Spider-Man is taking on the Avengers.

Sony and Marvel’s “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” tallied an estimated $355 million at the domestic box office this weekend, just $2 million shy of the record-breaking debut of 2019’s “Avengers: Endgame.”

The film kicked off with record-shattering Thursday preview sales and snared $169.3 million on Friday, including presales, and $101.5 million on Saturday. Sony is projecting an $84 million Sunday haul, which would bring the newest Spider-Man flick to an estimated $355 million. Final tallies will arrive on Monday.

“Brand New Day” is only the second Hollywood film to generate more than $300 million in ticket sales during a domestic opening weekend. Disney’s “Avengers: Endgame” was the first to achieve this feat with its $357 million debut seven years ago.

Internationally, the film collected an additional $572 million in estimated box office, including a whopping $121 million from China, bringing the global opening to $927 million.

“What this means for movie theaters cannot be overstated,” said Paul Dergarabedian, head of marketplace trends at Rentrak. “This sets up an incredible month of August and increases the likelihood that this summer will be the biggest in terms of revenue since 2019, surpassing the benchmark $4 billion threshold. No small feat.”

An estimated 24.1 million moviegoers headed out to cinemas in the U.S. and Canada to see “Brand New Day,” according to data from EntTelligence. Around 21% of tickets purchased were for premium large-format screenings and cost an average of $18.55 a piece.

While “Brand New Day” did not have the added benefit of an IMAX release — those screens have been reserved for Christopher Nolan’s and Universal’s “The Odyssey” — other premium large-format options thrived over the weekend.

Dolby Cinema boasted its highest-grossing domestic box office weekend ever, with $10 million in receipts from the film. Screen X posted $7 million in ticket sales, while 4DX topped $5.2 million, both domestic records for parent company CJ4DPlex.

“This is a truly phenomenal opening, and we are grateful to audiences everywhere for coming out and experiencing our film the way it was meant to be seen,” said Kevin Feige, a producer on the film and president of the Disney-owned Marvel Studios. “This debut reflects the enduring power of Marvel’s characters, and the connection they continue to have with fans around the world — and, as audiences saw, it sets up exciting things to come.”

Spider-Man is already webbing up a massive box office haul.

Sony and Marvel’s “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” secured $72 million in preview ticket sales, the highest collection for any domestic film in Hollywood history. The previous record holder was 2019’s “Avengers: Endgame,” which tallied $60 million ahead of its opening weekend.

“The demand for ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ is nothing short of astonishing,” said Paul Dergarabedian, head of marketplace trends at Rentrak. “For a film to earn more than $70 million in pre-shows is unprecedented and it reflects massive enthusiasm among moviegoers to head to the multiplex for the latest Marvel epic.”

The newest solo Spider-Man film benefited from Wednesday early access screenings as well as Thursday night previews. It is expected to haul in around $270 million domestically over its debut weekend, although some box office analysts foresee an even bigger bounty.

The previous Spidey flick, “Spider-Man: No Way Home” currently stands as the second-highest domestic opening of all time with $260 million across its debut weekend in 2021. “Endgame” tallied $357 million during its first three days in theaters in 2019. “Brand New Day” is expected to surpass “No Way Home,” but remain behind “Endgame.”

“While pre-shows are a very strong indicator of potential opening-weekend success, several factors can come into play, including a heavily front-loaded preview and opening day driven by fans motivated by the shared urgency of opening-weekend FOMO, [fear of missing out],” Dergarabedian said.

Afterall, “Endgame” managed its historic opening weekend with the help of 24-hour showings and extra screenings. There are late night and early morning screenings of “Brand New Day” to meet demand for tickets, but it’s unclear if the programming is on the same scale as “Endgame.”

And, “Brand New Day” does not have the added benefit of an Imax release, as those screens have been reserved for Christopher Nolan’s and Universal’s “The Odyssey.”

The Spider-Man installment will still benefit from premium large format screenings, however. The film has been programmed for ScreenX, 4DX, Dolby Cinema and HDR by Barco as well as premium offerings that are proprietary to the likes of AMC, Regal, Cinemark and regional players.

ScreenX represented $1.8 million in Thursday ticket sales domestically and is expected to reach $4 million by the end of the weekend. Meanwhile, 4DX has tallied around $1.3 million domestically and is set to hit $4.5 million over the three-day debut.

