Hollywood has a new northern summer record.
The US domestic box office tallied $US4.76 billion ($6.6b) in ticket sales during the period between May 1 and September 7, the highest haul in cinematic history.
The key movie-going season, which starts the first weekend in May and runs through Labor Day weekend, is a pivotal piece of the theatrical calendar, typically responsible for 40 per cent of the total annual domestic box office.
The previous summer record was cemented in 2013 when films including Disney and Marvel’s Iron Man 3, Illumination’s Despicable Me 2, Warner Bros.’ Man of Steel, Pixar’s Monsters University and Universal’s Fast & Furious 6 led the period to $US4.75b.
The 2026 season was boosted by Sony’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day and Universal’s The Odyssey, which together contributed more than $US1.5b to the summer tally, or more than 30 per cent.
It was also helped by an extra week of ticket sales. In 2013, the summer began on May 3 and ended September 2, a period that was seven days shorter.
“This should be a blueprint for future summers,” said Paul Dergarabedian, head of marketplace trends at Rentrak. “One movie should not have to carry an entire season. You need the event pictures, the family films, the breakout surprises, and the independent films working together to keep people coming back. This summer showed what that combination can deliver.”
The summer 2026 box office ended nearly 10 per cent ahead of 2019, according to data from Rentrak, the year before COVID shutdowns hamstrung ticket sales and before streaming took a bite out of movie-going in earnest.
This strong showing has positioned the 2026 year-to-date haul to be just 7.5 per cent, or $US595 million, behind that pre-pandemic marker and reaffirmed box office analysts’ predictions that the full-year box office can top $US10b for the first time in seven years.
Heading into the summer movie season, 2026 lagged behind 2019 by 24 per cent, or about $US830m in sales, according to Rentrak.
While this year’s box office is making gains, the figures don’t tell the full story.
The shifting movie landscape
Cinema operators, studios and analysts are celebrating the strong summer, citing a return to pre-pandemic normalcy, but industry dynamics have shifted.
The post-pandemic era in the theatrical space has been defined by fewer screens, fewer movie-goers and fewer movies.
US theatres may still appear crowded, but there are fewer auditoriums, meaning attendance remains down from 2019 levels by almost a quarter of a billion admissions, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence.
And, there are fewer films to see on the big screen. So far in 2026, only 68 films have garnered wide releases — meaning they opened in or eventually played in more than 2,000 theatres — according to data from Rentrak. That’s a 14 per cent drop from the same period in 2019, when 79 films had wide releases.
These declines have been masked by higher movie ticket prices, particularly from premium large format, or PLF, experiences, which are particularly popular with generation Z and millennials.
In 2019, the average movie ticket cost $US9.16, according to exhibition trade organisation Cinema United. In 2026, a ticket costs an average of $US12.75, according to market research from EntTelligence. And that’s just for a standard screening.
PLF tickets average around $US18.26, according to data from EntTelligence, with Imax skewing that figure with its $US20.57 average ticket price.
Audiences are increasingly opting for these more expensive PLF screenings and have yet to be deterred by the price tag. Tickets are consistently selling out for specialty screenings like Imax’s 70mm showings of The Odyssey and the upcoming Dune: Part Three.
There’s such demand for premium screenings that studios are getting creative when marketing their films.
Disney, for example, will be shut out of Imax screens when Avengers: Doomsday is released on the same day as the third Dune in December. In response, the company has created a certification for PLF theatres that it’s calling Infinity Vision. Essentially, Disney is promoting cinemas that have big screens, “bright images and outstanding sound”.
“When you see the Infinity Vision badge, you know you are in for an incredible theatrical experience,” the company touts on a dedicated website for the certification.
What are movie-goers watching?
At the same time that audiences are embracing big blockbusters on the biggest screens, the theatrical industry has also seen a return of movie-goers for smaller-budget and genre films.
Notably, this summer movie season didn’t kick off with a big-budget action film or superhero team-up. Instead, the first major hit of the season came with the release of Disney’s The Devil Wears Prada 2. That was followed by Universal’s Obsession and A24’s Backrooms — two low-budget horror films from YouTube creators-turned-filmmakers.
It was further fuelled by residual ticket sales of Lionsgate’s Michael, the Michael Jackson biopic, which debuted in April. Then Toy Story 5 arrived in mid-June. Those five films combined generated more than $US1.4b toward the summer haul.
“This summer demonstrated the importance of a consistent flow of compelling content that appeals to a wide variety of movie-goers, coupled with the unique draw of the larger-than-life, immersive environment our movie theatres provide,” Justin McDaniel, senior vice-president of global content at Cinemark, wrote in a statement last week after the cinema chain surpassed its previous summer box office record ahead of Labor Day weekend.
Marcus Theatres, the fourth-largest theatre circuit in North America, also posted a record summer period. The company noted that not only did summer revenue hit an all-time high, but so did its concession, merchandise and food and beverage sales. It also marked the highest summer attendance since 2019 and the highest premium large format screen attendance for any summer, Marcus said.
“The tremendous turnouts for a wide range of diverse films created unique memory-making moments for all audiences — from the tears to the laughter to the thrills and chills — that cannot be replicated at home,” Jeff Tomachek, president of Marcus Theatres, wrote in a statement Tuesday.
“As we look ahead to the rest of the year, several new and highly anticipated films await, giving moviegoers even more reason to enjoy a great time at the movies with friends and family.”
In addition to the dual release of Dune: Part Three and Avengers: Doomsday, dubbed Dunesday, the final four months of the 2026 slate include a slew of horror films — Resident Evil, Clayface and Other Mommy — as well as smaller-budget genre films like Practical Magic 2, Digger, Wicker and Verity alongside bigger-budget movies like The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, Hexed and Jumanji: Open World.
CNBC
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