The domestic summer box office has officially made history. Between May 1 and Sept. 7, theaters pulled in $4.76 billion in ticket sales, the highest haul ever recorded for the key moviegoing season, according to new data from Rentrak.
The previous record was set in 2013, when a lineup that included “Iron Man 3,” “Despicable Me 2,” and “Fast & Furious 6” drove $4.75 billion. This year’s season edged past that mark thanks to a pair of blockbusters—Sony’s “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” and Universal’s “The Odyssey”—which together contributed over $1.5 billion, or more than 30% of the summer total.
The season also benefited from an extra week of sales: summer 2026 ran from May 1 through Sept. 7, seven days longer than the 2013 period, which began May 3 and ended Sept. 2.
“This should be a blueprint for future summers,” said Paul Dergarabedian, head of marketplace trends at Rentrak. “One movie should not have to carry an entire season. You need the event pictures, the family films, the breakout surprises, and the independent films working together to keep people coming back. This summer showed what that combination can deliver.”
That combination produced a domestic summer haul nearly 10% above 2019 levels, the last year before the pandemic disrupted moviegoing and streaming began eroding theater attendance.
Still, the industry’s rebound is not uniform. While the summer performance has narrowed the 2026 year-to-date gap to just 7.5%—or roughly $595 million—behind the 2019 pace, analysts note that the underlying dynamics of theatrical exhibition have shifted.
Fewer screens, fewer movies, higher prices
Attendance remains well below pre-pandemic norms, even if theaters often look crowded. According to S&P Global Market Intelligence, the industry is running nearly a quarter of a billion admissions behind 2019 levels, partly because there are fewer auditoriums in operation.
There are also fewer films making it to the big screen. So far in 2026, only 68 movies have received wide releases (playing in more than 2,000 theaters), a 14% drop from the 79 films that had reached that threshold by the same point in 2019, per Rentrak data.
Higher prices—especially for premium large-format (PLF) screens—have helped mask the decline in attendance. The average standard ticket now costs $12.75, according to EntTelligence, up from $9.16 in 2019, as tracked by Cinema United. PLF tickets fetch considerably more: around $18.26 on average, with Imax averaging $20.57.
Audiences have proven willing to pay up for premium experiences, with sellouts common for Imax 70 mm screenings of “The Odyssey” and the upcoming “Dune: Part Three.” That appetite has pushed studios to market more aggressively around large-format offerings.
Disney creates ‘Infinity Vision’ certification
Disney, for instance, will be locked out of Imax screens when “Avengers: Doomsday” and “Dune: Part Three” open on the same day in December—a collision dubbed “Dunesday.” In response, the studio unveiled its own PLF certification called “Infinity Vision,” promoting theaters with big screens, bright images, and outstanding sound.
The company says “Avengers: Doomsday” has already sold more than $50 million in presales, with over 70% of those tickets for Infinity Vision screenings, as Disney noted Wednesday at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology conference.
Smaller films also driving the season
Beyond the blockbusters, the summer saw a resurgence of mid-budget and genre fare. The season’s first major hit wasn’t a superhero tentpole but Disney’s “The Devil Wears Prada 2,” followed by low-budget horror films from YouTube creators-turned-filmmakers—Universal’s “Obsession” and A24’s “Backrooms.” Residual sales from Lionsgate’s Michael Jackson biopic “Michael,” which debuted in April, also contributed, and Disney’s “Toy Story 5” arrived in mid-June. Together, those five films generated more than $1.4 billion toward the summer total.
“This summer demonstrated the importance of a consistent flow of compelling content that appeals to a wide variety of moviegoers, coupled with the unique draw of the larger-than-life, immersive environment our movie theaters provide,” Justin McDaniel, senior vice president of global content at Cinemark, said in a statement after the chain topped its previous summer box office record before Labor Day.
Marcus Theatres, the fourth-largest circuit in North America, also posted its best summer ever, with record revenue across box office, concessions, and merchandise, plus the highest summer attendance since 2019 and record PLF attendance for any summer.
“The tremendous turnouts for a wide range of diverse films created unique memory-making moments for all audiences—from the tears to the laughter to the thrills and chills—that cannot be replicated at home,” said Jeff Tomachek, president of Marcus Theatres.
Looking ahead, the final four months of 2026 offer a slate heavy on horror (“Resident Evil,” “Clayface,” “Other Mommy”), mid-budget titles (“Practical Magic 2,” “Digger,” “Wicker,” “Verity”), and major releases including “The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping,” “Hexed,” and “Jumanji: Open World”—along with that doubleheader of “Dune: Part Three” and “Avengers: Doomsday.” Analysts now believe the full-year domestic box office could top $10 billion for the first time in seven years.
Source: www.cnbc.com — https://www.cnbc.com/2026/09/09/summer-box-theatrical-shifts.html
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