Hollywood’s Box Office Is Closing In on Its Biggest Year Since the Pandemic, and Universal Leads the Pack

For years, the question hanging over theaters was whether moviegoing would ever bounce back to anything resembling its old self. The debate over when, or if, the business would return to pre-pandemic levels was a constant, and many people wrote off the theatrical industry entirely. This year, the conversation has shifted from survival to records.

The summer set the tone. The domestic box office posted $4.76 billion in ticket sales between May 1 and September 7, the highest summer haul in cinematic history. Five films have crossed $1 billion worldwide, against only 3 in all of 2025, and analysts are projecting the domestic total could top $10 billion for the first time in 7 years.

That momentum has the US box office closing in on the $8.3 billion mark. By one tally, it is now 10.6% ahead of 2023 and 21.3% ahead of 2025 at the same point. It leaves the year roughly $700 million shy of becoming the biggest year of the post-Covid era.

Box Office Mojo’s running total stood at about $8.27 billion as of October 25. For context, full-year ticket sales in the US and Canada reached $9.05 billion in 2025, according to Comscore, so the gap is within reach. The latest weekend also helped, with the weekend gross up 22.4% on the same weekend last year.

The distributor race shows who deserves the credit. Universal leads the year-to-date standings at $1.54 billion, followed by Sony at $1.38 billion, Disney at $1.09 billion, Amazon MGM at $633.6 million and Lionsgate at $518.7 million. Those figures are up from mid-September, when Universal sat at $1.43 billion, Sony at $1.18 billion and Disney at $1.05 billion.

Universal’s position comes largely from Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey’ and Illumination’s ‘The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.’ The studio was also the first to cross $4 billion worldwide this year. Sony’s second-place standing owes almost everything to ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day,’ which opened to an all-time record $360 million domestic debut.

2026 distributors race at US #BoxOffice nears the 8.3B mark, now +10.6% over of 2023 & +21.3% over of 2025 at same point! “Just” 700M away from becoming biggest year Post-Covid! Distributors Top 5 YTD #Universal 1.54B #Sony 1.38B #Disney 1.09B #AmazonMGM 633.6M #Lionsgate 518.7M https://t.co/a2LIjhJGjB

— Luiz Fernando (@Luiz_Fernando_J) October 26, 2026

Disney, the dominant force of 2025 with $2.49 billion and 27.5% of the domestic market, now sits third. Its year has had bright spots, including ‘Toy Story 5,’ which posted a franchise-best opening of $160 million. But it has not matched the dominance of last year.

Amazon MGM and Lionsgate have used their own breakouts to push two legacy studios out of the top 5. Amazon MGM climbed from $557 million in mid-September to $633.6 million, while Lionsgate has stayed around $518 million.

The absence of Warner Bros. and Paramount from the top 5 is the story behind the story. Warner Bros. saw its share fall from 21% last year to just 6% this year, according to Variety’s analysis cited by Dark Horizons, while Paramount’s share was only 5%. Paramount has since moved to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery.

There is a sign of life, though. ‘Clayface’ opened at No. 1 over the weekend, and the combined studio has crossed $1 billion at the domestic box office for the year. That makes it the fourth to do so, behind Universal, Disney and Sony.

Several factors have lined up this year. Analysts point to the overlap of 2 enormous films, ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ and ‘The Odyssey,’ as a key reason the summer was so strong. Hits such as ‘Project Hail Mary,’ ‘Michael’ and ‘Obsession’ also contributed, along with a stabilized production pipeline of 115 to 120 wide releases.

Theater attendance remains below pre-pandemic levels, and premium-priced screenings and an extra week of summer ticket sales helped lift the totals. Still, as of early September the year-to-date haul was just 7.5% behind 2019, a gap that has been shrinking.

Releases are limited this coming weekend because Halloween falls on a Saturday, and studios avoid launching films when the holiday lands that way. The end-of-year slate includes ‘The Cat in the Hat’ and the highly anticipated ‘Dune: Part Three.’ Those releases could decide whether this becomes the biggest post-Covid year.

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