It was the best of times at the box office, and it was the best of times. No worst times as the entire North American marketplace hit a record $428.99M weekend for all pics per Rentrak thanks to the $355M second best ever domestic opening of Sony/Marvel Studio’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
We knew it was bound to be a record for the U.S./Canada B.O. and it could be higher by tomorrow morning if Brand New Day takes down Avengers: Endgame‘s all-time domestic opening record of $357.1M. That was the last time in the final weekend of 2019 that the domestic box office had a record overall weekend marketplace record with all titles totaling $402M. Post Covid, the best weekend so far for all movies was July 21-23 when Barbie and Oppenheimer opened fueling a $311.3M North American marketplace (now the fifth best ever among all top grossing domestic weekends).
This weekend is +246% from the same weekend a year ago when Fantastic Four: First Steps led the box office in its second frame.
Year to date, the North American box office stands at $6.19 billion for the Jan. 1-Aug. 2 period, +15% from a year ago.
“This now sets up a tremendous month of August, and the likelihood of a $4 billion summer and a $10 billion year just went up exponentially with this milestone summer weekend,” says Rentrak Head of Marketplace Trends, Paul Dergarabedian. The U.S./Canada box office hasn’t seen double digits at the annual box office since pre-Covid 2019 when it ended with $11.4 billion. At this point in time in 2019, the annual box office stood at $7 billion. Summer for the first weekend of May through EOD today stands at $3.57 billion which -1% behind 2019’s heat wave at the same point in time which rang up $4.8B.
Michael O’Leary, CEO of exhibition lobby org Cinema United was doing donuts this morning in the parking lot, celebrating the mega box office record: “Moviegoers across generations made this weekend one for the record books. Our industry is at its best when there is something for everyone to see on the big screen, and this year we are seeing what happens when the innovation and creativity on display in amazing movie theaters across the country and around the world is combined with a great slate of films.”
The beautiful eruption of theatrical comes at a time when there’s been fears about two studios merging, Paramount and Warner Bros, that marriage of historical landmarks put on hold for 11 months in a pending federal antirust lawsuit with state AGs. Theatrical waves a strong flag at a time when Netflix’s stock at just over $71 a share has hit near 12-month lows; the impression that streaming is becoming more commonplace in people’s lives, not the dominant form of entertainment it was during Covid. Sony didn’t just give us the second best opening ever with Spider-Man: Brand New Day at $355M domestic, $927M WW, but they also recently announced that they were reopening L.A. legendary box office and cinema juggernaut, the Cinerama Dome and Hollywood Arclight in early 2028.