By Hugo Stelfox

In the last few years, Cinema has tended to be a bit more lacklustre compared to previous years. This is mostly due to COVID. However, 3 years since the pandemic started, has the film industry returned to its full glory or does it still have a long way to go? If we look back pre-COVID in 2019, we had one of the best years for film with major successes such as The Irishman, Joker, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and even Avengers: Endgame! Though we have seen some success since then such as The Batman, Everything Everywhere All at Once (which won 7 Oscars), Top Gun: Maverick, and the much-anticipated sequel to 2009’s Avatar (Avatar: The Way of Water). These have tended to be few and far apart compared to previous years. So, has 2023 been able to live up to 2019 or has it been as uninspired as more recent years?

2023 saw some major box office wins the largest being Barbie, earning over $1.38 billion at the worldwide box office. In doing so it became Warner Bros. highest grossing film in its 100-year history and became the highest grossing film from a female filmmaker. The Super Mario Bros. also broke box office records earning $1.36 billion at the worldwide box office and became the biggest worldwide opening weekend for an animated film and the highest-grossing film based on a video game. Finally, Oppenheimer grossed $955 million worldwide becoming the highest-grossing World War II related film, the highest grossing biographical film and the second-highest grossing R-rated film, with the first being 2019’s Joker, with this being further proof that R-rated films can still do well in the box office despite what some may say.

There have been some major critical successes of 2023 such as the return of Martin Scorsese with Killers of the Flower Moon which, received a 93% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes. It also saw Lily Gladstone win Best Actress at the Golden Globes. 2023 also saw the return of critically acclaimed director Christopher Nolan with Oppenheimer also receiving a 93% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes while also winning Actor in a Drama Motion Picture, Director of a Motion Picture and Cinematic and Box Office Achievement at the Golden Globes to name just a few. Godzilla Minus One received a 98% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes and also broke many records. It was a major step forward for foreign language films as it became the second highest debut for a live action foreign language film ever, with the first live action foreign film to be #1 at the box office since 2004. It also holds the record for the biggest single day domestic box office for a foreign live action film ever.

2023 saw some major blockbuster releases including John Wick: Chapter 4, which was received with a very positive response and quickly became the highest rated of the whole series with outstanding visuals and action just like the franchise’s previous instalments. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 marked the end of the Guardians franchise as James Gunn is working on his DC Universe. It was met with much love and sparked a debate on which is the best of the trilogy as all 3 are some of the best superhero films ever made. Though a flop at the box office, mostly due to Barbie and Oppenheimer being released just a week later, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One was widely regarded as a success for the franchise. Finally, November saw the much-anticipated return of the Hunger Games Franchise with The Hunger Games: The Ballard of Songbirds & Snakes causing a resurgence in love for the original trilogy.

Arguably the biggest day for film in 2023 was the legendary 21^st of July, or should I say Barbenheimer, which saw record numbers of people going to the cinema and a large majority of them participating in the double feature. The only question was, which one should you watch first? Between Barbie and Oppenheimer alone the global box office grossed about $440 million in one weekend. This cinematic event will go down in history and helped get many people back into cinemas post COVID.

Animation once again reached new heights in 2023 with Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem having outstanding and ground-breaking visuals following Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse in 2018.

However, 2023 wasn’t all good for cinema as it saw the first WGA strike since 2008 and was shortly followed by a SAG-AFTRA, the first time both unions have been on strike in 63 years. This caused the film industry to halt for months while the two unions went on strike due to insufficient pay as a result of their contracts paying very little for streaming whilst the studios made a large profit and the average pay for top Hollywood executives increased 53% to $28 million from 2018 to 2021. They were also on strike against the use of AI in writing film and television and from recreating the likeness of someone meaning the studios can get away with hiring an extra for one day’s work and being able to use their likeness for as much as they want across multiple projects.

It also saw many major superhero films flop critically and at the box office. These include Shazam! Fury of the Gods which bombed at the box office and wasn’t received too well by critics or fans, whilst Blue Beetle was a similar story for DC, becoming the lowest grossing film in the DCEU despite much better critics reviews. Marvel also suffered major losses this year in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and The Marvels both again bombing at the box office and being seen as mediocre by critics and fans alike. However, nothing compares to The Flash, with its appalling CGI and predictable story which led to a poorly received film, with its only redeemable factors being Michael Keaton returning as Batman and Sasha Calle’s Supergirl. It had a $200 million budget and grossed $263 million worldwide so at face value it doesn’t seem that bad until you realise that they nearly doubled the budget through marketing, causing it to lose $200 million and meaning that it was the 6^th biggest flop of all time.

Though 2023 saw the longest SAG-AFTRA and WGA strike in history and saw many box office and critical flops, I still believe it was one of the best years for film, especially when compared to recent years and it has me excited about what the future of film is as it is far from a dying industry. From Dune: Part 2 and Kung Fu Panda 4 in the first half of 2024 to Deadpool 3 and Gladiator 2 in the second half, this year is shaping up to be an intriguing year for the cinematic industry.