It is no secret that the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic stopped everything on its track for a better part of two years. Financially, a major brunt of it was felt by production studios, who either had to release their movies on OTT platforms or wait years before theatres finally started opening up.
A recent example of this was Top Gun: Maverick, which was supposed to come out back in 2019 but kept getting delayed for one reason or the other. The wait though seems to have paid off as the movie just crossed the $1 billion mark at the box office. Following a similar theme, we’ve made a list of the top 7 highest-grossing movies which came out during the post-pandemic period.
1) Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) – $1.9 Billion
How many Spider-Mans does it take to cross almost two billion at the box office? If you had three on your bingo card before the release of No Way Home, well congratulations. Easily the most hyped movie of last year, the third movie in MCU’s Spidey franchise managed to pull not only two Peter Parkers out of alternate universes, but also a lot of money from the box office. The Tom Holland and Zendaya starer movie is currently streaming on Netflix.
2) Top Gun: Maverick (2022) – $1 Billion
Perhaps Maverick was flying too close to the danger zone when Cruise made the decision to wait for theatres to open up. According to a recent interview, the 59-year-old made sure that the Top Gun sequel doesn’t just end up on someone’s streaming queue. The bet seems to have paid off. Not even a month from its release, the movie has gone on to cross over a billion dollars at the box office. And the best part is, it is still available in most movie theatres!
3) Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022): $947 million
After sorting the mess out that Spiderman created back in No Way Home, the former Sorcerer Supreme went on his own bender of multiversal madness. The Sam Raimi-directed movie not only pushed the envelope when it came to MCU villains but also gave us our first glimpse into Marvel’s first family, headed by John Krasinski. Although, let’s hope he lives up to the tag of being the “smartest man alive” yeah?
4) The Battle at Lake Changjin (2021): $902 million
To really understand the box office pull China holds over any other nation you only need to look at its highest-grossing movie. The 2021 release called The Battle at Lake Changjin was the country’s most expensive movie to be produced, with a budget of a whopping $200 million. Approved and stamped by the Chinese Communist Party, to celebrate its 100th anniversary, the movie went on to gross $913 million at the worldwide box office, making it the highest-grossing non-English film of all time.
5) No Time to Die (2021): $774 million
Mr Bond had to wait a whole year before he could get his well-deserved send-off. The movie which also served as a swan song for Daniel Craig’s interpretation of the iconic character was delayed at least half a dozen times before it saw the light of the day in late 2021. And boy, was the wait worth it, with some incredible performances from Rami Malek, Léa Seydoux, Lashana Lynch and of course, Daniel Craig.
6) The Batman (2022): $770 million
Many were sceptical when Robert Pattinson was chosen as the next caped crusader. But the 36-year-old made the transition from glittering in sunlight to frowning on gargoyles seemingly in Matt Reeve’s The Batman. Also stealing the show here was Paul Dano’s The Riddler, who will go down as one of the best Batman movie villains in history.
7) F9: The Fast Saga (2021): $726 million
Vin Diesel knows we all love family drama involving fast cars and impossible heights. The ninth movie in the iconic fast and furious franchise finally hit the screen last year, quickly climbing the charts. We would try explaining the plot here briefly, but it’ll just be better and easier if you just watch it yourself. In case you want some persuasion, let us tell you that they go to space this time around.
(Image credits: Marvel, Warner Bros, Paramount Pictures, Universal Pictures)
