Stitch, Superman and a flock of creepy children drew audiences to movie theaters this summer, but it wasn’t enough to jolt box office revenue past even the dreary levels reached last year.
The total theatrical haul for the summer — which, for industry watchers, stretches from the first weekend of May through Labor Day — grossed $3.67 billion in the U.S. and Canada, down slightly from $3.68 billion in 2024, according to Comscore. The numbers are even more sobering compared with 2023’s Barbenheimer-fueled summer sum of $4 billion, a target the industry used to hit routinely.
Though the season started with high hopes after spring hits including “Sinners” and “A Minecraft Movie,” and particularly since there were several big franchise blockbusters on the lineup, the softer summer shows cracks in the movie business that have been growing for years.
Theaters have been grappling with declining attendance since before the pandemic, though the COVID-19-related shutdowns exacerbated that trend. Not only did audiences get used to streaming movies from home, but certain mid-tier films, such as comedies, increasingly migrated over to those platforms, making them rarer sights at the box office. Studios continue to suffer from an overreliance on franchises that are losing steam.
A series of massive hits can change the mood, but those were lacking this summer. For starters, no single film emerged as an unstoppable hit on the level of last year’s Walt Disney Co. and Pixar animated sequel “Inside Out 2” and Marvel Studios’ “Deadpool & Wolverine,” which each hauled in more than $600 million domestically (and had global grosses exceeding $1 billion).
Disney’s live-action adaptation of “Lilo & Stitch” was the heaviest hitter this summer, with about $420 million in domestic box office revenue and more than $1 billion globally.
Going into the summer, many in the industry felt that the major effects of the pandemic and the dual writers’ and actors’ strikes of 2023 had finally evaporated from theatrical lineups.
The planned release of several franchise titles also encouraged that optimism, including Universal Pictures’ “Jurassic World Rebirth,” Warner Bros. and DC Studios’ “Superman,” Marvel Studios’ “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” and the Brad Pitt-led “F1 The Movie,” from Apple and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures.
But while those movies put up big numbers, most weren’t overwhelming. “Jurassic World Rebirth” did worse than any of its predecessors since 2001’s “Jurassic Park III,” and the “Fantastic Four” reboot plummeted after a promising opening weekend.
Several blockbusters also faltered internationally, including “Fantastic Four” and “Superman,” which both made less overseas than in the U.S. and Canada. (“Superman,” in particular, may have suffered from the comic book character’s historical association with explicitly American ideals.)
“There weren’t very many flops,” said Eric Handler, media and entertainment analyst at Roth Capital. “Everything did reasonably well, for the big movies. Just nothing really hit it huge.”
Those big blockbuster titles also tended to skew toward male audiences, and there were fewer films that were explicitly female-focused this summer. The dearth of those female-leaning films may also have been a factor in the lower box office results, said Andrew Cripps, head of theatrical distribution at Disney.
“Compared to other years, there’s been some breakouts that have catered more strongly to females,” he said. “That was lacking this year.”
On top of that, several films straight-up bombed, including Universal and Blumhouse’s horror sequel “M3GAN 2.0” and the original animated film “Elio,” which notched Disney-owned Pixar’s lowest opening weekend ever.
The miss reignited a debate about audience interest in original animated films, which have had a harder time at the box office than sequels or movies based on existing intellectual property.
As if to hammer home the issue, Netflix’s animated “KPop Demon Hunters” became a cultural phenomenon after it hit the streaming service in June. It avoided theaters until a special release last weekend for a limited run of sing-along screenings.
Though Netflix does not disclose box office grosses, the film, which centers on a girl group that fights demons and features several high-octane earworms, was the No. 1 movie in theaters with about $18 million in ticket sales, according to industry estimates.
That translated into sold-out showings, particularly with younger audiences. Its popularity was a bright spot for exhibitors including Regal Cineworld.
“We saw a big uptick in young audiences coming into theaters for big cultural moments,” said Adam Rymer, chief commercial officer for the Britain-based chain, who noted a similar phenomenon with April’s “A Minecraft Movie.”
That younger demographic is one movie exhibitors hope to increasingly court, particularly with the success of PG-rated movies like “Lilo & Stitch” and Universal’s live-action adaptation of “How to Train Your Dragon.”
“I’m really hoping that the momentum that has been created with that this summer will continue into next year,” said Michael O’Leary, chief executive of theater trade group Cinema United. “You get younger demographics there, and you’re creating the moviegoer of the future.”
There were also some surprise hits, with Warner Bros.’ horror flick “Weapons” opening to a solid $43.5 million and continuing to show longevity at the box office, thanks to strong word-of-mouth and critics’ reviews. The Zach Cregger-directed chiller has grossed more than $120 million domestically.
Industry analysts and insiders expect this September’s results to be softer than last year’s, when the decades-later sequel “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” propelled the box office. But the latter part of the year has a number of potentially big films, including James Cameron’s latest “Avatar: Fire and Ash,” Universal’s “Wicked: For Good” and Disney’s animated sequel “Zootopia 2.”
Though 2025 is shaping up to be weaker than many had hoped for, it’s likely the year-end totals will come in above that of last year and 2023, Handler said.
“The end of the year is going to be very big,” he said.
