2026 Could Be One Of The Biggest Years Ever At The Box Office - Here's Why

To anyone who follows such things even casually, it's no secret that the box office has been in rough shape for the last handful of years. The pandemic completely upended the movie business, with theaters all around the world shutting down for months on end. Meanwhile, the advent of premium VOD pioneered by movies like "Trolls World Tour" made it easier than ever for people to watch films at home. The recovery has been slower than expected. The good news? Things have really picked up in the back half of 2025 following a very slow start. Even better news? 2026 looks like it could be the year the industry at large has been waiting for.

Though it is far too early to start making box office predictions for specific movies, just looking over the release calendar for 2026 reveals a possible 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 reached $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 right now, 2025 looks to land in a similar range, with movies like "A Minecraft Movie" ($953 million) and "Lilo & Stitch" ($860 million) leading the way, so far as Hollywood releases go. But 2026 has a different look and feel to it already. Even January, which had typically been a weak "dump month" for studios, has several potential hits on deck, including the "M3GAN" spin-off "Soulm8te" and "28 Years Later: The Bone Temple," the second entry in a planned trilogy.

We've also got Sam Raimi's new horror/thriller "Send Help" and "Return to Silent Hill" to look forward to. Is it a bit horror heavy? Sure, but it's far more promising than January 2025, which was populated by disappointments such as "Better Man" and "Wolf Man."

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 some more context, North America experienced its peak level of moviegoing when the domestic box office totaled more than $11.8 billion. We've yet to get anywhere near $10 billion since 2020. The global box office peaked in 2019 when ticket sales reached a staggering $42.5 billion.

Again, it's far too difficult to predict what that final number will be next year, but just looking at the shape of the release calendar, as it exists, things look beyond promising. At a glance, there are at least eight movies that appear to have a chance at cracking $1 billion globally next year, including "Super Mario Bros. 2," "The Mandalorian & Grogu," the live-action "Moana," Christopher Nolan's "The Odyssey," "Minions 3," "Spider-Man: Brand New Day," "Avengers: Doomsday," and "Shrek 5."

Certainly not all of those will crack the $1 billion mark, but they've got a good shot. In 2019, nine movies made at least $1 billion globally. Since 2020, no calendar year has had more than three. So, even if half of these movies get there, that's moving the needle in the right direction. Beyond that, we have to look at international hits that could contribute to the global total. This year, "Ne Zha 2" made $2 billion in China alone, shattering records. China is going to keep fostering homegrown hits in the coming years as well. 2026 will be no exception.

This is to say nothing of sleeper hits that people aren't talking about yet. "The Devil Wears Prada 2," DC's "Clayface," Zach Cregger's "Resident Evil" reboot, Alejandro Iñárritu's new movie with Tom Cruise, Jordan Peele's next film, and maybe even "Meet the Parents 4." This is to say nothing of "The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping" or "Ice Age 6," which seem like surefire winners.

At this stage, it's not worth running down every single movie on the calendar next year and making individual predictions. But Nolan's "Oppenheimer" made nearly $1 billion in 2023, so one imagines the hype for "The Odyssey" will be similarly high. Meanwhile, nostalgia and a long enough wait to get people to care could make "Shrek 5" a multi-generational hit not unlike "Jurassic World." Even stuff like "Supergirl" could break out if it's good enough and catches a wave. More to the point, this slate isn't overly reliant on superhero movies, which are no longer the automatic box office hits they became back in the 2010s.

More than anything, the 2026 movie slate truly has something for everyone: family movies, action movies, original movies, legacy sequels, reboots, movies aimed at women, and horror galore. That's the key here. Audiences of every sort will have something to look forward to next year. With no moviegoers left behind, 2026 is poised to be the year that theater owners and studios have been praying for since 2020.

There are also insurance policies, 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 perhaps the "Resident Evil" reboot won't work as well as Sony is hoping it will. But maybe Blumhouse's "The Mummy" will prove to be the next "Invisible Man." There's upside potential galore.

From a Pixar original like "Hoppers" to a new Steven Spielberg movie arriving right in the heart of summer, there are possibilities all over the place. If things go as well as they seem like they might, the movies may truly be back in a big, bad way next year. Here's hoping.