For those who casually follow this stuff, it’s no secret that the box office has been in rough shape over the past few years. The pandemic completely upended the movie business, with theaters around the world closing for months on end. Meanwhile, the advent of premium VOD, pioneered by films like “Trolls World Tour,” made it easier than ever for people to watch movies at home. The recovery has been slower than expected. The good news? Things really picked up in mid-2025 after a very slow start. Even better news? 2026 looks like it could be the year the industry at large has been waiting for.
While it’s too early to start making box office predictions for specific films, just looking at the release calendar for 2026 reveals a potential record-breaking year. At the very least, it should, with relative ease, become the biggest year for ticket sales since the pandemic began in 2020. For some context, the global box office hit $30 billion in 2024, down from $33.9 billion in 2023. The domestic box office hit $8.75 billion in 2024, down from $9 billion in 2023.
As of now, 2025 looks to land in a similar range, with films like “A Minecraft Movie” ($953 million) and “Lilo & Stitch” ($860 million) leading the way as far as Hollywood releases go. But 2026 is already looking different. Even January, which has typically been a weak “dump month” for studios, has several potential hits on deck, including the “M3Gan” spinoff “Soulm8te” and “28 Years Later: The Bone Temple,” the second entry in a planned trilogy.
We also have Sam Raimi’s new horror/thriller “Send Help” and “Return to Silent Hill” to look forward to. Is it a bit of heavy horror? Sure, but it’s a lot more promising than January 2025, which was filled with disappointments like “Better Man” and “Wolf Man.”
Pound for pound, the 2026 movie slate is the strongest we’ve seen in years
That’s just for starters. Pound for pound, month for month, the 2026 slate is the strongest we’ve seen (on paper anyway) in a long time. For a little more context, North America experienced its peak moviegoing level when domestic box office totaled over $11.8 billion. We haven’t even come close to $10 billion since 2020. The global box office peaked in 2019, when ticket sales hit $42.5 billion.
Novamente, é muito difícil prever qual será o número final no próximo ano, mas apenas olhando para a forma do calendário de liberação, como existe, as coisas parecem além de promissoras. À primeira vista, existem pelo menos oito filmes que parecem ter uma chance de quebrar US $ 1 bilhão globalmente no próximo ano, incluindo “Super Mario Bros. 2”, “The Mandalorian & Grogu”, o Live-Action “Moana” Shespher Nolan’s “The Odyssey”, “Minions 3”, “Spider-Man: Brand Day”, “The Odyssey”, “Dons 3”, “Spider-Man: Brand Day” “Ov Angning” “Ov Angning” O odissey “,” Onions 3 “,” Spider-Man: Brand Day “” “
Certamente nem todos eles quebrarão a marca de US $ 1 bilhão, mas eles têm uma boa chance. Em 2019, nove filmes ganharam pelo menos US $ 1 bilhão globalmente. Desde 2020, nenhum ano civil teve mais de três. Então, mesmo que metade desses filmes chegue lá, isso está movendo a agulha na direção certa. Além disso, temos que olhar para os hits internacionais que podem contribuir para o total global. Este ano, “Ne Zha 2” ganhou US $ 2 bilhões somente na China, destruindo registros. A China continuará promovendo hits caseiros nos próximos anos. 2026 não será exceção.
Isso pode não dizer nada sobre sucessos de dorminhocos sobre os quais as pessoas ainda não estão falando. “The Devil Wears Prada 2,” Clayface de DC “,” Resident Evil “, de Zach Cregger, reiniciar, o novo filme de Alejandro Iñárritu com Tom Cruise, o próximo filme de Jordan Peele, e talvez até” Conheça os Pais 4. ” Isso não quer dizer nada sobre “The Hunger Games: Sunrise On the Reaping” ou “Gelo Idade da Idade”, que parecem vencedores infalíveis.
O calendário de lançamento do filme de 2026 realmente apresenta algo para todos
Nesta fase, não vale a pena disputar todos os filmes do calendário no próximo ano e fazer previsões individuais. Mas o “Oppenheimer” de Nolan ganhou quase US $ 1 bilhão em 2023, então imagina -se que o hype para “The Odyssey” será igualmente alto. Enquanto isso, a nostalgia e uma espera longa o suficiente para que as pessoas se importem pudessem fazer de “Shrek 5” um golpe multigeracional não muito diferente do “Jurassic World”. Mesmo coisas como “Supergirl” podem sair se for bom o suficiente e pegam uma onda. Além disso, essa lousa não depende muito de filmes de super -heróis, que não são mais os hits automáticos de bilheteria que eles voltaram nos 2010.
More than anything, the 2026 film slate truly has something for everyone: family films, action movies, original films, legacy sequels, reboots, female-centric films, and horror galore. That’s the key here. Audiences of all types will have something to look forward to next year. With no moviegoers left behind, 2026 is poised to be the year theater owners and studios have been praying for since 2020.
There are insurance policies, too, so to speak. Maybe “Avengers: Doomsday” won’t be a $2 billion hit like “Avengers: Infinity War.” But maybe “The Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender” will become the next “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.” Or maybe the “Resident Evil” reboot won’t do as well as Sony hopes it will. But maybe Blumhouse’s “The Mummy” will prove to be the next “Invisible Man.” There’s plenty of upside potential.
From a Pixar original like “Hoppers” to a new Steven Spielberg film arriving right in the heart of summer, there are possibilities all over the place. If things go as well as they seem, movies could actually be back in a big, bad way next year. Here’s hoping.
