US cinemas posted the largest May to September total on record, taking $4.761bn between 1 May and 7 September, surpassing the previous high set in 2013. Two summer releases dominated the haul, with Spider-Man: Brand New Day and Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey together accounting for a substantial share of ticket sales.
Spider-Man is sitting on $2.4bn worldwide and, according to reporting, is expected to add to that figure. The film has emerged as the best-performing title of the year so far and ranks as the third highest-grossing film ever. Its opening weekend was the second-best on record behind Avengers: Endgame, and it became the second-fastest movie to reach $1bn, doing so in six days.
The Odyssey has earned $1.6bn and stands out as the year’s top-performing original release, despite drawing on Homer’s poem for source material. Other blockbusters that cleared the $1bn mark this summer include Toy Story 5, Michael and The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.
Smaller-budget horror films also contributed to the rebound, with Backrooms grossing $394m and Obsession taking $513m. Not all sequels and spin-offs matched expectations: Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu reached $345.4m, Supergirl finished on $126.4m and Minions & Monsters took $518.1m, roughly half the total of 2022’s Minions: The Rise of Gru.
The recovery was global. UK cinema admissions in August rose 56% year on year to over 17 million, marking the strongest August since 2018 and the second-best month since July 2023. Europe, the Middle East and Africa recorded an 88% increase in admissions, according to Gower Street and the International Union of Cinemas. France logged 19.9 million August admissions, its best August since records began 46 years ago and 50% higher than in 2025. Italy reported its best June, August period ever, with 20.8 million admissions and a box office take of €162.3m, including its highest August on record. Spain posted a 71% year-on-year rise, and the Netherlands recorded a 77% lift.
With Spider-Man still adding to its global total and multiple territories showing strong summer growth, cinemas and distributors will watch autumn releases to see whether the momentum continues beyond the season.
