/scanEntertainment
Summer 2026 box office: a $4.76bn record, with two asterisks
Domestic ticket sales from May 1 to Labor Day passed the 2013 mark. What drove it, and why the record is softer than it looks.
- Observed threads
- 4
- Source clusters
- 3
- Observed
- Updated
The number
$4.76bn from May 1 to September 7, against $4.755bn in 2013 (Iron Man 3, Despicable Me 2, Man of Steel). Variety's headline says $4.67bn; its body and Deadline say $4.76bn. Summer 2025 was $3.67bn, so this is up about 30%.
What drove it
Spider-Man: Brand New Day at $923m domestic after Labor Day, The Odyssey near $589m, Toy Story 5 near $479m. Three studios passed $1bn domestic for the season.
The asterisks
Not inflation-adjusted: 2013 tickets were cheaper, so the older summer sold more seats. And the window was 130 days against 123 in 2013 because of where Labor Day fell. Admissions are not yet reported.