2019 was a big year for the movie industry, with various sequels and highly anticipated titles releasing throughout the year, but 2020 will slow down considerably. This year was mostly dominated by sequels and reboots, and while these are a trend that has being going for years, 2019 had a really good selection of these, of which some were titles that fans had been eagerly waiting for and others turned out to be pleasant surprises.
2019 also saw the arrival of some of the biggest movies from different universes, such as Avengers: Endgame in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker in the Star Wars universe, as well as more family oriented titles that were bound to be a hit with viewers, as were Toy Story 4 and Frozen 2. The live-action trend also continues, especially at Disney, who released new versions of Aladdin and The Lion King. Other big franchises, like Fast & Furious with Hobbs & Shaw and Terminator with Dark Fate, also released movies this year.
It was a busy year for moviegoers, and while 2020 also has some interesting movies lined up, it won’t be as big as 2019 was.
Why 2020 Is A Slower Movie Year
2020 will carry on with a good number of sequels, reboots, and entries from connected universes, but none of them as big as most releases from 2019. Among the biggest titles scheduled for a 2020 release are Marvel’s Black Widow and The Eternals, Disney’s Mulan, Pixar’s Onward, Warner’s Birds of Prey and Wonder Woman 1984, and Universal’s No Time to Die. Other notable releases are Top Gun: Maverick, Halloween Kills, and Ghostbusters: Afterlife, but none of them are cinematic events as a couple of titles in 2019 were (especially Avengers: Endgame and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker) and as some in 2021 are expected to be.
After a slow 2020, the following year is going back to bigger releases like those in 2019. Marvel has Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Thor: Love and Thunder, and Spider-Man: Homecoming 3; James Cameron’s highly anticipated Avatar 2 is scheduled to arrive in 2021, and Warner has The Batman, The Suicide Squad, and Black Adam. Many of these have the potential to be big cinematic events, such as Doctor Strange 2 (given its connections with other Marvel properties and its potential to heavily impact future MCU movies) and The Batman, this last one marking a turning point in DC’s movie universe.
Between the excitement of 2019 and the promising titles in 2021, 2020 will serve as a transition with a much slower (though not boring) list of releases. Of course, there’s the possibility of one of 2020’s movies to be a big surprise and become the big event that the year is missing so far.
