There’s no doubt about it: 2020 was one of the most unexpected years on record. Major worldwide disruptions were felt across all countries and industries – and the movie world was no different. Blockbusters were delayed, cinemas closed, and streaming services reigned supreme – and that was only the half of it. As the year – finally, mercifully – comes to an end, Empire looks back on the biggest film-centric news stories of the year, and boy was it one for the history books. Here’s 2020 at a glance.
READ MORE: The Best Movies Of 2020
Cats flops
If anything heralded the arrival of a year like no other, it was the unmistakable screech of Cats at the box office. Tom Hooper’s cinematic adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s bonkers feline musical may have officially arrived in December, but it was really the first major flop of 2020. Instead of ascending to the Heaviside layer, the film quietly died in an alleyway, the Jellicle cats dragging in less than $75 million worldwide. Me-ouch. In early 2020, it was the ultimate film gag – from the hasty re-edit to remove Judi Dench’s human hands, to stars Rebel Wilson and James Corden poking fun at the terribleness of their own movie at the Oscars (much to the chagrin of the visual effects artists who raced to complete those Digital Fur Technology shots in time for its release). Cause or correlation, either way Cats marked the turning point at which the entire world suddenly tumbled down the Darkest Timeline. And if millions of online cat videos have taught us anything, it’s that some moggy likely pushed it down there with a callous swipe of a paw.
Parasite sweeps the Oscars
For an award literally called ‘Best Picture’, it’s remarkable how often the Academy flubs when it comes to awarding it to the actual best picture. But, just like Moonlight’s surprise triumph in 2016, in 2020 the Oscars got it bang on: Bong Joon Ho’s undeniably brilliant Parasite got under the skin of America’s biggest awards ceremony, bagging not only Best Picture, but Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best International Feature Film. Talk about acting like you own the place. It was history-making stuff as a legitimate all-timer foreign-language film swiped the biggest prizes – testament not only to Director Bong’s irresistibly hooky genre-shifting thriller, but to the universal language of cinema. The best bit? The end of Bong’s Best Director speech: “Thank you, I will drink until next morning!”
James Bond gets delayed by Coronavirus
The gasps echoed around the Empire office when the news first broke. Reports indicated that the Coronavirus was spreading rapidly, but its effect on the entertainment industry only really became apparent with an announcement that – at the time – was a major shock. Weeks away from its release, Daniel Craig’s final James Bond film No Time To Die shifted back by a whole seven months into November, a delay which seemed like more than enough time for things to get back to normal. Or so we thought...
Literally everything else gets delayed by Coronavirus (or goes to VOD)
As it turned out, Bond was only the beginning. Soon, everything else began to shift back too – imminent releases like A Quiet Place Part II and Black Widow, followed by less-imminent summer movies like Fast & Furious 9 and Last Night In Soho. Soon it became all too clear clear that 2020 was going to be a very different kind of year for the movies – especially since so many theatrical films sought premium online rental releases instead. Who would have thought Trolls: World Tour would go down as a history-making film? That’s the movie that broke the sacred American theatrical window, the first of many industry eruptions to come – and it paved the way for other films like Mulan, Soul, The Witches and more to go straight to streaming (often with a premium price-tag).
Disney+ launches in UK
At the tail end of 2019, it was frustrating when so many territories got an early taste of Disney+ (and the first season of The Mandalorian) before the UK. But maybe Mickey and co knew something we didn’t – because when lockdown kicked in and everyone had to stay indoors, the arrival of a streaming service with all the Disney, Pixar, Star Wars and Marvel content you could ask for felt like an entertainment lifeline. If Disney was late to the streaming game, it proved it could hold its own against competitors like Netflix. Sure, Artemis Fowl was unceremoniously dumped there, and some of the original films haven’t been must-sees so far, but Mando and Black Is King and Hamilton made it essential – and as we enter the tail-end of the year, Mulan and Soul are sure to be major draws for viewers of all ages. In 2020, the streaming game became all that more competitive.
