It’s time for my annual look at the summer 2025 movie box office.
Information below is taken from Box Office Mojo, The Numbers, Metacritic and Wikipedia; figures are as of August 31, 2025.
The top 10 films (domestic)
Figures taken from Box Office Mojo. Metacritic scores are in parentheses (green = “recommended,” orange = “mixed reviews,” red = “avoid”).
- Lilo & Stitch, $423,318,538 (Disney) (53)
- Superman, $351,748,613 (Warner Bros.) (68)
- Jurassic World: Rebirth, $338,265,615 (Universal) (50)
- The Fantastic Four: First Steps, $265,826,180 (Disney) (65)
- How to Train Your Dragon (2025), $262,774,245 (Universal) (61)
- Mission: Impossible—The Final Reckoning, $197,413,515 (Paramount) (67)
- Thunderbolts*, $190,274,328 (Disney) (68)
- F1: The Movie, $188,071,545 (Warner Bros.) (68)
- Final Destination: Bloodlines, $138,130,814 (Warner Bros.) (73)
- Weapons, $134,602,687 (Warner Bros.) (81)
The top 10 films (global)
Figures taken from The Numbers.
- Lilo & Stitch, $1,033,023,613 (Disney) (53)
- Jurassic World: Rebirth, $855,202,615 (Universal) (50)
- How to Train Your Dragon (2025), $628,964,244 (Universal) (61)
- F1: The Movie, $613,016,545 (Warner Bros.) (68)
- Superman, $610,748,613 (Warner Bros.) (68)
- Mission: Impossible—The Final Reckoning, $597,913,515 (Paramount) (67)
- The Fantastic Four: First Steps, $505,126,180 (Disney) (65)
- Thunderbolts*, $382,436,365 (Disney) (68)
- Final Destination: Bloodlines, $285,286,929 (Warner Bros.) (73)
- Weapons, $232,397,687 (Warner Bros.) (81)
My thoughts
The biggest success story for this summer is the remake of “Lilo & Stitch,” which is the only summer film to cross $1 billion globally. People really like the mischievous blue alien and his Hawaiian best friend.
Unfortunately, animation doesn’t seem to have taken theaters by storm this summer. The summer’s biggest animation release, Disney’s “Elio,” flopped hard, earning $152 million globally to date. As such, the top grossing animated film this summer is “The Bad Guys 2,” which has earned $176.5 million worldwide so far.
Two animated films of note ran only briefly in theaters in the US, though they’ve made bigger splashes elsewhere. “Ne Zha 2” is the top-grossing animated film of all time, but earned almost all of its box office take in China (and came out earlier this year). The film ran here in August. Also running in August is a one-weekend release of “KPop Demon Hunters,” the hit Netflix film. Since Netflix (like other streaming services) annoyingly treats all of its numbers like they’re state secrets, it’s unclear exactly how much it earned, but it’s estimated to have earned $19 million.
“Superman” and “Fantastic Four” both did well enough, though not the billion dollar earners their studios likely were hoping. Some suggest Superman as a character is too tied image-wise to the US, which might’ve hurt its international take (more on that below). (Mild spoiler: the film’s take on Krypton vs. his Kansas upbringing is clearly taken from Byrne’s 1986 reboot, which I never liked, as it always felt jingoistic/anti-immigrant—and given current events, that certainly doesn’t help international appeal.)
As for “Fantastic Four,” it’s definitely better than the previous FF films, though that’s a low bar to clear; however, the characters aren’t the biggest faces of Marvel anymore. While that shouldn’t matter (see: the Avengers, who before “Iron Man” were mostly seen as B-listers), there’s also still a long (and bad) memory of the previous FF films, which doesn’t help. A coworker of mine wanted to know how I liked the new film before she watched it, since she recalled those films (and not really in a good way).
Why the downturn in the international box office?
This year’s numbers are generally flat compared to 2024, and down compared to 2023. While 2023 was the year of “Barbenheimer” (and thus unlikely to see a repeat), there’s also other factors in why numbers are down. A number of films expected to be hits, such as “Elio,” flopped. Others did quite well, such as “Superman” and “Jurassic World,” but didn’t rake in “Barbie” numbers. Among the studios, Warner Bros. (despite its problems) is still on an uptick for 2025 (“Sinners,” “Superman,” etc.). Only one Hollywood film this year’s made more than $1 billion, the “Lilo & Stich” remake.
The Hollywood Reporter wrote an article that suggests why things are flat for Tinseltown: domestic revenue is flat, while international box office revenue is down. Last year, six of the top 10 summer Hollywood films earned more than 60% of revenue from international box office; this year, it’s only three films: “Jurassic World Rebirth” (60%), “F1: The Movie” (69%), and “Mission: Impossible—The Final Reckoning” (67%). Going down to the top 20 films, the only additional entry is “The Smurfs” (72%).
As for why this summer’s flat showing, besides the usual quality of Hollywood’s fare, I suspect the Trump administration is partly to blame. Between tariffs, anti-immigration policies, needless trade wars, etc., Trump’s hurting the United States’ “soft power” with his “all stick, no carrot” authoritarian bullying. Not to mention American entertainment is easy for non-North American audiences annoyed by Trump/the US to ignore or replace with local fare. The rest of the world needs smartphones, vaccines, and cars; they don’t really need Tom Cruise movies, “Star Wars,” or Batman.
Meanwhile, more countries are seeing an increased focus on locally made films. China’s seen an uptick in producing smash hit films such as “Ne Zha 2” (now the highest-grossing animated film ever); the Hollywood Reporter notes similar upticks in locally made films’ box office for South Korea and Vietnam.
There’s also the general reasons for even Americans to shift away from going to the movies: streaming services; modern home theaters offer a pleasant movie watching experience; and the state of modern movie theaters (they’re expensive, there’s an increase in annoying ads/trailers, etc.). It’s easy for Hollywood producers and directors to talk up the “magic” of going to the movies when they can afford private screenings (or a higher-end theater). Faced with a choice of “go to a mediocre multiplex” (and if it’s a family, paying through the nose to do so) or “wait several months for the film to hit Netflix/Disney+/etc.,” I’m not surprised how many go with option #2.
Also, given the sheer volume of reboots, remakes, sequels, and usage of decades-old intellectual properties, waiting for streaming seems like a reasonable response. Superman’s been around since 1938; one isn’t exactly lacking in Superman material if they wait a few months for his latest film to hit HBO Max.
Recommended films
The 90s TV show “The Critic” saw Jay Sherman in one episode recommend skipping films that are: based on a TV show; past part two; or a remake of a classic. Going by those criteria, the only films in the top 10 that make the cut (and viewing superhero films as based on the comics, not as reboots of previous films):
- Superman
- F1: The Movie
- Fantastic Four: First Steps
- Thunderbolts*
- Weapons
Going by Metacritic scores, most of this year’s top films are deemed worth watching. Specifically:
- How to Train Your Dragon (2025)
- F1: The Movie
- Superman
- Mission: Impossible—The Final Reckoning
- The Fantastic Four: First Steps
- Thunderbolts*
- Final Destination: Bloodlines
- Weapons
Image: Left to right: “Superman” (Warner Bros.); “Mission: Impossible—Final Reckoning” (Paramount); “How to Train Your Dragon” (2025) (Universal)
