Summer Box Office on Pace for Best Year Since Before COVID

While there's still more time to go in the summer season, Hollywood and the movie industry are having their best summer box office run since before the COVID-19 pandemic. Right now, movies are on pace to break $10 billion annually for the first time in seven years. 

For the movie business, this season spans from the first weekend in May through Labor Day. Through last Sunday, June 21, movies have tallied $1.8 billion. That's 2% less than 2019, so it's only trailing by about $30 million. 

According to CNBC, industry analysts say this season accounts for about 40% of the total annual domestic box office. 

“The summer box office is incredibly important,” said Paul Dergarabedian, head of marketplace trends at movie data company Rentrak. “It’s vitally important in terms of what the overall health of the industry looks like and what that portends for the entire year.”

Movie theatres have been trying to innovate, such as AMC hosting live concerts through a partnership with Arena One. 

Blockbusters and Horror Films Lead the Way

The big hits from this summer have been "The Devil Wears Prada 2," "Obsession," and "Backrooms." While "The Devil Wears Prada 2" is a massive Hollywood production, the latter two are low-budget horror films by YouTubers who have since become filmmakers. 

There's also been some residual interest from "Michael," the Michael Jackson biopic that came out in late April. In all, for this season, those four films have combined for a domestic box office of $850 million. That's equal to what "Avengers: Endgame" had in 2019. 

Then, following those movies, "Toy Story 5" came out, leading to another $160 million. 

CNBC says that, as of Sunday, June 21, the 2026 box office has racked up $4.4 billion. It's still trailing 2019's $5.2 billion (15% less). 

Movies like "Obsession" were a bit of an anomaly in that the box office actually increased over the second and third weeks, climbing bby 39% and 14%, respectively. 

More Major Releases Are Still Ahead

“It’s just been one after another after another,” said Alex DelVecchio, general manager of Rutgers Cinema in Piscataway, New Jersey. “I always said this whole year was about getting to June 19. Because once you get to June 19 you hit this six weeks in a row. It’s Toy Story, ‘Supergirl,’ Minions, ‘Moana,’ [‘The Odyssey’] and Spider-Man.”

There are other movies on that way now, too, as DelVecchio points out with "Spider-Man: Brand New Days" coming in July and "The Odyssey" coming a couple of weeks before that.