Ever since 2020, the movie theater business has had a lot of trouble finding its footing with audiences like it used to. While popular movies come and go, it is rare to see theaters consistently busy. The summer box office especially was disappointing, the time where the most tentpole films are supposed to release. 2025’s summer was more than a little lackluster, with many big releases falling short of expectations. Axios called it “The 2025 Box Office Comeback That Wasn’t.”
2026 looks to be the year things finally get back on track. One major exhibitor representative said, “We’re all breathing a hell of a lot easier.” Successful films have been dropping consistently since Spring, including Project Hail Mary ($684 million), Michael ($1.06 billion), The Devil Wears Prada 2 ($691 million), The Super Mario Galaxy Movie ($1.011 billion) and Toy Story 5 ($1.068 billion). Additionally, smaller budget movies such as Obsession ($474 million) and Backrooms ($394 million) proved to be surprise hits.
Now, Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey and Spider-Man: Brand New Day rule the box office, paving the way for a historic summer for cinemas. The Odyssey released a few weeks ago and is already almost reached $1 billion worldwide, an impressive feat, especially for an R-rated film. It also has sold out IMAX 70mm screenings into September. Spider-Man: Brand New Day opening to a record-breaking weekend and has already passed $1 billion worldwide. Audiences are finally excited to be in a theater again, and they showed up in droves.
The same exhibitor representative said,
Brand New Day could have a huge drop and still have $100 million-plus second weekend,” the exhibitor noted. “That plus The Odyssey’s insane legs will get us through as we head into a rough August. However, it’s a long road until Dec. 18.
The Odyssey and Brand-New Day will play through the rest of the summer, with not much competition in the following months. August sports a few notable releases such as The End of Oak Street and Insidious: Out of the Further, but nothing is expected to make a big splash until later this year.
