2018 in film

Evaluation of the year

Highest-grossing films

2018 box office records

• The Marvel Cinematic Universe became the first film franchise to gross more than $14billion with the release of Black Panther, and the first franchise to release five billion-dollar-grossing films. Two months later, the MCU became the first film franchise to gross more than $15billion and $16billion with the release of ', which became the sixth billion-dollar-grossing film in the franchise, and also the first film in the franchise to earn $2 billion; and the MCU also became the first film franchise with two billion-dollar-grossing films released in the same year. Two months after that, the MCU became the first film franchise to gross over $17billion with the release of Ant-Man and the Wasp.
• China set an all-time biggest global one-month record in February with , calculating revenues from both local and foreign films. The record breaking number was largely attributed to the Lunar New Year holiday. The previous global monthly box office record was set in July 2011 in North America with $1.395 billion and the previous highest-grossing month in China was August 2017 with . The highest-grossing films in China during the month were the domestic films Operation Red Sea, Monster Hunt 2, and Detective Chinatown 2, and the Indian film Secret Superstar.
• For the first time in history, February recorded $1 billion ticket sales in North America, fueled largely by the success of Disney/Marvel's Black Panther which represented 43% or $428.8 million of the entire month's ticket sales. The previous February record was in 2012 with $818.4 million.
• In China, the combined opening weekend numbers of Monster Hunt 2, Detective Chinatown 2, The Monkey King 3, Operation Red Sea and Boonie Bears: The Big Shrink amounted to a record breaking or weekend with online ticket sales, which is more than double the feat achieved in 2017 and 2016 during the same time period. The previous weekend record was set in North America during the weekend of December 18–20, 2017, when the combined grosses of several films resulted in led by 's debut.
• The same weekend, China also set a new IMAX opening record when the combined IMAX earnings of the three films recorded, led by Monster Hunt 2 and Detective Chinatown 2.
• During the first quarter of 2018, China overtook North America as the world's largest box office market for the first time, with China grossing compared to North America's during that quarter. Despite declining revenue from Hollywood films, Chinese box office growth was driven primarily by domestic Chinese films, led by Operation Red Sea and Detective Chinatown 2, along with non-Hollywood foreign films, led by Indian Bollywood films Secret Superstar and Bajrangi Bhaijaan.

  Studio records

• Walt Disney Studios became the fastest studio ever to reach $1 billion for the year at the domestic box office; it reached this goal in 117 days on April 27, 2018, beating its own record of 128 days set on May 7, 2016.
• * Walt Disney Studios also grossed over $7 billion worldwide and $3 billion domestic, making it its 2nd time after 2016. It passed Disney's 2016 domestic gross and it's in 2nd place this year.
• With Incredibles 2, Pixar became the first animation studio to have three animated films each surpass $1 billion at the worldwide box office.

  Film records

• Black Panther grossed $202million in its opening weekend and $242.16million over the four-day holiday weekend, breaking the record for a February opening weekend and a Presidents' Day weekend, surpassing Deadpool, and recording the biggest opening weekend and total for a film directed by a black filmmaker, surpassing The Fate of the Furious. It also became just the fifth movie ever to gross more than $200million domestically in its opening weekend. On Monday, February 19, the film grossed another $40.17million, breaking the record for a Monday gross and surpassing Force Awakens. The subsequent $242.16 million four-day opening weekend became the second-biggest four-day gross ever, only behind The Force Awakens $288.07 million. On February 23–25, the film grossed another $111.7million, recording the second-biggest second weekend gross behind The Force Awakens and becoming just the fourth film to gross more than $100million in its second weekend. On February 27, the film became the first superhero origin film and the tenth film overall to gross $500 million domestically, surpassing Wonder Woman to become the highest-grossing single character superhero origin film; on March 9, the film reached $549.2million domestically, surpassing The Dark Knight to become the highest grossing solo superhero film of all time. On March 16, the film became the seventh film to gross $600 million domestically, and just the second superhero movie to do so. On March 24, the film reached a total domestic gross of to become the highest grossing superhero movie of all time, surpassing The Avengers. On March 30, the film became the fifth film to gross $650 million domestically. On April 7, it reached a total domestic gross of to surpass Titanic as the third-highest-grossing film in the United States and Canada. On August 3, it reached a total domestic gross of $700 million, becoming the third film to reach the mark.
• Black Panther also became the highest-grossing film of all time in West and East Africa, and the southern Africa region.
• On March 9–12, Ryan Coogler's Black Panther retained the #1 box office spot with a $40.8million fourth weekend, while Ava DuVernay's A Wrinkle in Time opened at the #2 spot with a $33.1million debut, marking the first time in history that the top two spots of a weekend were both held by black directors.
• ' grossed $258million in its opening weekend, breaking the record for biggest domestic opening weekend and surpassing The Force Awakens. The film grossed $641million worldwide opening weekend, becoming the first film ever to open with more than globally and surpassing The Fate of the Furious. On April 27, the film grossed $106 million in its opening day, the second-highest single day gross behind The Force Awakens to become just the third movie ever to gross more than $100 million in a single day ; on April 28, the film grossed another, breaking the record for a Saturday gross and surpassing Jurassic World ; on April 29, the film grossed another $69.2 million, breaking the record for a Sunday gross and surpassing The Force Awakens. The film became the second film of the decade to gross $2 billion, making the 2010s the first decade to have two films gross $2 billion.
• Bohemian Rhapsody, based on the life of Queen's lead vocalist Freddie Mercury, grossed over worldwide, setting all-time records for the highest-grossing biopic ever, the highest-grossing musical biopic, and the highest-grossing drama film.
• Secret Superstar, an Indian musical drama film that had its China release in January 2018, grossed $29.2million in its opening weekend there, setting a record for an Indian film in China, surpassing Dangal; Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan produced and starred in both films. Secret Superstars first-week gross in China was $47million, also a record for an Indian film in the country, again surpassing Dangal. Secret Superstar was the fourth highest-grossing foreign film in China during JanuaryApril 2018. Secret Superstar also became one of the most profitable films of all time, grossing worldwide on a limited budget of, with over % return on investment.
• Incredibles 2 grossed $182.7 million domestically and $235.8 million worldwide in its opening weekend, setting records for the biggest domestic opening weekend for both Pixar and any animated film, the biggest worldwide opening for Pixar, and the biggest opening weekend worldwide for an animated film. It also set the record for the biggest opening for a PG rated movie. It became the first animated film to earn $500 million at the domestic box office, later the first animated film to earn $600 million at the domestic box office, earning just over $602 million and surpassing the previous record set by Finding Dory by over $100 million. It is also the fastest animated film to gross $1 billion worldwide doing so in 46 days, surpassing Minions''.

  Events

Award ceremonies

Festivals

Awards

2018 films

January–March

April–June

July–September

October–December

List of films released in 2018

• American films
• Australian films
• Bengali films
• Bollywood films
• Brazilian films
• British films
• French films
• Hong Kong films
• Japanese films
• Pakistani films
• Russian films
• South Korean films
• Spanish films
• Tamil films
• Telugu films

  Deaths