“Brand New Day” arrives at the tail end of July, and the bulk of its box office will be reflected during the month of August. That’s good news for the domestic box office. Typically, August is the softest month on the summer movie calendar. With “Brand New Day,” the theatrical industry gets a momentum boost heading into the fall movie season.

The domestic box office has…

Hollywood is having its best summer since before the pandemic, and that hot streak is putting the annual box office on pace to cross $10 billion for the first time in seven years.

The season, which runs from the first weekend in May through Labor Day, has tallied $1.8 billion so far through Sunday. That’s down less than 2% from 2019 levels, or just about a $30 million lag. Industry analysts keep a close eye on this period of the year because it typically 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.”

What sets this summer apart is that it didn’t kick off with a blockbuster action film or superhero team-up. Instead, the first major hit of the season came with the release of Disney’s “The Devil Wears Prada 2,” followed by Universal’s “Obsession” and A24’s “Backrooms,” two low-budget horror films from YouTube creators-turned-filmmakers. 

It was further fueled by residual ticket sales of Lionsgate’s “Michael,” the Michael Jackson biopic, which debuted in late April.

Together, those four films have contributed nearly $850 million to the domestic summer box office since the start of May, according to data from Rentrak. Notably, that’s about how much Disney and Marvel’s “Avengers: Endgame” had tallied for the 2019 box office during the same period. 

Last week’s release of Disney and Pixar’s “Toy Story 5” delivered another boost, posting a franchise-best opening of $160 million.

Combined, the handful of upside surprises is making for a stronger-than-expected domestic box office and a promising foundation for the second half of the year as the industry chases pre-pandemic levels.

As of Sunday, the 2026 box office has tallied $4.4 billion domestically, about 15% behind the $5.2 billion the 2019 box office had collected during the same time period.

Contributing to the surprisingly strong ticket sales is movies like “Michael,” “Obsession” and even Amazon MGM’s “Project Hail Mary,” which was released in March, that are holding strong at the box office week after week.

Typically, after opening weekend, a title will see sales drop anywhere from 50% to 70%. But these films were seeing drops of between 20% to 40% each week.

“Obsession” has pulled off an even rarer box office feat as ticket sales actually increased in its second and third weekend in theaters, up 39% and 14%, respectively, according to data from The Numbers.

That success is a sign that films are getting solid word of mouth from audiences and that it’s driving new moviegoers to cinemas.

“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…

Disney’s Toy Story franchise still has some buzz.

The fifth installment in the Pixar film series tallied $160 million during its opening weekend, the highest in franchise history. Internationally, “Toy Story 5” snared $152 million, bringing its estimated global haul for the three-day period to $312 million.

“Toy Story 4” was the previous record holder for the franchise, generating $120.9 million at its opening in 2019, according to Rentrak data. In total, the film series has collected more than $3 billion at the global box office since the first film debuted in 1995, with two of its installments surpassing $1 billion each worldwide.

“Toy Story 5” had the second-highest opening for an animated feature, just behind “Incredibles 2,” which secured $182.7 million domestically in 2018.

Around 11.5 million moviegoers headed out to see “Toy Story 5” during Father’s Day weekend, according to data from EntTelligence. And more than a fourth of audiences opted for pricier premium large-format screenings. IMAX reported $11.5 million in domestic ticket sales and $18.4 million globally.

“Toy Story 5” continues the trend of strong theatrical showings for family-friendly titles, as nearly 70% of ticket buyers were part of family groups.

“Another incredible summer weekend is on the books as powered by the massive debut of ‘Toy Story 5,’ a movie that had appeal across every imaginable audience demographic and thus became the ultimate four-quadrant movie,” said Paul Dergarabedian, head of marketplace trends at Rentrak.

In the last two years, family-friendly fare with a PG rating has won at the box office, outperforming PG-13 and R-rated films, Rentrak data shows.

Additionally, animated features are not usually front-loaded at the box office, meaning they steadily generate ticket sales over the course of their run in theaters, gaining word of mouth.

“Disney and Pixar orchestrated a perfectly timed, flawlessly marketed film that charmed audiences and critics alike that is now set up for weeks of solid playability in movie theaters as it powers toward $1 billion and beyond at the worldwide box office,” Dergarabedian said.

“Star Wars” returns to the big screen for the first time in seven years this weekend, riding the contrails of a Mandalorian’s jetpack.

