Posted in: Box Office, Movies | Tagged: F1, how to train your dragon, Lilo & Stitch, M3gan 2.0, Summer Box Office, superman

Summer Box Office Winners & Losers 2025: All Around Pretty Meh

We wrap up the summer box office, name our winners and losers, and look at how our predictions from back in May turned out.

Summer box office time is the best time of the year, and while 2025 had plenty of high points, overall this summer has felt pretty meh. Total grosses add up to $3.6 billion, which is right in line with 2024 and larger than 2022, but smaller than 2023 and the summer of Barbenheimer. Only one film, Lilo & Stitch, has crossed the billion-dollar mark, which has led to some proclaiming the end of the blockbuster. Personally, I think the benchmark for a blockbuster has always been $750 million, and anything above that should be considered exceptional. As far as the summer box office months go, May was the only one that saw an increase from last year, with June, July, and August all down. There are bright spots all over, but there's also no ignoring who won and lost in 2025.

Summer Box Office Winners & Losers

Winner: Apple and F1. The Brad Pitt racing drama has grossed $613 million worldwide as of now, and gave Apple its first breakout at the box office. It fared much better overseas than here in the States, as expected, but debuted at number one and had the best legs of any other summer box office film. Hopefully, this leads to Apple putting more of their films into theaters and not giving up.

Winner: Warner Bros. Before April, they were still on a bad streak. That has all changed, as they became the first studio to have four straight films open above $40 million. They had four number one openings this summer, more than any other studio. They revived Final Destination, making it a viable franchise again, as it grossed $285 million worldwide. They distributed F1 for Apple, revitalized the DC Universe with Superman, and ended the summer winning the whole month of August with breakout hit Weapons. Not a bad turnaround.

Not A Winner or Loser: Superhero films. We have discussed this before, but Thunderbolts*, Superman, and The Fantastic Four: First Steps have combined to gross $1.5 billion this summer. The days of $1 billion grosses being handed out like candy may be over, but these are still very reliable films that will make good money when released. They may not all be AAA blockbusters anymore, but anyone saying that superheroes are "over" is wrong and has an agenda.

Loser: Sony. None of their releases made much noise. The Karate Kid: Legends failed to capitalize on the success of Cobra Kai; 28 Years Later opened huge but dropped like a rock. The next film will tell the real story of that franchise. The story of the summer for them was the huge mistake they made selling KPop Demon Hunters to Netflix. That is the movie of the summer, and they have nothing to show for it. I refuse to believe that they didn't have any clue how big that film could be, and it is not just because it is on Netflix. Epic fail there.

Loser: Animation. None of the animated films this summer made any noise at all. The Bad Guys 2 is the highest-grossing film, at $73 million, but it has not had a significant impact. It was a terrible summer for animated family films. Elio continued the cold streak of Pixar films that are not sequels. The Smurfs bombed. Animation's box office prospects for the year will improve in the fall when Zootopia 2 opens, but studios that release animated films will not look back fondly on the summer box office of 2025.

Loser: Blumhouse. Boy, they need something to turn around, and fast. Their biggest bet of the year, putting M3gan 2.0 in the middle of summer and switching genres, failed miserably. It made just $39 million worldwide, barely more than the first one made in its opening weekend. Ouch. They have The Black Phone 2 and Five Nights At Freddy's 2 to finish out the year, but if either of those fails to connect, they are in very, very big trouble.

Winner: Live-action remakes. Lilo & Stitch cleaned up as most thought it would, but Universal entered that space this summer with How To Train Your Dragon and succeeded in every way. Not only was the film as popular with critics and audiences as the original animated film, but it also grossed $625 million, $200 million more than the original film. A sequel is already coming, and you can bet that Universal is going to do more now.

As always, during our summer box office preview, I made some predictions as well, starting with my top ten. Let's see how I did.

My top ten went like this, based solely on domestic grosses:

1. Jurassic World Rebirth
2. Lilo & Stitch
3. The Fantastic Four: First Steps
4. How To Train Your Dragon
5. Superman
6. Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
7. Freakier Friday
8. Thunderbolts*
9. M3GAN 2.0
10. Weapons

And here is the actual top ten, again based on domestic grosses:

1. Lilo & Stitch
2. Superman
3. Jurassic World Rebirth
4. The Fantastic Four: First Steps
5. How To Train Your Dragon
6. Mission: Impossible- The Final Reckoning
7. Thunderbolts*
8. F1
9. Final Destination: Bloodlines
10. Weapons

I should have believed in F1 more. Nobody saw Final Destination doing what it did, and while the order is a little off, I got 8 out of 10 of the top-grossing films correct. Not bad, and while I overestimated how nostalgic people would be about Freakier Friday, it would be number 11 on the list. Everyone got M3gan 2.0 wrong, so I don't feel bad.

As for my 2025 summer box office predictions…ouch.

1. July will be the biggest in history, beating 2011.
2. Toxic Avenger will open to at least $20 million.
3. Elio will open small and have an Elemental-type run and finish as a success.
4. 28 Years Later will not make over $100 million domestically.
5. F1 will not crack the top ten for the summer.
6. A comedy will make over $50 million domestically.

2/6 is pretty bad, though I am happy that The Naked Gun, as of this weekend, crossed the $50 million mark. Studios should continue to try comedy during the summer; eventually, one will break out again.

What did you think of the summer movie season this year? What surprised you? What films did you enjoy? Are you as tired of the discourse over how much money superhero films make as I am? Let us know.

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