $25 billion with the releases of '' Black Widow'', ''

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings ''Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings'' is a 2021 American superhero film based on Marvel Comics featuring the character Shang-Chi. Produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, it is List of Marvel ...

'', '' Eternals'', and '' Spider-Man: No Way Home''. Additionally, the MCU became the first film franchise to have ten films gross over $1 billion with the release of ''Spider-Man: No Way Home''. * '' Spider-Man: No Way Home'' became the 48th film to gross $1 billion worldwide (the first film to do so since 2019's '' Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker'' prior to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

), surpassed '' Spider-Man: Far From Home'' as

Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at Sony City in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group encompasses various businesses, including Sony Corporation (electronics), Sony Semiconductor Solutions (i ...

's highest-grossing film of all time, and attained the distinction of being the highest-grossing film not to be released in China (one of the world's biggest box office markets). ** Also, is the third film to surpass the $800 million mark in North America. ** In

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

, ''No Way Home'' became the all-time highest-grossing film in Mexico (), and the second all-time highest in Brazil (),

Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

() and Ecuador (). * '' The Battle at Lake Changjin'' became the highest-grossing non-English film of all time as well as highest-grossing Chinese film of all time. ** ''The Battle at Lake Changjin'' also became the second highest-grossing film in a single market, after '' Star Wars: The Force Awakens'' (2015) in the United States. * '' Hi, Mom'' became the highest-grossing film by a solo female director, surpassing the record set by ''

Wonder Woman Wonder Woman is a superheroine who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character first appeared in ''All Star Comics'' Introducing Wonder Woman, #8, published October 21, 1941, with her first feature in ''Sensation Comic ...

'' (2017). * '' Detective Chinatown 3'' set the record for the biggest opening weekend in a single territory, surpassing the record set by '' Avengers: Endgame'' in 2019, and had the tenth highest-grossing opening weekend on release. * ''

Avatar Avatar (, ; ) is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means . It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appearance" is sometimes u ...

'' became the highest-grossing film of all time again after a re-release in China increased its gross past $2.8 billion. * The

anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...

film '' Demon Slayer: Mugen Train'' (2020) released in North America in April 2021, with its opening weekend gross of setting the record as the biggest opening for any foreign-language film released in North America.

Events

Award ceremonies

Film festivals

List of some of the film festivals for 2021 that have been accredited by the International Federation of Film Producers Associations (FIAPF).

Awards

Palme d'Or The (; ) is the highest prize awarded to the director of the Best Feature Film of the Official Competition at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festiv ...

( 74th Cannes Film Festival): :'' Titane'', directed by Julia Ducournau, France Golden Lion ( 78th Venice International Film Festival): :''

Happening A happening is a performance, event, or situation art, usually as performance art. The term was first used by Allan Kaprow in 1959 to describe a range of art-related events. History Origins Allan Kaprow first coined the term "happening" i ...

'', directed by Audrey Diwan, France

Golden Bear The Golden Bear () is the highest prize awarded for the best film at the Berlin International Film Festival and is, along with the Palme d'Or and the Golden Lion, the most important international film festival award. The bear is the heraldic an ...

( 71st Berlin International Film Festival): :'' Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn'' (''Babardeală cu bucluc sau porno balamuc''), directed by Radu Jude, Romania

2021 films

By country/region

By genre/medium

* List of animated feature films of 2021 * List of horror films of 2021 * List of science fiction films of 2021

Deaths

Film debuts

* Ángela Cervantes − '' Girlfriends'' * Phoebe Dynevor – '' The Colour Room'' * Mark Eydelshteyn – ' * Leung Chung Hang – '' Zero to Hero'' * Jude Hill – ''

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

'' * Anson Lo – ''Showbiz Spy'' *

Paul Mescal Paul Colm Michael Mescal ( ; born 2 February 1996) is an Irish actor. His accolades include two BAFTA Awards, a Laurence Olivier Award, in addition to nominations for an Academy Award and a Primetime Emmy Award. Born in Maynooth, he studied ...

– '' The Lost Daughter'' * María Romanillos – '' The Consequences'' * Louise Wong – '' Anita'' * Rachel Zegler – ''

West Side Story ''West Side Story'' is a Musical theatre, musical conceived by Jerome Robbins with music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a Book (musical theatre), book by Arthur Laurents. Inspired by William Shakespeare's play ''Romeo an ...

Notes

References

External links

List of 2021 films
at

IMDb IMDb, historically known as the Internet Movie Database, is an online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and biograp ...

2021 Domestic Grosses
at

Box Office Mojo Box Office Mojo is an American website that tracks box-office revenue in a systematic, algorithmic way. The site was founded in 1998 by Brandon Gray, and was bought in 2008 by IMDb, which itself is owned by Amazon. History Brandon Gray ...

List of 2021 deaths
at

List of 2021 births
at

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