This popcorn season is ending with a bang rather than the usual whimper as “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” and “The Odyssey” continue to pack in crowds. Meanwhile two new movies, Warner Bros. prehistoric sci-fi mystery “The End of Oak Street” with Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor and Paramount’s animated sequel “PAW Patrol: The Dino Movie,” each debuted above $20 million. Despite those newcomers, “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” remained the No. 1 in North America with $70 million in its third weekend of release.
Sony and Marvel’s comic book epic, starring Tom Holland as Peter Parker, has been a behemoth with $785 million domestically and $2.02 billion globally to date. It’s the second-fastest film to join the $2 billion club after 2019’s “Avengers: Endgame,” which accomplished the rare feat in 11 days. Universal’s big-budget Greek epic has generated a staggering $504.6 million in North America and $1.29 billion worldwide to date.
That’s after debuting this weekend in China to a solid $36.6 million. It’s the second-highest-grossing movie of the year after “Spider-Man” as well as director Christopher Nolan’s biggest of all time — an especially impressive feat for a drama that’s nearly three hours long and adapted from a poem that’s thousands of years old. Hollywood is celebrating because this summer box office is already the biggest since “the before times,” with revenues surpassing $4 billion for only the second time since COVID.
Domestic ticket sales stand at $4.24 billion from May 1 through Aug. 16, running 23% ahead of the same point in 2025 and nearly 6% ahead of 2019. There’s a chance that popcorn season even eclipses the all-time summer record set by 2013 with $4.755 billion (not adjusted for inflation), according to Rentrak. The PG-13 movie also collected $26 million overseas for a global tally of $46 million.
It’s a tepid start for the $80 million-budgeted movie, so the studio will rely on positive word-of-mouth to help with staying power. However critics seemed to like “Oak Street” more than audiences; the film holds a “B” grade on CinemaScore and 84% on Rotten Tomatoes. David Robert Mitchell wrote and directed the PG-13 survival thriller, which follows a mysterious cosmic event that transports a suburban family to prehistoric times.
Gross, who publishes the box office newsletter FranchiseRe. Unless “Oak Street” rebounds, it’ll be the latest underperforming tentpole for Warner Bros. following June’s “Supergirl” and this spring’s “The Bride.” It puts pressure on the studio’s Tom Cruise-led comedy “Digger,” which opens in October and carries a substantial $130 million price tag. Fourth place went to “PAW Patrol: The Dino Movie” with $20.5 million from 3,500 North American theaters.
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