Disney’s “Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu” tallied $12 million in Thursday night preview sales, the lowest collection of advance tickets in the franchise’s history, according to data from Comscore. “Solo: A Star Wars Story” was the previous low bar, with $14.1 million in preshow tickets back in 2018.

Box office analysts expect the film, based on the hit Disney+ show “The Mandalorian,” to generate around $80 million for its three-day opening weekend and around $95 million for the four-day Memorial Day holiday weekend. Some less conservative experts have estimated the three-day haul could be $95 million and the holiday weekend could draw $115 million.

That would be one of the smallest openings of a Star Wars film in modern cinematic history. “Solo” captured $84.4 million during its opening eight years ago. Since 2015, only “Solo” has opened to less than $100 million domestically, Comscore data shows.

“The Mandalorian and Grogu” will likely benefit from the popularity of the television show, the long Memorial Day weekend and limited competition from new titles, especially on premium large format screens.

It will also act as a stress test for future Star Wars theatrical releases amid a lackluster cinema run for Star Wars and Marvel, the tentpole franchises that helped Disney dominate the global box office in the 2010s. The studio has “Starfighter” arriving in cinemas in 2027 starring Ryan Gosling and directed by Shawn Levy.

New Star Wars titles have been absent from cinemas since 2019’s “The Rise of Skywalker.” The final film in the Skywalker Saga and third film in what has become known as the sequel trilogy generated more than $1 billion, but was widely panned by critics and fans. Disney and its Lucasfilm studio paused theatrical productions in favor of reestablishing the franchise on streaming service Disney+.

“The Mandalorian,” which premiered just a month before “The Rise of Skywalker,” was a runaway hit for the company and inspired a number of live-action Star Wars projects to get a series run instead of a theatrical one. These include “Andor,” “Obi-Wan Kenobi,” “Ahsoka,” “Skeleton Crew,” “The Acolyte” and “The Book of Boba Fett.”

Lucasfilm tapped director Jon Favreau — who worked alongside the newly minted head of the studio, Dave Filoni, to bring “The Mandalorian” to Disney+ — to helm “The Mandalorian and Grogu.” The feature film had a slightly smaller budget than typical Star Wars films, with the cost of production estimated to be around $165 million. Other Star Wars projects released theatrically in the previous decade had production budgets of $250 million or higher, according to data from The Numbers.

This means that “The Mandalorian and Grogu” has a smaller profitability threshold than previous titles from the franchise. Of course, those production…

Hollywood has lost one of its most lucrative theatrical markets. It’s unclear if it will ever win it back.

The Chinese box office was once a coveted space for American-made movies, so much so that studios produced films that would appeal directly to this international audience. But in the postpandemic cinema landscape, Hollywood hasn’t generated the strong ticket sales it once saw for its biggest blockbusters — and a waning relationship with Chinese cinemas is at least partly to blame.

The U.S.-China Film Agreement, struck in 2012 between the two governments, guaranteed 34 U.S. films would be released in China each year. That pact ended in 2017 and was never renewed or renegotiated. At the same time, China began expanding its local film production and instituting blackout dates to promote viewership of its homegrown titles. 

Add in strict censorship policies from the China Film Administration and recent political strains between the U.S. and China, and Hollywood films have faced several hurdles just to get distribution in the country post-Covid.

“I think that the kind of euphoria about the world’s largest market and thinking about China as a place that always creates a larger market for U.S. [intellectual property] is not accurate,” said Aynne Kokas, a professor at the University of Virginia and the author of “Hollywood Made in China.”

“[There are] constraints on the market in a couple of ways, first related to content control and not just content control in terms of censorship, but also in terms of control of distribution channels by the party,” Kokas said.

She said the film bureau will “turn on and off the levers of distribution based on the needs of the market.” If local Chinese films are doing well, the country will limit distribution access for foreign films. If there are gaps in film releases or releases aren’t selling as many tickets, it will open up the market.

In 2019, nine U.S. titles each generated more than $100 million at the Chinese box office, with Disney and Marvel Studio’s “Avengers: Endgame” collecting more than $600 million in the region, according to data from Comscore.

In the past five years combined, however, only 10 American films have generated more than $100 million in China, with only two topping $200 million.

The outlier is Disney’s “Zootopia 2,” which tallied a record-breaking $650 million in the country following its 2025 release.

