Best Movies of 2020... So Far

The film industry, like so many industries and businesses throughout the world, suffered immensely due to the coronavirus pandemic, which began in late 2019 but didn't hit the United States until 2020. The pandemic forced all movie theaters to close. March 13th was the last weekend that theaters were open. All theaters and theater chains closed that following week. Films that were supposed to be released starting March 27 into June were postponed to later dates this year or in 2021. Some studios resorted to releasing films within that time frame directly to video-on-demand services. Some independent movie companies shared money with independent movie theaters. Others did not.

Such was the case with Universal Pictures, which released Trolls World Tour (2020) directly to video-on-demand. After Universal announced it would continue releasing movies directly to video-on-demand even after the pandemic is over, AMC Theaters decided to boycott Universal's films. There have been rumors that AMC Theaters is on the verge of bankruptcy, so its boycott might be a moot point. AMC is on the verge of bankruptcy because it's essentially been unable to make money for four months straight with perhaps another month to go. With coronavirus cases surging as we enter the early summer, it's been announced that indoor movie theaters won't open until around early to mid August.

The summer season for Hollywood ends around Labor Day in September. Even if the theaters re-open in August, the summer season for Hollywood will still have been essentially killed. Last summer, the summer of 2019, the box office brought over $4 billion. That money, which is divided between movie studios and exhibitors, is gone for them. The movie studios have moved their summer flicks to later in the year in the hope that the fall and winter will hopefully be able to do better than normal.

As of now, the films that came out early, either in January or February, are still the highest-grossing films of the year. It's likely that if films like Black Widow, Wonder Woman 1984 and No Time to Die, the latest James Bond film, had been released, those titles would be the top titles of 2020. Yet, Bad Boys for Life is currently the number-one film at $204 million domestically and $419 million worldwide. Other than Sonic the Hedgehog, which earned $146 million domestically, the other top films of the year are all under $100 million. Usually, by this point, we'd have a dozen or so films that have crossed the 100-million mark. I've never been that taken with such blockbusters when it comes to the best films of the year, so most of the titles on my list are ones that were never going to be high in the box office anyway.

Best Movies of 2020... So Far

GOLDIE by Sam de Jong

PREMATURE by Rashaad Ernesto Green

DA 5 BLOODS by Spike Lee

LES MISÉRABLES by Ladj Ly

BLUE STORY by Andrew Onwubolu (Rapman)

JOSÉ by Li Cheng

THE WILLOUGHBYS by Kris Pearn

THE PHOTOGRAPH by Stella Meghie

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG by Jeff Fowler

BREAKING FAST by Mike Mosallam