THE WEDNESDAY CHARTS: May and the first five months of 2026 at the box office | June preview | June 3, 2026
May was a very good month.
THE WEDNESDAY CHARTS: May and the first five months of 2026 at the box office | June preview | June 3, 2026
1) May and the first five months of 2026
- May was a very good month at the box office. It finished just below the pre-pandemic average, and just ahead of last May, which was having a strong rally at the time (Lilo & Stitch, Mission: Impossible, and Final Destination).
Pre-pandemic is the level of business we want to see the industry get back to, and May came close, and it did it compared with very strong competition, including Marvel’s record-breaking Avengers 3 and 4.
- Year-to-date, the box office is now +10% ahead of 2025, and it’s down -22.1% from pre-pandemic numbers. Down -22.1% is roughly where last year finished, so there are seven months remaining in the year to chip away at that deficit.
It’s been good and steady improvement during the last three months:
- May had outstanding business from The Devil Wears Prada and Michael across the entire month.
Mortal Kombat also contributed, and then The Mandalorian and Obsession finished the period extremely well.
As noted, the variety and diversity of the lineup had something for every audience segment.
2) June preview
- June is high moviegoing season, with all students on break. The month is already off to a sensational start with Backrooms. From there, the sequence will be…
June 5/this weekend: Masters of the Universe and Scary Movie 6;
June 12: Steven Spielberg’s Disclosure Day;
June 19: Pixar’s Toy Story 5;
and June 26: DC Comics’ Supergirl and Jackass: Best and Last.
Overall
- Moviegoing has good momentum heading into the prime of summer, and the lineup has what it needs to continue 2026’s improvement.
Tom Hanks and Tim Allen are returning in Toy Story 5 on June 19, and it's tracking for a giant opening. Half of Pixar’s last 34 films have opened during the second half of June, including their biggest and best. Late June is Pixar's time, and this will be another juggernaut.
Our last two posts were:
BACKROOMS | THE BREADWINNER | PRESSURE openings | Where we are now | May 29 to 31, 2026 weekend here
STAR WARS: THE MANDALORIAN AND GROGU | PASSENGER | I LOVE BOOSTERS openings | Where we are now | May 22 to 24, 2026 Memorial Day weekend here
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[Methodology Note: For our monthly BO calculations, we take the complete weeks of each period (each week runs Friday to Thursday) and we line up the same weeks across the years, so we are comparing the same days/weeks/and day-mix, like apples-to-apples. There are different ways to do this and you might see slightly different figures — this is how we like to do it.]