October 2025 Hits 30-Year Low at the Box Office

October 2025 was a rough month for theaters as ticket sales fell to a 30-year low. Big releases like Disney’s “Tron: Ares” and Dwayne Johnson’s “The Smashing Machine” struggled to draw audiences, leaving the total monthly box office at just $425 million.

This is the lowest October total since 1997, when films like “Kiss the Girls,” “I Know What You Did Last Summer,” and “The Devil’s Advocate” earned $385 million, not adjusted for inflation, according to Comscore.

Paul Dergarabedian, Comscore’s head of marketplace trends, said, “An inauspicious Halloween ended a rather challenging month of October at the box office.” The Halloween weekend itself was particularly weak, bringing in only $49 million between Friday and Sunday.

Films like Paramount’s “Regretting You” and Universal’s “Black Phone 2” led the charts, but attendance was low. Analysts say several factors played a role, including fewer new releases, Halloween falling on a Friday, and competition from the Major League Baseball World Series, where the Los Angeles Dodgers won Game 7 against the Toronto Blue Jays.

There were a few bright spots, such as Taylor Swift’s concert film “The Release Party of a Showgirl” and the anime adaptation “Chainsaw Man,” but they weren’t enough to make up for underperformers like Luca Guadagnino’s “After the Hunt” ($7.8 million), Disney’s “Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere” ($20 million), and Jennifer Lopez’s “Kiss of the Spider Woman” ($1.6 million).

Expensive productions like “Tron: Ares” ($126 million globally against a $180 million budget) and A24’s “Smashing Machine” ($19 million against a $50 million budget) resulted in significant financial losses.

The year has been inconsistent at the box office. April saw strong returns with films like “A Minecraft Movie” and “Sinners,” while March underperformed with “Snow White” and “The Alto Knights.” Overall, 2025 box office returns are currently 2.9% ahead of 2024, but domestic revenues are still 22% below pre-pandemic levels from 2019, according to Comscore. Analysts are optimistic about the rest of the year, as upcoming releases like “Zootopia 2,” “Wicked: For Good,” and “Avatar: Fire and Ash” are expected to boost ticket sales.

Jeff Bock added, “Not to fear though. Holiday season kicks into gear next weekend — and Hollywood will be breathing a huge sigh of relief.”

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