Cinemas close across the UK
It was inevitable, with the pandemic escalating and the majority of new film releases moving further back into 2020 and beyond – but it still felt like a shock when cinemas across the UK (and in other parts of the UK) shuttered. For months during the initial lockdown, our favourite film venues went into hibernation – an unprecedented move for both exhibitors and long-term filmgoers, and an eventuality that few would have foreseen at the start of the new year. By the summer, most cinemas were able to open again with social distancing measures and safety protocols in place, and Christopher Nolan’s Tenet became the sole major blockbuster in a season typically stacked with them. Elsewhere, the likes of Bill & Ted Face The Music and Unhinged also made it to the big screen, but releases were largely limited and screening capacities capped – which made it even tougher when cinemas were forced to close again as the second wave of Coronavirus hit. It’s been a vicious cycle of cinemas being closed, and studios feeling unable to release their biggest movies, and as we head into 2021 it’s not over yet. Here’s Empire’s guide on how you can help your local cinema right now.
Quibi lives – and very quickly dies
Everything about Quibi was short-form. It was a streaming platform designed for hip young cats on the go: mini mobile-only video content, because who has the time to sit down and watch something as long as a film, for goodness sake? Even the name seemed impatient — the word ‘Quibi’ was derived short for ‘Quick Bites’. Alas, true to form, Quibi was itself only a quick bite: despite uber-producer founder Jeffrey Katzenberg somehow raising an astonishing $1.75 billion in funds from investors, Quibi shut down less than six months after it launched, with the pandemic blamed for low subscriber numbers. Sadly, the audiences just weren’t there for quality programming like Murder House Flip (a real estate show for former crime scenes), Elba Vs Block (Idris Elba drives cars with a man called Ken Block), or Dishmantled (a cooking show where food is catapulted into the faces of celebrity chefs). Quibi, we hardly knew ye. Or really fully understood the point of ye.
Tom Cruise plots to go to space
Thomas Cruise Mapother IV’s love of high-octane, palm-sweatening stunts is, by now, well-documented: he’s climbed the tallest building, clung to the outside of a cargo plane, held his breath underwater for six minutes, and he did that fatsuit dance in Tropic Thunder. The joke around Hollywood was: ‘Well, I guess all that’s left for him to do now is go to space, right?’ To Mr Cruise Control, it’s no joke. As revealed this year, Cruise and director Doug Liman will make history next October when they film an actual movie on the International Space Station, after being pitched to the studio via an “exuberant Zoom call”. Details on plot and co-stars remain vague — but come on. You know you’re going to watch this. It’s Tom Cruise… in actual space!
The Snyder Cut gets back on track
#RELEASETHESNYDERCUT! Ever since 2017’s Justice League suffered a troubled production and a director shuffle between Zack Snyder and replacement Joss Whedon, the rallying hashtag cry was rarely far away; armies of fans would swoop in like Parademons to demand that the mythical, unreleased cut was released immediately, and without prejudice. Whether such a cut ever existed was a matter of constant debate — but in a shock that even the Mother Box couldn’t have predicted, the Snyder Cut was resurrected and legitimised this year in the form of ‘Zack Snyder’s Justice League’, to be released as both a four-hour miniseries and new film on HBO Max. With unseen footage, additional shooting, and a stonking $70m budget (on top of the $300m original reported budget), this promises to be a very different beast. After the Frankenstein monster of the original, we can but hope.
John Boyega speaks out at Black Lives Matter protest
The killing of George Floyd by an American police officer was, distressingly, far from an anomaly. But it was a tragedy that prompted people the world over into action, sparking fresh Black Lives Matter protests and igniting global conversations about institutionalised racism, systematic oppression, and racist violence. At London’s BLM protest, actor and activist John Boyega took the megaphone for a searing, blunt, and deeply affecting speech, while acknowledging that doing so might hurt his future in film. “Look, I don’t know if I’m going to have a career after this, but fuck that,” he said. “I need you guys to understand how painful it is to be reminded every day that your race means nothing. And that isn’t the case anymore.” It was humbling and powerful to see such an unguarded, emotional outpouring from a major movie star and British icon – and plenty of Hollywood figures came out to support Boyega in the days after he spoke out. Jordan Peele perhaps said it best, in four words: “We got you, John.” Watch his full speech in the video above.
Hamilton comes to Disney+
Four years ago, a filmed version of Hamilton — Lin Manuel-Miranda’s utterly acclaimed hip-hop musical about the founding of America, as we surely don’t need to explain by now — was produced with the original Broadway cast. Disney bought the rights, and had intended to release it in cinemas in 2021. But, perhaps spying an opportunity to boost their nascent streaming service at a time when everyone was stuck at home, it instead landed on Disney+ in July. The result was an instant cultural phenomenon for a show that’s already been through at least a couple of those; by one measure, it was the most-watched original streaming movie of the year. In 2020, as many observed, it was all about the living room where it happened.
