The summer movie season is officially behind us. Although it may not feel like a drop in most of the US, the industry is fully ready for a new beginning, With a pretty anemic Labor Day weekend in box office Signaling the change of seasons for Hollywood. It also covered an uneven piece of the year for the theater side of the business, with wild high heights and depressing low falls. That is, unfortunately, the way it was largely in the pandemic era: unpredictable and filled with valleys between the peaks.

Summer 2025 was no exception. The entire summer treasurer failed (with a wide margin) to reduce the $ 4 billion brand Despite the early projections on the contrary. However, there are several reasons to celebrate. With several films that go beyond expectations, the films that were once destined to go straight to streaming, doing business with gangbourts in cinemas and opening new roads, several olive branches of optimism for the future have expanded in recent months.

As we head in the fall, we will look back at the summer treasurer and break down the five biggest winners of the season. We will not talk about individual films as much as we talk about the bigger winners in the more common sense - from the studio that makes surprising returns to genres that lead the path when everything else fails. Let's dive.

If there was the only winner this summer, it would probably have been Imax. The format has been around for decades, but in the Pandemic era, the "eventual" nature of the film movement was led by the smaller number of people who still go to the films regularly to look for premium experiences. This summer was no different, because the likes of the "Mission: Impossible - the last count", "F1" and even "weapons" all made a lot of extra money thanks to people who pay to see those films in IMAX.

But it is important to note that it is not just imax, With competitive top formats such as Dolby's cinema They are constantly increasing their market share. Case at the point: "Jurassic World's Revival" could not provide IMAX release, but Dolby's cinema was for a strong part of the film's gross. There are other top formats that get dragging, including Cinemark XD and 4DX.

All of these formats are becoming increasingly popular with people who understand the whole "see the largest possible screen" very seriously. IMAX can make up as much as 20% of the total treasurer for certain films, which is a big deal. At a time when fewer people go to the cinema, the fact that these more expensive, premium experiences are progressing is a positive sign. The premium can be the dominant future of the exhibition, and this summer it has really helped to cement it as a fact. Imax and other companies are entering this space winning a big way right now.

Disney has been making a fortune for 15 years - dating from Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland" - by reworking the classics from her library with animated films. And as it continued to be the case of the 2025 mouse house, this was the year when the trend of a live stream was stretched out of the Walls. It turns out, this is a play that others can perform.

While Disney suffered a huge accident with "Snow White" ($ 205 million worldwide) Earlier this year, the studio returned in a big way with a live remake of action "Lilo and Stitch", the only one billion US film from Hollywood studio In 2025 so far. With $ 1.03 billion globally, the film is second by Chinese animated Smash Hit "Ne Ha 2" ($ 2.1 billion) to the global treasurer in 2025. Needless to say, Disney will not stand with these remake any time soon, as "Lilo and Stiche 2" has already been announced.

But then there is "how to train your dragon". With the return of the original director Dean Unbloyis, the remake resonated with new and old fans. He continued to withdraw $ 630 million worldwide, with more than 58% of that amount coming from abroad. This franchise is very popular, and Universal believes it can go successfully from animation to live action. Once again, the sequel is now in works.

It is clear, in other words, that these remuneration are good for business activities, and the question is only in time before other study entering this driving train. Indeed, as much as some people think that all the practice of transferring animated hits into live action is creative bankruptcy, there is an undeniable crowd eager to watch these films, at least when they are properly performed. After all, these films won big this summer by properly from their audience.

When Kovid-19 pandemic arrived in 2020, it increased the industry as we know it. Theaters around the world have been closed for months in the end, leading Hollywood to freedom to double, if not triple down, streaming as a future. Things have been streamlined since then, with studios trying to balance between serving their streaming divisions, and at the same time in the box office. But in the summer of 2025 it has helped to cement one voracious truth: great streaming films simply make no more sense.

