Film-Summer Box Office Comeback

Hollywood has just wrapped up its best summer in a decade and its biggest vibe shift since the pandemic. After years of new-normal ticket sales and regular spells of unease, the summer box office rallied to $4.61 billion in domestic ticket sales between May 1 and Aug. 31, according to Rentrak. That’s not just miles ahead of last year but better than every summer other than 2013. Accounting for inflation, it’s less of a record season. But any way you slice it, summer 2026 was the summer Hollywood got its mojo back.

“Spider-Man: Brand New Day” remained the No. 1 movie in theaters over the weekend, becoming just the second film this decade to top the box office for six straight weeks. The last release to enjoy such a long stretch leading the box office was 2022’s “Avatar: The Way of Water.” “Brand New Day,” the fourth standalone Spider-Man starring Tom Holland, collected $18 million over the weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday. Universal Pictures’ “The Odyssey,” as it has for much of the “Spider-Man” run, remained in second place. Christopher Nolan’s epic added $13 million. Both blockbusters helped lead Hollywood to its best summer since before the pandemic.