The summer box office season is officially behind us. And as the biggest time of year to go to the movies for most people, any movie that comes out during Hollywood’s “summer season” – from the start of May to Labor Day (May 2 – September 1 this year) – has extra pressure on it to perform.
2025’s summer movie lineup boasted highly anticipated titles for film fans. As is usually the case, this included several big-time franchises coming back. The Marvel Cinematic Universe rebooted Fantastic Four, DC Studios relaunched Superman, and a fresh era in the Jurassic World saga began.
Despite nearly matching 2024’s summer box office domestic gross, 2025’s $3.596 billion total came in under projections of a return to the pre-pandemic norm of $4 billion or more. There were big winners in terms of specific titles and with certain studios, such as Warner Bros.’ record $40+ million opening weekend streak.
Highest Grossing Summer Movies Domestically
Movie
Summer Box Office Total
Lilo & Stitch
$423.3 million
Superman
$351.8 million
Jurassic World: Rebirth
$338.3 million
The Fantastic Four: First Steps
$266.4 million
How to Train Your Dragon
$262.9 million
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
$197.4 million
Thunderbolts*
$190.2 million
F1: The Movie
$188.2 million
Final Destination: Bloodlines
$138.1 million
Weapons
$135.2 million
There are always lessons to take away from how well (or poorly) various movies do at the box office. It was Barbie’s success in 2023 that gave way to more movies based on toys, just as The Avengers’ performance in 2012 birthed Hollywood’s obsession with cinematic universes.
Those are instances of Hollywood overreacting to a recent success and taking it as a sign that this is exactly what audiences want, creating copies and more attempts to replicate this success. 2025’s summer box office is primed for overreactions.
Audiences Only Want Major IP From Animation Now
Elio looks sad in the trailer for the titular Pixar film
Animated movies are typically strong performers at the box office, especially in the summer. With kids out of school and parents looking for things to do, it’s quite common for animated movies to excel. You have to look no further than last year to see this, as Inside Out 2 broke box office records and ended the summer as the top earner ($650 million domestically in the seasonal frame).
No movie even came close to sniffing Inside Out 2’s performance this year, let alone an animated one. DreamWorks, Pixar, and Paramount Animation took their shots to be the year’s big summer animated hit, but they all missed. The Bad Guys 2 edged out Elio ($74.7M vs $72.9M), but neither performance was terribly impressive.
On paper, the summer’s animated movies should have inspired confidence. DreamWorks’ The Bad Guys 2 was a sequel to a $250 million hit, Pixar proved with Elemental that its original storytelling can still connect over time, and Paramount’s Smurfs was a reboot of a $1.1 billion piece of IP.
Yet, none of these movies were guaranteed cash cows, and their performances suggest audiences don’t want these movies unless they’re something they know well. Since 2026’s animated movie lineup features Toy Story 5 and Minions 3 in the summer, and Zootopia 2 could hit to end this year, animation could soon be completely consumed by IP too.
Scarlett Johansson Is The Only Ex-MCU Star With Box Office Clout
Scarlett Johansson on red carpet for Jurassic World Rebirth
Steve Vas/Future Image/Cover Images
The Marvel Cinematic Universe has propped up the careers of many, creating the idea that all of the big stars can now headline other major releases. That’s rarely been the case in the past, and now 2025’s movies have provided more evidence that Scarlett Johansson is the only one who has successfully moved on.
Robert Downey Jr. is returning as Doom, Chris Hemsworth and Mark Ruffalo have lined up returns as Thor and Hulk, and Chris Evans’ physique has convinced fans he’s in Avengers: Doomsday. They’ve each had struggles moving on from the MCU, with Evans’ difficulties highlighted this summer with Materialists and Honey Don’t.
This isn’t the case for Johansson. She’s let 2021’s Black Widow serve as her finale, and Jurassic World Rebirth shows that she’s a draw. The franchise itself has mass appeal, but this success continues a strong history for the actress. That’s why she became the highest-grossing actor of all time with its performance.
Johansson hasn’t always had chances to showcase her box office prowess, but when given the opportunity, she delivers, like with Lucy making $469 million in 2014. Jurassic World Rebirth is one of the biggest movies of the year, and Hollywood should finally learn that the star actress is a great way to bring in audiences.
Live-Action Remakes Are What Families Want Nowadays
Stitch with arms outstretched in Lilo & Stitch
While audiences didn’t turn out for animated movies this summer, they did for live-action remakes. Lilo & Stitch made $423 million domestically after its record-breaking Memorial Day weekend opening haul of $146 million. How To Train Your Dragon became a huge hit too with a $262 million domestic gross.
Both films made loads more money internationally, and the overall success they experienced is telling. Hollywood has subtly been (wrongly) telling audiences that animation is “lesser than” by remaking them in live-action. It seems audiences have now caught on and are favoring these familiar retellings of cherished properties over something else.
