Frozen 2 smashes box office record joining Avengers: Endgame, Joker and more

It's been a record-breaking year for movie and TV.

With new records from Joker to Frozen 2 to Game of Thrones, we’ve taken a look at the movies and TV series that smashed box office records in 2019. 

Frozen 2 

Five Disney films have reached the $1 billion point at the global box office this year including Toy Story 4 and Avengers: End Game - could Frozen 2 become the company’s sixth? 

Joker

Another film hot off the press that has made its way into the record books is Joker, starring awards contender Joaquin Phoenix.  The R-rated film, which tells the origin story of Batman's nemesis, the Joker, made headlines for its controversial storyline but this didn’t stop the film becoming the first R-rated film to earn $1 billion at the worldwide box office grossing a total $1,035,731,813 (£806,502,000) as of 25 November 2019. 

This was enough to end the reign of Disney’s risqué superhero film Deadpool (2016) as the highest-grossing R-rated film, which held the record with $783,770,709 (£553,444,000). 

Avengers: Endgame

Avengers: Endgame, the 22nd release in the Marvel cinematic universe, reached record-breaking heights by achieving four records! 

The most significant record being the highest-grossing film at the global box office, finally unseating Avatar (2009) which had held onto the record 10 years.  

Avengers: Endgame grossed an impressive $2,790,216,193 (£2,230,280,00) at the global box office as of 21 July 2019. Only five other films have surpassed the $2 billion milestone as of 21 July 2019, including Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), Avatar (2009) and Titanic (1997). 

The highly anticipated film saw so many people line up to watch the premier on opening weekend that it crushed the record for the highest-grossing film at the global box office (opening weekend) and highest-grossing opening weekend for a 3D movie at the global box office. It grossed $1,195,000,000 (£924,701,000) during this weekend, 41% of this was from 3D ticket sales. Avengers: Endgame also achieved the record for the fastest time for a movie to gross $1 billion, reaching the $1 billion mark in just five days. That's more than twice as fast as its predecessor Avengers: Infinity War which held the record at 11 days. 

The three-hour film includes a star-studded cast featuring Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Mark Ruffalo, Brie Larson, Chris Hemsworth, Robert Downey Jr., and Paul Rudd.

Bohemian Rhapsody

The movie based on the life of British rock band, Queen, and its charismatic front-man Freddie Mercury (played by actor Rami Malek), became a worldwide hit when released in January 2019. The movie traces the meteoric rise of Queen, through their iconic songs, revolutionary sounds, their near implosion as Mercury’s lifestyle spans out of control and their triumphant reunion on the eve of Live Aid in 1985. 

Bohemian Rhapsody grossed $773,633,838 (£601,384,000) at the worldwide box office as of 17 January 2019 achieving two record titles, surpassing the previous records by a clear margin. The record titles include highest-grossing biographical movie knocking American Sniper (2014) off the top spot and highest-grossing music biopic replacing N.W.A biopic, Straight Outta Compton (2014).

Game of Thrones

Game of Thrones, the TV series which took the world by [winter] storm reached its eighth and final season in 2019. Guinness World Records partnered with Parrot Analytics, the leading TV content analytics firm specialising in global audience demand measurement, to certify that Game of Thrones was the most in-demand TV premier.

We break the wheel together.#GameofThrones has been awarded 12 #Emmys, the most of any program this year. pic.twitter.com/gTYq8JWCtD

— Game of Thrones (@GameOfThrones) 23 September 2019

HBO confirmed that 17.4 million people watched the episode on their subscription TV service and on their HBO GO and HBO NOW streaming apps within 24 hours of it airing. 

Proving its record-breaking status, Game of Thrones received 12 Emmy Awards in 2019, taking its total haul to 59 since its premier in 2011, breaking the record for most Emmy Awards for a drama series.