Jurassic World 3 cracks the pandemic-safe shoot
That InGen lot might not be very good at stopping dinosaurs eating theme park guests, but the team behind Jurassic World: Dominion had much tighter safety protocols. With Coronavirus shutting down all kinds of movie and TV shoots, the summer saw the first few productions tentatively get going again. Perhaps the biggest and most notable was Colin Trevorrow’s latest Jurassic film, a massive blockbuster that had to find a whole new way of shooting safely – a mixture of social distancing, regular testing, bubbles, and different ‘zones’ for different members of production, making for a largely closed set. Much of the processes proved pioneering, and in the wake of Dominion plenty more major movies have started shooting again – though several have faced roadblocks due to outbreaks.
Chadwick Boseman dies
‘Gone too soon’ is a phrase that barely even cuts it when it comes to the seemingly sudden passing of Chadwick Boseman. Over the last few years, he’d become one of the brightest and most brilliant stars in Hollywood – a man who played Black icons (Jackie Robinson, Thurgood Marshall, James Brown, T’Challa) and quickly became one himself. But at the end of August, his four-year private battle with colon cancer came to an end, and the rest of the world was left to come to terms with his death, his legacy, and the strength that he displayed while facing a major illness. In his final years, he starred in some of the biggest movies ever made, all while receiving treatment – picking his projects with real purpose, ensuring that generations of kids and adults to come would see themselves reflected in the likes of Black Panther and 21 Bridges. His final screen performance came at the end of the year in Netflix’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom – and we’ll hear his voice as T’Challa once more in Marvel’s upcoming animated series What If…?
READ MORE: Chadwick Boseman Was As Much Of A Hero As Black Panther
The Oscars adds new diversity rules
It’s been five years since the #OscarsSoWhite campaign ignited – and while changes in the voter pool had been made, things haven’t massively changed. But in September the Academy announced a set of new rules intended to improve diversity at Hollywood’s biggest awards ceremony – not just in front of the camera, but behind it too. The changes won’t go into effect until 2024, and some have argued that they aren’t enough to really shake up the predominantly white-male skew of the awards, but the stipulations should help shift the landscape of the industry going forwards across all levels of production and development. Stay tuned until 2024 to see if it all works.
Sean Connery dies
On Halloween, we said goodbye to another Hollywood legend – Sean Connery, the actor who originated James Bond on the big screen, and who went on to star in the likes of Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade, The Rock, The Hunt For Red October, Alfred Hitchock’s Marnie, The Man Who Would Be King, Time Bandits, and many more. The actor died peacefully in his sleep at the age of 90 in the Bahamas – and he more than left his mark on the movies before he did.
Warner announces HBO Max release plan for 2021
As if 2020 wasn’t explosive enough, the end of the year dealt one more major eruption when Warner Bros announced its entire 2021 movie slate – including Dune, The Matrix 4, and Godzilla Vs Kong – would simultaneously release in cinemas and on the fledgling HBO Max streaming service (only available in the US). Following a year which saw studios adapt to digital releases for major movies and alternative means of distribution, it was still a significant shift – and its effects are sure to rumble on well into the new year. Frankly, plenty of filmmakers and industry insiders have felt blindsided by the announcement, unimpressed that it was revealed with next-to-no notice for many involved parties. For film fans, it’s a mixed bag – it offers more ways to see movies when cinemas in certain areas might not be open. But for cinemas in desperate need of post-pandemic patronage, it could prove a tricky blow. What it does mean is that films will actually be released – which, for UK cinemas, could be a major help. Apparently it’s a temporary decision, for one year only. But will that genie ever go back into the bottle? We’ll report back in a year.
People we lost in 2020
Elsewhere this year, we bid a sad farewell to the likes of Terry Jones, Kirk Douglas, Max von Sydow, Honor Blackman, Irrfan Khan, Jerry Stiller, Fred Willard, Lynn Shelton, Ian Holm, Joel Schumacher, Carl Reiner, Ennio Morricone, Diana Rigg, David Prowse, and Jeremy Bulloch.