Box office analysts tell CNBC that this feat is likely an anomaly and studios and Wall Street shouldn’t expect a sudden resurgence of ticket sales for American-made fare in the region even as major franchises launch ahead of the key summer movie season.

If there’s one thing that Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison knows well, it’s an impossible mission.

Ellison, producer of five of the “Mission: Impossible” films, has been trying to buy Warner Bros. Discovery for nearly six months. In September, he sent an initial, unsolicited offer to WBD, prompting the rival media company to explore a sale process that resulted in an agreement with Netflix to sell the famed Warner Bros. film studio and WBD’s prestige streaming assets.

Ellison launched a hostile tender offer and, separately, was welcomed back to the negotiating table with WBD under a seven-day waiver from Netflix. This week, Paramount upped its offer for the entirety of WBD and unseated Netflix’s deal after the streamer declined to match the revised bid.

The Warner Bros. movie studio is a big part of why Ellison has been so committed to winning over WBD’s board and its shareholders.

Last year, Warner Bros. was the second-highest grossing studio at the domestic box office. Paramount was fourth.

A longtime Hollywood executive, Ellison has produced some massive hits at the box office, but his track record has been far from consistent.

Where Netflix has a fraught relationship with theatrical releases — disrupting the traditional business and opting for years to prioritize streaming films for its subscribers — Ellison’s production company, Skydance, has followed the tried-and-true theatrical playbook.

Taking ownership of Warner Bros. would have been a game changer for either company.

“If a merger were to be approved, the entity that then grabs up Warner Bros. would add tremendous horsepower both in terms of brand identity and revenue generating potential to their portfolio,” said Paul Dergarabedian, head of marketplace trends at Comscore. “So, it is understandable why the competition is fierce.”

Blue aliens, a family of superheroes and a city of talking animals boosted the Walt Disney Company to the top of the domestic box office in 2025.

Full-year ticket sales in the United States and Canada rose about 4% from 2024 to $9.05 billion. Disney accounted for the highest share of that haul with $2.49 billion in ticket sales, or 27.5%, according to data from Comscore.

It’s closest competitors were Warner Bros. Discovery, which tallied $1.9 billion domestically, or 21%, and Universal, which took in $1.7 billion, or 19.7%. Together, these three studios accounted for nearly 70% of the domestic box office market share.

No other studio surpassed $1 billion in domestic ticket sales or accounted for more than 7% of the total box office haul.

“[Warner Bros., Disney and Universal] have the advantage of having at least two or more distinct and successful sub-brands labels — such as Marvel under Disney, New Line under WB and Illumination under Universal — under their corporate umbrella that enables these studios to dominate at least in terms of the overall box office and percentage of the marketplace that they control,” said Paul Dergarabedian, head of marketplace trends at Comscore.

Disney’s standout performance came on the backs of already popular intellectual property. Four of its films were part of the top 10 highest-grossing domestic releases of the year, including the live-action remake of “Lilo & Stitch,” a sequel to 2016’s “Zootopia,” another entrant in the Marvel Cinematic Universe with “Fantastic Four: First Steps” and a third “Avatar” film.

“Most years at the box office are dominated by known IP and non-original content; films that have the baked in brand name recognition that theoretically gives those films a leg up in terms of marketing and potential box office success,” Dergarabedian said.

In fact, nine of the 10 biggest movies at the domestic box offices were from existing IP. Warner Bros.’ “Sinners” was the only original title to make the list.

“In 2025 there were some big budget originals that did incredibly well … but lest anyone think that trend is going away, 2026 looks to eclipse 2025 in terms of the number of high-profile sequels and known IP on the slate for the year,” Dergarabedian said.

That’s especially true for Disney.

The studio is set to release its first Star Wars film in theaters since 2019 called “The Mandalorian and Grogu” after the popular characters of its “The Mandalorian” series on Disney+; “Toy Story 5” is will hit theaters in June followed by a live-action “Moana” in July; then the hotly anticipated “Avengers: Doomsday” arrives in December.

A new Spider-Man film will also sling into theaters in 2026, but as part of a deal with Sony to have the character as part of Disney’s MCU, Sony keeps the majority of box office profits while Disney gets merchandise sales.

The box office will also get a boost from Warner Bros.’ “Supergirl” and “Dune: Part Three,” Universal’s “Minions 3,” “The…

The opening weekend for Disney’s “Avatar: Fire and Ash” was less of a blaze and more of a simmer.