These are two of the top five domestic earners this summer, as well as at the overall worldwide box office for the year. There’s clear financial data pointing to how much audiences will embrace these stories, even if they don’t always – see Snow White’s disappointing $205 million haul.
With Disney set up for another smash success next year when the live-action Moana comes out and DreamWorks already plotting for How To Train Your Dragon 2 in 2027, there’s no slowing down the current momentum. It may only be a matter of time before all your favorite animated movies are redone in this medium.
Less Is More With Horror Movies
Children running away in Weapons
Horror movies are a consistent part of the Hollywood ecosystem, but it’s impossible to overlook how well they’ve done this summer. Weapons became one of the buzziest titles of the year as it made $135 million domestically. And despite opening in April, Sinners’ incredible legs allowed it to make $131M of its $278M domestic total this summer.
These are but a few of the genre hits that came, as Sony’s 28 Years Later did great with $70 million, and Warner Bros. had the biggest success of the season with Final Destination: Bloodlines making $138 million. That’s even continued post-summer with The Conjuring: Last Rites kicking off the fall season with record-breaking numbers.
But, there were also some notable misfires. A24’s Bring Her Back ($19M) didn’t come close to rivaling Talk To Me’s $48M haul in 2022. Sony’s I Know What You Did Last Summer ($32M) finished with franchise low totals. Blumhouse’s M3GAN 2.0 ($24M) was a massive miss after leaning less into horror and more into action/comedy.
This suggests that while there is wide appeal for horror in the summer, the market has become oversaturated. Sticking all these movies together during this time didn’t work, and while the fall season is traditionally even more loaded for the genre thanks to the spooky holidays, Hollywood should limit its horror outings in the summer going forward.
The DC Universe Has Already Overtaken The MCU
David Corenswet’s Superman smiling at the end of the DCU movie
The Marvel Cinematic Universe has been the king of superhero movies for nearly two decades now, but recent years have proven how heavy it is to wear this crown. Mistakes were made after Avengers: Endgame with rapid expansion to TV and movie output, and the quality suffered, leaving audiences burned.
The effects of the last few years are evident in 2025. Thunderbolts* and The Fantastic Four: First Steps are some of the best MCU movies, not only produced post-Endgame​​​​​​, but arguably even before then for some. But neither movie was a major box office hit nor generated the continued discussions about what comes next.
DC Studios’ Superman did both. James Gunn kicked off the DC Universe on the big screen with a bang and got audiences excited about this new iteration of a superhero icon and buzzing about what the future holds for him and the cinematic universe at large.
It’s reminiscent of Iron Man’s performance in 2008, showcasing how the DC Universe is poised for success moving forward. The MCU will look totally different in two years after Avengers: Secret Wars resets things, and while Marvel figures out how to land this complicated journey, DC is just starting.
Not Every Franchise Is Built For A Summer Release
M3GAN’s upgraded self in closeup from M3GAN 2.0
Franchises always reign supreme in the summer, and that’s no different in 2025. Eight of the top 10 earners were sequels or reboots, while F1: The Movie utilized the IP of Formula 1 in a different way. We can expand this to the top 20, even, with 16 of those titles being an adaptation of some sort of known property.
But, it’s also worth noting that Final Destination: Bloodlines is the only less proven franchise that found sizable success. M3GAN 2 bombed, Nobody 2 only made $20 million, I Know What You Did Last Summer disappointed, Karate Kid: Legends failed to capitalize on Cobra Kai’s popularity, and Ballerina struggled to move John Wick beyond Keanu Reeves.
In the case of M3GAN 2 and Nobody 2, the studios took the first film’s success in the early months of the year as a sign they could compete in the summer. That was a clear mistake, as both failed to connect and build on the success of their predecessors.
Karate Kid is a franchise that has had plenty of success in the summer, including the last movie in 2010. But, after leaving the franchise on ice for 15 years and having audiences become used to it on streaming, it would have benefited from a different launch window than the week after Lilo & Stitch and Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning.
The same thing is true for Ballerina. The John Wick movies have made the transition to summer blockbuster with Keanu Reeves, but it was always riskier putting Ana de Armas’ spinoff in a similar spot. A spring or fall release could’ve given it more room to breathe, rather than compete with The Final Reckoning.
It’s time for Hollywood to really think carefully about the summer slate overall. Every studio wants as many bites at the apple as they can to get the hit of the year. But competition and audience appetite aren’t always taken into account. The average person can only afford so many trips to a theater in a given month or season.
Everyone would benefit from spreading things out. There’s no way to convince me that Jurassic World Rebirth, Superman, and The Fantastic Four: First Steps wouldn’t have all fared better if they didn’t all come out in less than a month.
This can only be done by moving other franchise plays out of the summer, giving audiences some of these known properties at less busy times, like the spring and fall. Riskier franchise comebacks, spinoffs, and so on may even find more success by not competing against the biggest IPs and stars around.