It may not feel like it outside, but summer is indeed winding down. This week I wanted to highlight a few movie narratives that flew under the radar over the last few months. Surprising success stories, flops and something in between.
Without further ado, here are five summer box office stories you may have missed:
“Obsession” did even better than you think: Curry Barker’s indie horror smash, made for under $1 million, has now grossed over $500 million worldwide. It’s the highest-grossing original film of the 2020s, and is a bona fide profit machine for Focus Features. “Backrooms” ended its theatrical run with $397 million worldwide — which is still mighty impressive — but the “Obsession” total is just nuts.
Another Guy Ritchie flop: Guy Ritchie may want to stick to streaming movies. Despite pairing Jake Gyllenhaal with Henry Cavill, the breezy Black Bear thriller “In the Grey” grossed just $24 million worldwide against a $70 million budget, and that’s after 2024’s “Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare” grossed just $30 million in 2024. The filmmaker hasn’t had a theatrical hit since 2021’s Jason Statham thriller “Wrath of Man,” but he sure keeps pumping them out. He’s having better luck on TV with “The Gentlemen” and “Young Sherlock,” so there’s that.
The “Minions” franchise is fine: While “Minions & Monsters” underperformed when it opened in theaters over the Fourth of July, it crossed $500 million this past weekend. While that’s still half of what the other “Minions” movies made, the film’s budget of just $85 million means it was still profitable for Universal, to say nothing of the merch sales. Fart gun, anyone?
Nate Bargatze bombed: Despite a healthy marketing push from Sony, especially aimed at families, Nate Bargatze’s feature film debut “The Breadwinner” — a “Mr. Mom”-esque family comedy — tanked in May with just $20 million worldwide against a budget of $25 million. He’s one of the highest-grossing stand-up comics on the touring circuit, but comedy remains a tough sell at the multiplex. With one exception…
“Scary Movie” was a big hit: The Wayans Brothers’ return to the “Scary Movie” franchise kind of flew under the radar after opening weekend, but the June release grossed over $230 million worldwide against a $30 million budget. That makes it the highest-grossing installment in the horror comedy franchise since the 2000 original, a mighty impressive feat for the Paramount release and the Wayans Brothers.
Now, on to the rest as we tackle Tom Holland’s “Spider-Man” payday, LA’s theater boom, the crowdfunded bid to keep Letterboxd cool and more in this week’s Reel to Real column.
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Box Office: ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ Powers August to $1.1 Billion Domestic, Shattering All-Time Record
August is usually a wind-down period for the box office, as the height of summer gives way to the slower business of early autumn. But thanks almost entirely to “Spider-Man: Brand New Day,” movie theaters have enjoyed historically strong business for this time of year.
Excluding its opening day record $169.8 million on July 31, the Sony/Marvel Studios blockbuster has contributed $685 million to overall domestic grosses this month. That accounts for approximately 62% of all grosses in U.S. and Canada this August, which have reached an all-time monthly record of $1.1 billion through Sunday.
That shatters the previous record of $1.019 billion set back in 2016 and puts this month on pace to double the meager $680 million overall total of August 2025, when the highest-grossing film was the mid-budget horror hit “Weapons” with $132.5 million.
This is only the third time that the August box office has cleared $1 billion domestic, and like 2026, the two other times it happened were due in good part to a late summer superhero film. In 2016, the highest-grossing August film was the DC title “Suicide Squad” with $286.4 million, and in 2014, the highest-grossing film was Marvel Studios’ “Guardians of the Galaxy” with $275 million.
But what separates this August from 2014 and 2016 is how top-heavy it is. Behind “Spider-Man,” the next highest-grossing film for this month is Universal’s “The Odyssey” with $180.5 million grossed through Saturday. The next highest film? Warner Bros.’ “The End of Oak Street” with just $38 million.
Combined, “Spider-Man” and “Odyssey” make for 78% of all August business.
With “Brand New Day” chasing the all-time domestic gross record of $936 million held by “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” and “The Odyssey” now standing as the highest grossing R-rated film ever, theaters are riding the wave of box office history to the strongest summer they have seen since the COVID-19 pandemic.
But it is also an indication of how changing release strategies by studios and audience moviegoing habits have evolved even in the past decade, as fewer mid-budget films hit theaters while the ones that do, like “The End of Oak Street,” have a harder time competing against the buzziest tentpoles even when they get good reviews. – Jeremy Fuster
The Spotlight
“Spider-Man: Brand New Day” is the biggest hit of the year, grossing over $2.2 billion and counting as it looks to pass “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” to set the all-time domestic record. So what does Tom Holland get in return? $100 million in his pocket. At least. That’s according to TheWrap’s exclusive we ran this week from Sharon Waxman, Umberto Gonzales and yours truly, with insiders telling us that the beloved actor and fan-favorite Peter Parker will make at least $100 million thanks to backend bonuses tied to “Brand New Day,” with a base salary of $20 million. Not too shabby, eh? Read our full exclusive here.
New Releases
LA’s Theater Boom: A cinema palace renaissance is happening in Los Angeles, with iconic theaters being restored left and right. Jeremy Fuster has more.
Keep Letterboxd Cool: As studios and larger companies look to possibly acquire Letterboxd, a crowdfunded campaign is trying to take control to maintain its reputation as a cinephile haven.
The LA Tax Credit Effect: Are the new tax credits designed to boost production in LA working? We asked experts in an exclusive roundtable.
Fixing “The X-Files”: “The X-Files” creator Chris Carter explains his new cut of the 2008 flop “I Want to Believe,” now streaming on Hulu.
Gen Z Drive: Casey Loving spoke to “It Ends” director Alex Ulom about making his $150,000 horror indie over several years, only for Neon to pick it up and release it.
Concession Stand
“Obsession” is the first original film of the 2020s to gross $500 million worldwide.
And “The Odyssey” is now the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time.
Surprise! Diane Warren is back in the Oscar race.
Michael Showalter is remaking the John Cusack/Kate Beckinsale rom-com “Serendipity” for Amazon MGM and Miramax.
Jason Statham’s “Mutiny” leaked on Prime Video days before its release. Oops.
Charles Melton is in final talks to star in Destin Daniel Cretton’s highly anticipated anime adaptation “Naruto” for Lionsgate.
The Paramount-Warner Bros. merger could cost Los Angeles 4,500 film and TV jobs.
Streaming Corner
- Why are Disney+ movies geared so heavily towards millennial IP when they’re ostensibly for kids? Andi Ortiz has the answer.
- “Spider-Man” is the most valuable superhero film franchise on streaming, and it’s not even close. From 2020 to 2025, its films generated $940 million in streaming revenue.
What I’m Watching
I finally caught up with director Steven Soderbergh and writer Ed Solomon’s 2025 film “The Christophers” now that it’s streaming on Hulu, and what a lovely little chamber piece. Ian McKellen and Michaela Coel are wonderful as a grumpy, reclusive painter and an art forger who strike up a contentious business relationship. It’s a sweet and sharp film that ponders the value and cost of art in relation to the artist. Each time Soderbergh and Solomon collaborate it’s something entirely different, but always special.
