The film industry has faced a lot of obstacles since the pandemic spread around the world at the beginning of 2020. Movie theaters were forced to shut down and many corporations had to stop the production of films. However, a little less than a year later movie theaters started to reopen and the production of movies has resumed. Subsequently, many entertainment corporations did well this year, and the movies that were released made history. Here is a breakdown of the top five movies that made the most box office revenue in 2021. 

   The first movie that received the highest box office revenue in 2021 was “Spider-Man: No Way Home.” The total box office profits that have been made to date is $1.202B, a figure that will continue to rise as the film is still in theaters. On opening day on Dec. 17, 2021, it made roughly $75.3M and is currently the second-highest grossing movie on opening day worldwide behind “Avengers: Endgame.” The movie’s trailer also set a record for being the most viewed movie trailer within the first 24 hours of being released with an astounding 355M views. Although this isn’t a shock considering how well other Marvel movies have done in the past, it is incredible that this movie surpassed the total box office earnings of past well-anticipated movies despite the new COVID-19 variant surge.

   The second movie that made the second-highest box office revenue in 2021 is “F9: The Fast Saga.” After four years and several delays, the ninth movie in the “Fast and Furious” series was released on June 25, 2021. The film was the 103rd movie to be released in 2021 but became a part of the top five most grossing movies of the year only days after its release. On opening day it made $30M, and in the box office it made a total of $726.2M. The series is expected to release the 10th film sometime in 2023 and possibly the 11th film after that to complete the series. 

   The third movie that received the third-highest box office revenue in 2021 is “Venom: Let There Be Carnage.” This movie made $501M in box office and made $37.3M on opening day on Oct. 1, 2021. It also exceeded the number of earnings that the movie “Black Widow” made on the opening weekend by $9.7M. Although this movie hasn’t made as much in the box office as its predecessor, “Venom,” it can still be seen in theaters and is predicted to outearn it soon. With both movies making $1.3B total so far it is highly likely that a third movie will be underway. 

   The fourth movie that received the fourth-highest box office revenue in 2021 was “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.” This Marvel film made $432.2M box office and earned $71.4M on opening day on Sept. 3, 2021. This is impressive considering that the movie was based on a newly introduced Marvel character and that it surpassed the total amount of box office revenue that the Marvel film “Black Widow” made regardless of the popular character. This movie also made history by having the first Asian superhero protagonist star in a Marvel film. The movie was a success, as over 7.8 million tickets were sold within the span of two days after the movie was released. According to RadioTimes.com the director of “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” has confirmed that there will be a sequel. 

   The fifth movie that received the fifth-highest box office revenue in 2021 is “Black Widow.” The film was originally planned to be released in May 2020 but it was pushed back multiple times due to the COVID-19 pandemic  This delay made people wonder whether the movie would be a flop. However, that turned out to not be the case because the film made over $379.6M at the box office and $80M on opening day on Jul. 9, 2021. Additionally, this movie kept the title of being the highest-grossing movie since the pandemic began before the release of “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.” Moving forward, there hasn’t been any information that confirms whether there will be a sequel, so for now, fans will just have to wait.