The headlines over the last couple years have been brutal: “Box Office Doom Loop,” declared the L.A. Times. “The Movie Theater Comeback That Wasn’t,” blazed Variety. “The 2025 Box Office Comeback That Wasn’t,” echoed Axios. And, sure, The Hollywood Reporter had a few too (“The Summer Box Office Crisis: Is the Sky Really Falling This Time?”)
Then came the appropriately titled Project Hail Mary ($684 million) in March. Then the also appropriately titled Obsession ($475 million) in May. Then there were Backrooms ($390 million) and The Odyssey ($911 million). Wait, what? None of these were even franchises? But we had those too, with Toy Story 5 and The Super Mario Galaxy Movie raking in a cool billion each.
And now: Spider-Man, Spider-Man, delivering an opening weekend that seemingly only Spider-Man can. Nearly $1 billion globally in just a handful of day, an all-time record opening of $360 million domestic. The film wasn’t even some “you must see this in a pricy premium format” release like an Avatar or Dune.
So far, 2026 is shaping up to be the strongest post-pandemic year at the box office to date, raking in about $6.2 billion domestically through last Sunday. That’s 15 percent ahead of the same point in 2025, with five movies approaching or crossing $1 billion globally. The second quarter, in particular, very nearly matched the same periods in 2017 through 2019.
“We’re all breathing a hell of a lot easier,” one major exhibitor representative said.
The weekend numbers are expected to drop considerably, however, as we go into fall. Potential breakouts on the calendar include Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil reboot (Sept. 18), DC’s horror effort Clayface (Oct. 23), and The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping (Nov. 20). But a trio of potential blockbusters will swoop in just under the calendar wire, with Dune: Part Three and Avengers: Doomsday coming Dec. 18, and Jumanji: Open World on Dec. 25.
But this week really belongs to the man in the red and blue suit, with a title that kicked that tiresome post-pandemic virus — superhero fatigue (and, perhaps, its even scarier mutant strain: franchise fatigue). Credit Sony and Marvel for their outstanding stewardship of the Spider-Man brand despite a seemingly “too many cooks” joint custody arrangement along with Pascal Pictures. The three previous stand-alone Tom Holland Spider-Man movie have all been critical and audience hits, and the actor has enjoyed winsome appearances in a trio of popular MCU team-up movies. DC and Marvel have had their hits and misses in recent years — more misses than either would care to admit — yet Spider-Man’s creative chain of custody has remained strong, and not too frequent (there was, thankfully, no Disney+ spin-off series).
One can speculate that a few other factors boosted Brand New Day. The film directed by Destin Daniel Cretton went for a relatively “grounded” vibe at a time when genre films that feel more realistic are registering with fans compared to fantastical efforts (like Supergirl or Fantastic Four). As pointed out by longtime Spider-Man comic book writer J. Michael Straczynski, Brand New Day also avoided the tired “MacGuffin quest” trope — where superheroes try to obtain or stop some magical object — and instead felt more character-driven. Plus, Holland and his co-star Zendaya are arguably at the top of their game, and the height of their box-office drawing power, with fans enamored with the now-married couple’s real-life relationship.
And finally, Brand New Day is, quite simply, a great time at the theater. The film has the highest Rotten Tomatoes audience score, 98 percent, of any live-action Spider-Man film.
While 2026 theater attendance still remains below pre-pandemic levels, the surge over the last few months gives the industry a long-awaited boost and a sense of real optimism. At least, for now.
“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.”
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