And that’s the expectation for the full theatrical run of the third installment in James Cameron’s Avatar franchise.

During its first three days in theaters, “Fire and Ash” tallied $88 million, falling well shy of analysts’ expectations, which called for a debut haul between $110 million and $125 million. For comparison, 2022’s “Avatar: The Way of Water” brought in $134 million during the same three-day period.

Internationally, the film collected $257 million, bringing the film’s global opening to an estimated $345 million.

“Fire and Ash” faced some theatrical headwinds, namely its over-three-hour runtime. There was also less pent-up demand compared to “The Way of Water,” which was released more than a decade after the first Avatar film. Some box office analysts and critics noted that “Fire and Ash” has less technological innovation than its predecessors, which had been a driving factor in past ticket sales.

Around 5.2 million domestic moviegoers went to see “Fire and Ash,” according to data from EntTelligence, a massive decline from the 8.7 million that ventured out in 2022 to see the opening weekend of “The Way of Water.”

Still, the Avatar franchise has never been front-loaded at the box office. The first film, 2009’s “Avatar,” generated just $77 million in its opening weekend domestically, but stayed in theaters for nearly a year. By the time it exited theaters, the film had generated $2.7 billion globally. With re-releases, the film now stands at $2.9 billion, according to data from Comscore.

“The Way of Water” ran in theaters for 23 weeks and has grossed $2.3 billion globally.

“With less than two weeks remaining in the box office year, the pressure on ‘Avatar: Fire And Ash’ to deliver big was intense and though the film may have come in a bit below pre-release opening weekend projections, the Avatar films have always been known for their marathon box office trajectories,” said Paul Dergarabedian, head of marketplace trends at Comscore.

Also aiding the franchise at the box office are premium large-format ticket sales. The Avatar films have over-indexed with the more expensive experiential screens like IMAX and Dolby as well as 3D showings. Disney reported that 3D and premium theaters accounted for 66% of the weekend total.

While 3D films have fallen out of favor with domestic audiences, they remain popular internationally —especially in China. Indeed, “Avatar” made the bulk of its money outside the U.S., with a whopping $2.08 billion coming from overseas.

The Walt Disney Company tallied its second billion-dollar film of 2025 with the help of a determined bunny and mischievous fox.

“Zootopia 2” is set to top $1 billion at the global box office on Friday, according to company estimates, joining the live-action remake of “Lilo & Stitch” as the only Hollywood-made films to cross the benchmark this year. Heading into the weekend, the film had tallied $232.7 million domestically and $753.4 million from international markets.

“This milestone means the world to us, because more than anything, it means audiences are coming to theaters for a shared experience of watching this movie on the big screen, everyone together, from all walks of life around the world – and that is a Zootopia dream come true,” Jared Bush, chief creative officer at Walt Disney Animation Studios, wrote in a statement Friday.

The only other film to cross the billion-dollar threshold this year is China’s “Ne Zha 2,” which has collected $2.2 billion since its release in January, according to data from Comscore.

“With the evolution of global market trends in recent years, reaching $1 billion has become a little more of a novelty again,” Shawn Robbins, director of analytics at Fandango and founder of Box Office Theory, told CNBC.

He also noted the importance of the film’s “staggering success in China.” Nearly $450 million of the global haul for “Zootopia 2” has come from the region so far — a massive figure considering China has decreased the number of American films it permits to play in its theaters and has threatened to restrict even more because of escalated tariffs.

“Zootopia 2” had the highest animated opening of all time for a non-local title in China and broke the record for highest-grossing non-local animated film of all time within 5 days of its release in the country, Disney reported.

The film’s billion-dollar haul also highlights a transition in the domestic theatrical marketplace. PG-rated family films have outperformed PG-13 and R-rated films at the box office in 2025. So far, PG-rated films released this year have generated $2.7 billion in the U.S. and Canada, while PG-13 films have tallied $2.5 billion and R-rated films have collected $2.4 billion.

This shift started in 2024 when PG-rated films sold more tickets domestically than any other rated film for the first time ever. PG-13 rated films had dominated the space for decades, according to data from Comscore.

“With PG-rated films it is often the kids who make the decision as to whether to hit the multiplex, and their influence can be seen directly in the numbers for the category that have hit all-time highs over the past couple of years,” said Paul Dergarabedian, head of marketplace trends at Comscore. “Equally impressive is that most PG movie tickets sold are at a child-friendly lower…