Combined annual box office revenue of superhero movies in the U.S. & Canada 1978-2021

Published by Statista Research Department, Jan 5, 2023

Throughout 2021, superhero movies – namely "Spider-Man: No Way Home", "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings", "Venom: Let There Be Carnage", "Black Widow", "Eternals", "The Suicide Squad", and "Wonder Woman 1984" – collectively grossed almost 1.44 billion U.S. dollars in the United States and Canada. A year earlier, amidst the COVID-19 outbreak, superhero films' box office revenue stood at 141.8 million dollars. Despite the growth, the 2021 figure amounts to around 45 percent of the 3.19-billion-dollar box office revenue recorded in 2019.

Post-pandemic cinema

After 2020, Movie theaters in the U.S. and Canada started to recover slowly. The so-called North American box office revenue stood at 4.48 billion dollars in 2021, up 113 percent from the 2.1-billion-dollar revenue recorded a year earlier. Compared to 2019, however, there was a decline of over 60 percent. Similarly, the number of movie tickets sold in the U.S. and Canada increased by 122 percent to 492.2 million in 2021, which amounts to only 40 percent of the nearly 1.23 billion admissions recorded two years before.

To infinity and beyond

The superhero movie genre consolidated its popularity and bankability throughout the past decades. Franchises like "X-Men" make hundreds of millions of dollars domestically and worldwide. Yet their hegemony may be overwhelming – and not just to supervillains. Between April 2018 and October 2021, the share of internet users surveyed in the U.S. saying they enjoy and will continue to watch films from that genre in theaters remained 41 percent. But the percentage of moviegoers saying they like superhero movies but are getting tired of so many of them went from 17 to 23 percent.

Combined annual box office revenue of superhero movies in the United States and Canada from 1978 to 2021 (in million U.S. dollars)

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Release date

June 2022

More information

Region

Canada, United States

Survey time period

1978 to 2021

Supplementary notes

Statista calculated the figures based on the source's data. Data prior to 2021 was retrieved from earlier releases.
The date of release is the date of access.
Numbers have been rounded.

List of movies included per year:
1978: Superman.
1980: Hero at Large, Flash Gordon.
1981: The Legend of the Lone Ranger, Superman II.
1983: Superman III.
1984: Sheena, Supergirl.
1987: Superman IV: The Quest for Peace.
1989: Batman.
1990: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Darkman.
1991: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II, The Rocketeer.
1992: Batman Returns, Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
1993: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III, The Meteor Man, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm.
1994: The Crow, The Shadow, Blankman.
1995: Tank Girl, Batman Forever, Judge Dredd, Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers.
1996: Barb Wire, The Phantom, The Crow: City of Angels.
1997: Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie, Batmand and Robin, Spawn, Steel.
1998: The Mask of Zorro, Blade, Orgazmo.
1999: Black Mask, Mystery Men, 2000; X-Men, The Specials, Unbreakable.
2001: Iron Monkey.
2002: Blade II, Spider-Man, The Powerpuff Girls Movie.
2003: Daredevil, X2: X-Men United, Hulk.
2004: Hellboy, The Punisher, Spider-Man 2, Catwoman, The Incredibles, Blade Trinity.
2005: Elektra, Batman Begines, Fantastic Four, Sky High, The Legend of Zorro.
2006: X-Men: The Last Stand, Superman Returns, My Super Ex-Girlfriend, Zoom.
2007: Ghost Rider, Spider-Man 3, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.
2008: Superhero Movie, Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Wanted, Hancock, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, The Dark Knight, Punisher: War Zone, The Spirit.
2009: Watchmen, Super Capers, X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
2010: Kick-Ass, Iron Man 2, Megamind.
2011: The Green Hornet, Super, Thor, X-Men: First Class, Green Lantern, Captain America: The First Avenger.
2012: Chronicle, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, Marvel's The Avengers, The Amazing Spider-Man, The Dark Knight Rises.
2013: Iron Man 3, Man of Steel, The Wolverine, Kick-Ass 2, Thor: The Dark World.
2014: Big Hero 6, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Guardians of the Galaxy, X-Men: Days of the Future Past, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Captain America - The Winter Soldier.
2015: Fantastic Four, Ant-Man, Avengers: Age of Ultron.
2016: Deadpool, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Captain America: Civil War, X-Men: Apocalypse, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, Batman: The Killing Joke, Suicide Squad, Doctor Strange.
2017: The LEGO Batman Movie, Logan, Power Rangers, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Wonder Woman, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Thor: Ragnarok, Justice League.
2018: Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War, Deadpool 2, Incredibles 2, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Teen Titans Go! To The Movies, Venom, Once Upon A Deadpool, Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse, Aquaman.
2019: Captain Marvel, Avengers: Endgame, Spider-Man: Far From Home, Joker, Shazam!, X-Men: Dark Phoenix, Glass, Hellboy, Batman (2019 re-release), Batman Returns (2019 re-release), Batman Forever (2019 re-release), Batman & Robin (2019 re-release), Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Aquaman.
2020: Birds of Prey, The New Mutants, Wonder Woman 1984, My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising, Joker, Guardians of the Galaxy (2020 Re-release), Iron Man (2020 Re-release), Black Panther (2020 Re-release), Wonder Woman (2020 Re-release).
2021: Spider-Man: No Way Home, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Black Widow, Eternals, The Suicide Squad, Wonder Woman 1984.

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