The box office finally feels like its old self again. Years after the pandemic brought the film industry to its knees, moviegoing is back thanks to sleeper hits like “Obsession” and “Backrooms” and successful sequels like “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie,” “Toy Story 5” and “The Devil Wears Prada 2.”
There have been a few costly misfires (RIP, “Moana” and “Masters of the Universe”), but domestic ticket sales are up 10% from 2025, according to Rentrak. And Hollywood is having its hottest summer since COVID, with revenues for the four-month season expected to surpass the $4 billion mark for the first time since the “Barbenheimer” phenomenon of 2023.
There’s still plenty to come, from “The Odyssey” to “Dune: Part Three” and “Avengers: Doomsday.” But before those blockbuster hopefuls land in theaters, here’s a look at what sizzled and fizzled during the first six months of the year.
Popular on Variety
Global box office $1 billion
Budget $110 million
Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach and Yoshi powered up the box office, giving Illumination and Nintendo another super smash. The sequel couldn’t quite match the box office returns of its predecessor, and critics were chillier this time too. But with a budget of just over $100 million (cheap for an animated film), “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” proved that audiences want to keep returning to the Mushroom Kingdom. And with more than 200 Mario-related games in circulation, there are plenty of stories left to tell.
Global box office $683.3 million
Budget $200 million
Andy Weir’s bestseller about a desperate mission to the outer realms of space was adapted into a blockbuster hit for Amazon MGM Studios, validating the company’s recent decision to invest more heavily in the theatrical movie business. Released in March, when competition was less fierce, the sweet and funny sci-fi adventure was bolstered by rave reviews and word of mouth. It also demonstrated that Ryan Gosling’s appeal extends beyond Barbieland; the actor’s name above the title encouraged audiences to turn up for a movie about a lonely scientist who bonds with an alien life-form that looks like a heap of granite. Talk about star power.
Global box office $1 billion
Budget $155 million
What controversy? Costly reshoots, behind-the-scenes drama and a critical pile-on couldn’t stop “Michael” from moonwalking to box office glory. Reviewers complained that “Michael” paints a sanitized portrait of Michael Jackson (the movie ends before he is accused of child molestation), but audiences didn’t want a warts-and-all story about the King of Pop. They’d rather hear his greatest hits — in this case, “Thriller,” “Billie Jean” and “Beat It” — from the comfort of plush recliners. A certified crowd-pleaser, “Michael” surpassed “Bohemian Rhapsody” ($911 million) as the highest-grossing musical biopic of all time, and outpaced “Oppenheimer” ($975 million) as the largest film about a real-life figure. Lionsgate is expected to greenlight at least one more movie about the singer. That could be tricky as the next chapter of Jackson’s story is where things get really dark.
Global box office $426 million
Budget $750,000
“Obsession” more than lived up to its name at the box office, catching fire with Gen Z crowds to become a wildly profitable indie sensation. The low-budget horror film, directed by 26-year-old YouTube creator Curry Barker, started strong with $17 million in North America. Then something remarkable happened: Ticket sales continued to rise, resulting in four consecutive weekends that were larger than its debut. What’s even more impressive is “Obsession” wasn’t cannibalized by Kane Parsons’ “Backrooms,” another scary movie by a YouTuber that cost almost nothing to produce. Together, their success showed that younger audiences don’t just spend time on Tik-Tok and social media. They go to the movies too.
Global box office $115 million
Budget $170 million
The story of Superman’s young cousin never achieved liftoff, brought down by miserable reviews and a lack of familiarity with Krypton’s far less famous refugee. Sure, some of the people hating on “Supergirl” are misogynistic trolls, but the main reason the film bombed is that moviegoers have grown more discerning about what comic book movies they’ll pay to see. Top-tier heroes like Batman and Spider-Man will get them through the door; one of Superman’s relatives is a tougher sell.
Global box office $16.7 million
Budget $40 million
Recognizing the universal relatability of Melania Trump, Amazon MGM Studios shelled out $40 million for a glossy look at our first lady’s inaugural prep. The MAGA faithful came out, and “Melania” made $16.7 million at the box office, which would be an impressive number for a documentary if it hadn’t cost more than twice that to produce and another $35 million to promote. But this was never about making money; it was about satisfying an audience of one. Good luck with those regulatory approvals, Jeff Bezos!
