After years of declines and disappointing results, box office receipts have finally returned to their previous levels: US box office receipts in May exceeded $1 billion for the first time since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic and for the ninth time in industry history.
But unlike the eight previous times that May box office revenues reached this milestone, the film industry was able to do so in 2026 without the help of Marvel, MCU, or any other films. While official figures from Rentrak (formerly known as Comscore Movies) are still being calculated, Box Office Mojo estimates the total box office in the US and Canada at $1.06 billion for last month.
The first film to gross over $1 billion in May was in 2009, when the non-Marvel Cinematic Universe film X-Men: Origins of Wolverine became the month's second-highest-grossing film with $170 million. Other films to gross over $1 billion in May include 2011 (Thor), 2013 (Iron Man 3), 2014 (The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and X-Men: Days of Future Past), and the four years that Avengers films were in theaters—2012, 2015, 2018, and 2019.
At one point, it seemed like the summer superhero season's billion-dollar box office opener was once again just around the corner, with Marvel Studios' Avengers: Doomsday slated for a late April/early May release, like its predecessors. But when Disney pushed the film back to December, Lionsgate filled the gap with its biopic Michael, which topped the May box office with $210 million.
But Disney hasn't given up on the summer box office: 20th Century Fox's The Devil Wears Prada 2 trailed Michael's lead only slightly, grossing $209 million in the U.S. last month. The sequel's success, largely fueled by its popularity among millennial women, fans of the 2006 original starring Anne Hathaway and Meryl Streep, offset the failures of The Mandalorian and Grog, which, while a welcome addition to theaters and grossed $137 million in the U.S., fell a staggering $70.1 million in its second weekend, marking the steepest drop ever for a film released on Memorial Day weekend.
But the films that surpassed the $1 billion mark this month were the ones that turned Hollywood on its head: Focus Features' "Obsession" and A24's "Backstage." By Sunday, "Obsession" had turned its $17.1 million opening weekend into a $104.7 million domestic total, thanks to incredible post-release buzz that made it a must-see film.
Last weekend, the film "Behind the Scenes" grossed $81 million in its opening weekend, more than tripling A24's previous opening-weekend record and becoming the fourth-highest grossing horror film in history. Director Kain Parsons has expressed interest in making new films based on his YouTube horror short series, giving A24 its first major franchise project.
Films like "Behind the Scenes" and "Whiplash" offset the initially expected slowdown in the second half of May, keeping their total weekend box office receipts above $100 million for the entire month. Now the film market enters June, where films like Universal's "Disclosure Day" and Paramount's "Scary Movie" are expected to maintain momentum ahead of the release of Disney/Pixar's "Toy Story 5," which is projected to be the highest-grossing animated film in U.S. history with $170 million.
The article "U.S. box office hits $1 billion in May, with no Marvel movie released for the first time" originally appeared on TheWrap.