Hollywood is doling out billion-dollar movies again, with "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" joining the elite club earlier this week.
Spider Man became the fourth movie to rake in billion-dollar collection in 2026, CNBC reported. Spider Man has joined the elite club that hosted Universal's "The Super Mario Galaxy Movie," Lionsgate's "Michael" and Disney and Pixar's "Toy Story 5."Universal's "The Odyssey," which has raked in $912 million is set to join the billion-dollar ranks soon, according to the report.
The Odyssey is set to enthrall movie buffs in cinemas at least till mid-September globally and hence its billion dollar box office entry is almost a foregone conclusion.
The list is likely to extend, according to industry watchers.
Box office analysts expect Warner Bros.'"Dune: Part Three" and Disney and Marvel's "Avengers: Doomsday" to also hit the billion-dollar mark in the blockbuster year.
Analysts expect 2026 to be the year in which the highest number of billion-dollar movies happened in a single year post Covid. The pandemic had triggered social distancing and drove movie buffs out of cinemas worldwide after December 2019, causing a churn in the industry that benefitted streaming platforms.
In 2019, the year in which Covid made its ugly appearance, nine films recorded collections that crossed $1 billion at the box office. Disney accounted for seven of those nine movies, including the blockbuster "Spider-Man: Far From Home," which it produced in partnership with Sony, and Warner Bros.′ Joker, starring Joaquin Phoenix, which hit the theaters that year, was also in the elite list.
Disney has hailed the success of "Toy Story 5" as it boosted the fortunes of its studios division, though "Moana" and "Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu" fell short of expectations at the box office.
Modern blockbuster movies' billion dollar collections are also attributed to the rise in prices of movie tickets for the standard version as well as the surge in premium large format screnings. Imax, Dolby Cinemas, ScreenX and 4DX have also been beneficiaries of this trend, reporting record ticket collections spurred by movies including "The Odyssey" and "Spider-Man: Brand New Day."
Last year, these premium large formats (PLFs) accounted for nearly 16% of tickets sold for domestic showtimes, data from EntTelligence revealed, according to the CNBC report.
That is a rise from 15% recorded in 2024 and 13.8% in 2023.
These premium tickets are priced above $25 or more in places like New York City or Los Angeles. Nationally, the average price was around $18.22, which is also a huge spike from 8% from 2023.
