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Dog days of summer? This year’s August at the box office didn’t get the memo.
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.
“The Odyssey” stayed in second place with $23.2 million in its fifth weekend of release. 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.
“This August feels particularly notable with ‘The Odyssey’ and ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ providing blockbuster momentum,” says Rentrak’s head of marketplace trends Paul Dergarabedian. “The final weeks of summer could provide a historic home stretch to what has already been a remarkable summer movie season.”
“The End of Oak Street” launched in third place to a middling $21 million from 3,446 venues. 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.
“This is late summer escapist entertainment, but right now audiences are still escaping to ‘Spider-Man,'” says David A. 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. Those ticket sales are even with the studio’s prior “PAW Patrol” sequel, 2023’s “The Mighty Movie,” which ignited to $22 million and eventually climbed to $205 million globally against a $30 million budget. “The Dino Movie” carries a slightly larger $40 million price tag, which was split between Paramount and Spin Master. Overseas, the newest “PAW Patrol” has earned $48.5 million for a global tally of $69 million.
Rounding out the top five was “Katseye: Wild Hearts,” a documentary about the girl group, with $3.8 million from just 724 screens.
Fittingly, “Six: The Musical Live” debuted in sixth place with $3 million from 1,462 locations. It’s a filmed version of the popular Broadway show, and initial returns are similar to other recent live-captures like “Waitress: The Musical ($2.6 million) and “Merrily We Roll Along” ($1.3 million). Focus Features is releasing “Six,” which lands a few weekends after Bleecker Street’s “Hadestown” established an opening weekend record among Broadway live-captures with $10.2 million. “Hadestown” has been a surprise hit with $20 million domestically since late July.
Elsewhere on box office charts, the Angel Studios historical drama “The Brink of War” opened in seventh place with $2.6 million from 2,083 theaters. Set during the Reykjavík Summit of 1986, the movie stars Jeff Daniels as Ronald Reagan as he races against time to salvage a deal with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev (Jared Harris) to dismantle nuclear arsenals. Audiences liked the film, which secured an “A” grade on CinemaScore.
“This is a weak opening for a war drama,” Gross says. “Angel Studios knows how to get this audience to the theater, but this title is not getting Angel’s usual traction.”
Another newcomer, Black Bear’s crime thriller “The Rivals of Amziah King,” starring Matthew McConaughey, earned a decent $1 million from just 632 theaters. The well-reviewed movie follows McConaughey as a honeymaker and born-again Christian whose former foster daughter reappears in his life.
Meanwhile Universal’s R-rated comedy “One Night Only” failed to rebound, bringing in $2 million in its second weekend, a 61% decrease in ticket sales. The movie, which takes place during the one night a year when premarital sex is legal, has grossed $10 million against a $25 million budget.
More to come…
