Another summer blockbuster season has come and gone, and I plan to break it all down here in this week’s Cairns on Cinema column.
When you look at the final numbers for the 2025 summer season that just wrapped up over the Labour Day long weekend, let us just say it was not the most impressive summer season. The domestic totals look flat: a cumulative gross of $3.67 billion, according to Deadline.
It was also flat at the top of the charts. Last year, over $650.8 million was the gross for Inside Out 2; the year before it was over $612 million for Barbie, and it was over $701 million for Top Gun: Maverick the year before that.
But for the summer of 2025 the top gross is Lilo & Stitch, Disney’s live action remake of the animation classic. They win the summer with a domestic haul so far of $423,318,538 according to Tuesday numbers at Box Office Mojo.
Only two other flicks topped $300 million domestic: Superman at $351,748,613, and Jurassic World: Rebirth at $338,265,615.
Then you had The Fantastic Four: First Steps at $266,126,180, and How to Train Your Dragon at $262,946,245.
Those five flicks just mentioned are the only movies landing above $200 million as of Labour Day, because Mission : Impossible - The Final Reckoning clocked in at $197,413,515.
So now the recriminations can begin. “What happened?!”
It’s pretty obvious to me what happened: this summer, Hollywood served up a bunch of the usual suspect sequels and retreads and reboots as their blockbuster movie offerings. And people say they are tired of it, and also fed up with how many times they have sent that same message to Hollywood.
The problem is that when Hollywood does try something fresh and original, like F1 : The Movie as a prime example, the dough doesn’t flow in to the same extent. F1 : The Movie did land in eight spot for the summer at $188 million, a couple of million behind Thunderbolts.
That’s not a bad domestic haul, and their worldwide haul was actually very impressive in the end, but in the grand scheme of things Hollywood is looking for much bigger wins than that. They are looking for the kind of movie that can haul in $600 or $700 million domestic and overseas a billion worldwide.
In terms of the worldwide box office Lilo & Stitch did top a billion dollars — $1.035 billion to be exact according to Box Office Mojo, with Jurassic World: Rebirth at $856 million and How to Train Your Dragon at $630 million. Interestingly, F1: The Movie took $613 million, beating the Superman, Mission: Impossible and The Fantastic Four movies globally.
That is why Hollywood always go back to the same old franchises and same old superheroes — because those are the kinds of movies make that kind of money during the summer months. Still, I don’t know if they can be too satisfied with the latest Superman movie doing the same-old, usual DC type of business, or with the biggest hit of the summer Lilo and Stitch only landing at $423 million.
Others will point the blame at high ticket prices and high concession prices, and people feeling the pinch economically in general. The cinemas in general are taking a big hit from people preferring to stay home and watch Netflix or Disney+, or Amazon Prime or Paramount Plus or these other streaming services.
We now head out of summer season and into the fall, where we expect a major drop off for the coming several weeks before business picks back up in November and December, when we expect to see more blockbuster flicks such as Wicked: For Good, and Avatar: Fire and Ash, among others.
Right now, though, I am going to officially call the race for the worldwide box office and say no one is going to stop Ne Zha 2, a Chinese animated phenomenon released early in the year that has made upwards of $1.9 billion dollars! These are the kind of numbers that ought to have Hollywood executives salivating, yet this flick is really more of an China phenomenon, which might explain why many of you might not have heard of it until now.
Anyway, it is onwards and upwards for movie fans as we head into the fall months, and there is plenty to look forward to. Among other things — the Toronto International Film Festival is on, starting this Thursday! Like I said, a lot is happening. See ya next time.
