By Harshita Mary Varghese and Anhata Rooprai
Aug 5 (Reuters) - The U.S. box office saw its biggest opening weekend in history thanks to the one-two punch of "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" and "The Odyssey."
But the industry's rebound is increasingly being powered by higher ticket prices, premium-format screenings and a handful of blockbuster releases rather than a broad return of moviegoers. While the domestic box office revenue is on pace for its best year since the pandemic, film audiences have shrunk.
Whether high-budget movies can sustain this year's momentum is an early test of how much the industry's recovery depends on fewer people paying more to watch movies.
Theaters sold an estimated 470.9 million tickets through the first 30 weeks of 2026, compared with 747.3 million during the same stretch of 2019, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence.
"Revenue growth for exhibitors for a long while now has been mostly driven by increases in average ticket price along with increases in concession prices," said S&P Global Market Intelligence analyst Wade Holden.
Data from research firm Placer.ai, which tracks foot traffic, shows a similar pattern. When measured through July, U.S. theater attendance is up 8.1% this year compared with 2025, but down 27% against 2019 levels.
A stronger and more varied slate of films, including non-franchise successes like "Obsession" and "Project Hail Mary," has helped drive box office growth this year. Domestic box office revenue reached $6.2 billion through August 2, up 15% from the same period last year, according to media analytics firm Rentrak. In 2019, box office sales topped $7 billion at this point in the year.
Unlike recent years, when the domestic box office was dominated almost entirely by sequels and popular franchises like Marvel and Star Wars, this year's biggest earners include a larger share of original or standalone films, suggesting audiences are responding to a broader range of theatrical releases.
"This year's success at the box office speaks to a well-rounded release calendar that features a bit of everything and appeals to a wide spectrum of moviegoers," said Shawn Robbins, director of movie analytics for ticket seller Fandango and the founder and owner of Box Office Theory.
The high-profile summer releases of Spider-Man and filmmaker Chris Nolan's re-imagining of Homer's epic, which has sold out higher-priced IMAX venues, are giving exhibitors some of their best results since the pandemic. COVID-19 accelerated a shift that was already underway as streaming services gave consumers more home viewing options.
Many audiences now reserve theater visits for major event films and franchise releases. Theater chains responded by expanding premium large-format screens and upgrading the in-theater experience, betting that consumers will pay more for outings that cannot easily be replicated in front of a television.
Early signs are encouraging. AMC Entertainment, the world's largest cinema chain, said strong demand for premium screens helped it post its highest single-weekend revenue in its 106-year history and biggest-attended weekend of the decade. More than 10.2 million moviegoers visited its AMC and Odeon theaters, it said.
Even though inflation has partly weighed on the consumer appetite for the movies, higher prices have benefited a handful of major studios, with Universal, Walt Disney, Sony, Warner Bros, and Paramount Pictures, accounting for 68% of domestic receipts this year, according to an analysis of data provided by Rentrak.
Hollywood concentration has prompted concern from regulators. California, along with 11 other states, sued Paramount Skydance to block it from acquiring rival Warner Bros Discovery in a $110 billion deal. A combined Paramount and Warner would have made up nearly 11% of the domestic box office through this past weekend, according to Rentrak.
The success of titles such as "The Odyssey" and "The Super Mario Galaxy Movie," distributed by Comcast's Universal helped lift its market share to 24%, underscoring how a small number of blockbuster releases are increasingly driving exhibitors' financial performance.
According to EntTelligence, the average adult ticket price was $13.46 through July 30 this year, while admissions for premium formats such as IMAX averaged $18.22.
(Reporting by Harshita Mary Varghese and Anhata Rooprai in Bengaluru; Editing by Edmund Lee and David Gaffen in New York)
