2017 in film is an overview of events, including the highest-grossing films, award ceremonies, festivals, a list of films released, and notable deaths.
Evaluation of the year
Richard Brody of The New Yorker observed that for 2017, "the most important event in the world of movies was the revelation, in The New York Times and The New Yorker, of sexual abuse by Harvey Weinstein, and the resulting liberation of the long-stifled voices of the people who had been abused by him or other powerful figures in the movie business, and, for that matter, in other arts and industries, too." He emphasizes that in effect, "[w]hat's missing from the year-end list, and from the era in movies, isn't only the unmade work by these filmmakers but the artistry and the careers of cast and crew members who would have been in their unrealized films."
Highest-grossing films
The top films released in 2017 by worldwide gross are as follows:
Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Beauty and the Beast, The Fate of the Furious, and Despicable Me 3 have each grossed over $1 billion, making them among the highest-grossing films of all time, with the latter being the fourth-highest-grossing animated film.
Wolf Warrior 2, a Chinese film, became the first non-Hollywood film to be listed on the all-time worldwide top 100 box office.
Split, by M. Night Shyamalan, was the year's most profitable film in terms of return on investment (ROI), having generated over 2,000% ROI. It is the 11th film to cross 2,000% ROI, and the first film to do so since 2015.
2017 box office records
In China, the country recorded a new single-day record as well as an all-time admission high on Saturday, January 28, with over ¥755 million (US$110 million) registering an admission of over 21 million moviegoers, beating the previous record of ¥647 million ($98.4 million) and 17 million admissions set the previous year. Both records were set on the first day of the Chinese New Year. In May, China had its first consecutive monthly gain in box office revenue in more than a year, led by Indian film Dangal, followed by Hollywood film Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales. 2017 has been a record year for non-Hollywood foreign films in the Chinese market, with the success of films such as India's Dangal, Thailand's Bad Genius and Spain's Contratiempo. , non-Hollywood imports account for 72% ($519.7 million) of the year's foreign film box office revenue so far ($723 million), with Dangal alone accounting for 27% ($195.8 million). The Marvel Cinematic Universe became the first film franchise to gross more than $11 billion with the release of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. With the subsequent release of Spider-Man: Homecoming, it became the first film franchise to gross more than $12 billion, and with the release of Thor: Ragnarok, the MCU became the first film franchise to gross more than $13 billion. It also became the first film franchise to release three movies in one year that all made over $800 million worldwide and opened to over $100 million domestically (through the aforementioned entries). The Despicable Me franchise became the highest-grossing animated franchise ever ($3.6 billion), surpassing the Shrek franchise; it also became the first animated franchise to have two films hit over $1 billion. With Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Beauty and the Beast, and Wonder Woman, 2017 was the first year since 1958 (South Pacific, Auntie Mame, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof) in which the top 3 highest grossing domestic films were female-led. Wolf Warrior 2 was a massive commercial success and became the highest-grossing Chinese film ever released. The film broke numerous box office records, including the biggest single-day gross for a Chinese film as well as the fastest film to cross the RMB 2 billion, 3 billion, 4 billion and 5 billion box office marks. It also became the fastest film to surpass US$500 million and the first film to gross more than US$600 million at the Chinese box office. At a total domestic gross of (US$874 million), it is the second-highest-grossing film of all time in a single market behind only Star Wars: The Force Awakens ($936.7 million in North America), and having exceeded North America's totals from Avatar ($760 million), Titanic ($659 million) and Jurassic World ($652 million). The film was the sixth highest-grossing film of 2017 at US$874 million, making it the 54th-highest-grossing film worldwide. It is the first and only Chinese film ever to be included in the list of 100 all-time highest-grossing films worldwide. It was selected as the Chinese entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 90th Academy Awards.