"Lilo & Stitch" was not just the biggest summer film, it was also originally planned as exclusive Disney+ before Disney wisely changed the course. The studio did the same for Freakier Friday, which now comes to $ 140 million in the world treasurer against a budget below $ 50 million. And let's not go back on time but Both Moana 2 ($ 1.05 billion) and Alien: Romulus ($ 350 million) were huge hits It has similarly shifted from being directly streaming the first hitting theaters. A pattern develops.

Fortunately, it's not just Disney. Warner Bros. did exactly the same with "Final Destination Blood Lines", which made $ 301 million worldwide, Setting up another sequel to the long -term franchise. Also, it is far from the highest record in the property to this day and, for nothing, have since been trendy in HBO Max's most watched charts-which means that his treasurer is working, if anything, just helped to increase his streaming profile. Even Netflix's KPOP Demon Hunters made $ 19 million and top of the box office With only a two -day deadline to help round up the summer, that film was already available to Strimmer for months.

These films have sent a signal to the industry: Making a big movie like this and sending directly to the streaming service, has a financial sense of zero sense.

Not every horror movie will throw it out of the park. To be sure, 2025 noticed its fair share in the disappointments in that department, with Blumhouse being particularly difficult as a "wolf man" and "M3GAN 2.0" bombed against high expectations. But the summer season has proved to be once again why the horror is the most reliable genre in the box office, even with ups and downs of all that taken into account.

Sony successfully returned a zombie franchise from the dead with "28 years later", which drags $ 150 million around the world and already has a sequel, the "Bone Temple", which is due to take place in the cinema next January. Then, there are mentioned "final destination blood lines", which is in second place only for Ryan Koggler's "sinners" ($ 366 million in the world) as much as the horror films for horror in 2025. To any degree once thinks that the "Jurassic World Reaction" and its incredible $ 856 million Global Onel Horror, it is also significant. Dinosaurs nibble on humans and mutant monsters at least promise horror-lite excitement for the PG-13 crowd. The audience continues to eat it.

Then there is the phenomenon that is Zack Kreger's "weapon", which appears at $ 240 million worldwide, from this writing, at the top of three of the first four weekends in cinemas. It is not to mention specialties, such as the Jaws Re -release, "Clown in Corn, or the" Shin Godzilla "4K edition, which has helped to bring hardcore fans for other genres. Even a perceived accident like "I know what you did last summer" It quietly withdrew nearly $ 65 million globally against a reasonable $ 18 million budget.

Because superheroes are struggling more and more in the box officeThe industry is looking for answers to use the future. Although the films they adore do not always hit them, horror lovers continue to be among the most loyal films there. You take good care of them, and they will reward you.

Disney may have made the maximum money from every studio at the home treasurer this summer, but there is no doubt that Warner Bros. came to the top when he took into account the whole picture. As mentioned, there were huge horror hits, with "the final destinations of bloody lines" started the summer with a bang and earn more than $ 300 million worldwide. The Weapons are now ready to get closer to $ 300 million in $ 200 million when everyone is said to be over - and that's just the tip of the iceberg.

Superman also made over $ 600 million worldwide and helped ensure that the new DC universe could work. On the way, it even surpassed all this year's films of Marvel Universe, including "Captain America: The Brave New World" ($ 415 million), "Thunderbolt*" ($ 382 million) and "Fantastic Four: First Steps" ($ 508 million). Not only that, The WB also achieved the greatest original theater success of 2025 with F1, which is currently sitting at $ 614 million worldwide. Yes, it is Apple's production, but the sb handle the distribution and, safely to say, it was a wise move for all involved.

Although Disney came to the top of the summer treasurer thanks to Lilo and Stitch, apostles like Elio ($ 153 million worldwide) and the Thunderbolt*complicate things. Meanwhile, Warner Bros. rose to a thousand for the summer season, which made up high profile messages at the beginning of the year, such as Mickey 17 and Alto Knights. The heads of the film in the WB, Mike de Luka and Pam Abdi, have earned some security in the workplace to be sure.

Global Treasurer can never fully recover from pandemicBut the WB found a winning strategy that includes original films, budgets of different size and films made by various directors. No one else did it better this summer.