{"id":39406,"date":"2026-08-11T22:08:02","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T17:08:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=39406"},"modified":"2026-08-11T22:08:02","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T17:08:02","slug":"summer-box-office-crosses-4-billion-for-first-time-since-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=39406","title":{"rendered":"Summer box office crosses $4 billion for first time since 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/twt-thumbs.washtimes.com\/media\/image\/2026\/07\/28\/Film_Review_-_Spider-Man__Brand_New_Day_64588_s1440x960.jpg?f72536d07237fdd262042ae8f5e6e6de3b865f3c\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Hollywood\u2019s summer box office cleared $4 billion in domestic ticket sales on Monday, only the second time the industry has hit that mark since the pandemic upended movie theaters, according to data from Rentrak reported by Variety.<\/p>\n<p>The last time summer moviegoing crossed the $4 billion threshold was 2023, when \u201cBarbie\u201d and \u201cOppenheimer\u201d powered ticket sales to $4.09 billion in the so-called \u201cBarbenheimer\u201d phenomenon. This year\u2019s haul arrived with weeks to spare before Labor Day, putting 2026 on pace for the strongest summer box office since the pre-pandemic summer of 2019.<\/p>\n<p>Sony\u2019s \u201cSpider-Man: Brand New Day\u201d leads the pack with $655 million domestically, followed by Disney\u2019s \u201cToy Story 5\u201d at $470 million and Universal\u2019s Christopher Nolan epic \u201cThe Odyssey\u201d at $460 million. Two low-budget horror breakouts also cracked the top tier: A24\u2019s \u201cBackrooms\u201d grossed $197 million domestically, and Focus Features\u2019 \u201cObsession\u201d brought in $263 million. Disney\u2019s \u201cThe Devil Wears Prada 2\u201d added $220 million.<\/p>\n<p>Those hits offset a string of costly misfires, including Disney\u2019s \u201cThe Mandalorian and Grogu\u201d and live-action \u201cMoana,\u201d DC\u2019s \u201cSupergirl\u201d and Amazon MGM\u2019s \u201cMasters of the Universe.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Paul Dergarabedian, Rentrak\u2019s head of marketplace trends, said the milestone proves theatrical moviegoing has staying power even after years of streaming competition and pandemic disruption. He noted audiences still favor established franchises but are turning out for original and \u201cchallenging\u201d fare too, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/maryroeloffs\/2026\/08\/11\/summer-box-office-tops-4-billion-for-only-second-time-since-covid\/\">Forbes reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>                        <a name=\"pagebreak\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Exhibitors are now eyeing an even bigger prize: the first $10 billion domestic box office year since the pandemic. The Warner Bros. thriller \u201cThe End of Oak Street\u201d and Sony\u2019s \u201cInsidious: Out of the Further\u201d close out the summer stretch, with fall releases including Tom Cruise\u2019s \u201cDigger\u201d and \u201cPractical Magic 2\u201d \u2014 and holiday-season tentpoles \u201cDune: Part Three\u201d and \u201cAvengers: Doomsday\u201d \u2014 still to come.<\/p>\n<div>\n<p style=\"font-size: 18px; color: #3e3e3e;\"><em><br \/>\n                          This article was constructed with the assistance of artificial intelligence and published by a member of The Washington Times&#8217; AI News Desk team. The contents of this report are based solely on The Washington Times&#8217; original reporting, wire services, and\/or other sources cited within the report. For more information, please read our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/ai-policy\/\" target=\"_blank\">AI policy<\/a> or contact Steve Fink, Director of Artificial Intelligence, at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/news\/2026\/aug\/11\/summer-box-office-crosses-4-billion-first-time-since-2023\/mailto:sfink@washingtontimes.com\">sfink@washingtontimes.com<\/a><br \/>\n                      <\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 18px; color: #3e3e3e;\"><em><br \/>\n                          The Washington Times AI Ethics Newsroom Committee can be reached at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/news\/2026\/aug\/11\/summer-box-office-crosses-4-billion-first-time-since-2023\/mailto:aispotlight@washingtontimes.com\">aispotlight@washingtontimes.com<\/a>.<br \/>\n                      <\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hollywood\u2019s summer box office cleared $4 billion in domestic ticket sales on Monday, only the second time the industry has hit that mark since the pandemic upended movie theaters, according to data from Rentrak reported by Variety. The last time summer moviegoing crossed the $4 billion threshold was 2023, when \u201cBarbie\u201d and \u201cOppenheimer\u201d powered ticket&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39407,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/twt-thumbs.washtimes.com\/media\/image\/2026\/07\/28\/Film_Review_-_Spider-Man__Brand_New_Day_64588_c0-166-4000-2499_s1200x700.jpg?7c25178dc2574790f1166b53173c712cf58622ab","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-hub"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=39406"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39406\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/39407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=39406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=39406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=39406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}