Global box office $340 million
Budget $165 million
Baby Yoda is adorable, but a big-screen star, he is not. Older audiences who grew up with the original “Star Wars” trilogy bought tickets for “The Mandalorian and Grogu,” but the Force didn’t resonate with younger crowds. Based on a Disney+ television series, the film was the franchise’s first theatrical release in seven years. Instead of reviving the space saga as a viable cinematic property, “The Mandalorian and Grogu” stands to become the lowest-earning “Star Wars” movie of all time — a distinction that had belonged to 2018’s ill-fated spinoff “Solo: A Star Wars Story” ($392 million).
Global box office $23.9 million
Budget $90 million
Who had the brilliant idea to spend that much money on “The Bride!,” an artsy, genre-bending take on the Bride of Frankenstein? Director Maggie Gyllenhaal’s feminist, punk-rock adaptation — following Frankenstein’s monster (Christian Bale) and his reanimated-corpse lover (Jessie Buckley) as deranged outlaws on the run — sounded fun on paper. In execution? Not so much. When “The Bride!” opened in theaters, it was DOA. It didn’t help that the film was released in close proximity to Guillermo del Toro’s Oscar-winning “Frankenstein,” starring Jacob Elordi. In the end, the scariest thing about “The Bride!” was the massive write-down that Warner Bros. was forced to take.
Global box office $372 million
Budget $150 million
When “Hoppers” landed in theaters, the cartoon creature feature was hailed as Pixar’s first original hit in nearly a decade. Since 2017’s “Coco,” the animation empire has struck out or failed to live up to expectations with new ideas including “Elio,” “Lightyear” and “Elemental.” (Sequels like “Inside Out 2” and “Toy Story 5,” on the other hand, have never been hotter.) Despite great reviews and a decent $45 million debut, “Hoppers,” the story of an animal-loving student who transfers her mind into a robotic beaver so she can talk to other critters, didn’t have a long life at the box office, at least compared with 2023’s “Elemental.” That film started much slower, with $29 million, but managed to climb to nearly $500 million globally. Though a step in the right direction, “Hoppers” underscores the persistent challenges facing fresh animated fare. And that’s a larger problem because family entertainment empires like Disney can’t just rely on aging franchises.
Global box office $20 million
Budget $25 million
Audiences didn’t exactly find the funny in “The Breadwinner,” a family comedy starring Nate Bargatze as an incompetent dad. Although the movie wasn’t a complete financial disaster, “The Breadwinner” wasn’t able to galvanize even the fans who regularly sell out the comedian’s stadium tours. Part of Bargatze’s charm is his clean, all-audience humor, but families were more interested in seeing basically anything else in theaters. Comedies are already endangered at the box office, and “The Breadwinner” did little to encourage Hollywood to keep trying to make us laugh.
Global box office $58.5 million
Budget $63 million
The post-apocalyptic franchise is looking positively zombified. Released just seven months after “28 Years Later,” this bleak thriller was too quick to offer up another round of undead carnage. “Bone Temple” enjoyed some of the series’ best reviews, but its marketing campaign and storyline weren’t distinctive enough from its predecessors’. Moreover, the $63 million price tag was a little lofty for a genre that thrives on low-budget scares.
Global box office $228 million
Budget $110 million
Steven Spielberg set out to prove he was still the king of the summer box office with this alien conspiracy thriller. Reviews were solid, with critics praising the plot twists and action sequences. However, the director has spent much of the past decade focusing on adult dramas like “Bridge of Spies” and “The Fabelmans,” and is no longer as closely associated with the blockbuster genre he helped create. If “Disclosure Day” was to succeed, it needed to appeal to younger moviegoers. But they were more interested in what YouTube-trained 20-somethings like Kane Parsons (“Backrooms”) and Curry Barker (“Obsession”) were producing. Spielberg may be a directing god, but as a commercial draw, he looks a lot more mortal.
