After years of slumps and lackluster numbers, the box office is finally performing the way it used to, as domestic grosses for the month of May cross $1 billion for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic and the ninth time in industry history.
But unlike the eight previous times the May box office hit this milestone, the film industry was able to do it in 2026 without the help of a Marvel movie, MCU or otherwise. While the official total is still being counted by Rentrak (formerly known as Comscore Movies), Box Office Mojo estimates a $1.06 billion total for the U.S. and Canada last month.
The first $1 billion May came in 2009, when the non-MCU “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” was the second highest-grossing film of that month with $170 million. Other $1 billion Mays include 2011 (“Thor”), 2013 (“Iron Man 3”), 2014 (“The Amazing Spider-Man 2” and “X-Men: Days of Future Past”), and the four years where the “Avengers” films were in theaters — 2012, 2015, 2018 and 2019.
There was a point where it seemed like a superhero-fueled billion-dollar start to the summer season would once again be in the cards when Marvel Studios’ “Avengers: Doomsday” was set to join its predecessors in the late April/early May release slot. But when Disney moved the film to December, Lionsgate filled in the gap with their biopic “Michael,” which became May’s top contributor with $210 million.
But Disney didn’t abandon the early summer slate, as 20th Century’s “The Devil Wears Prada 2” was just behind “Michael” with $209 million grossed domestically this past month. The success of the legacyquel, driven by Millennial women who are fans of the original 2006 movie starring Anne Hathaway and Meryl Streep, has made up for the underperformance of “The Mandalorian and Grogu,” which has still been a welcome boon to theaters with $137 million grossed domestically but fell a staggering 70% in its second weekend, the steepest drop ever for a film that opened on Memorial Day weekend.
But the films that got this month over the $1 billion-mark are the ones that have turned Hollywood on its head: Focus Features’ “Obsession” and A24’s “Backrooms.” Through Sunday, “Obsession” has turned its $17.1 million opening weekend into a $104.7 million running domestic total thanks to wild post-release buzz that has made it a can’t-miss film.
And this past weekend, “Backrooms” opened to $81 million, more than triple A24’s previous opening weekend record and the fourth highest for any horror film in box office history. With director Kane Parsons expressing interest in making more films based on his series of YouTube horror shorts, A24 has landed its first tentpole franchise.
“Backrooms” and “Obsession” erased what was initially expected to be a slowdown in the second half of May, keeping overall weekend totals above $100 million for the entire month. Now the theatrical market heads into June where films like Universal’s “Disclosure Day” and Paramount’s “Scary Movie” are expected to keep the momentum going leading up to Disney/Pixar’s “Toy Story 5,” which is set to contend for the highest domestic animated opening weekend in history with early projections of a $170 million launch.
