"Spider-Man: Brand New Day," released in July, has grossed nearly a billion dollars in the U.S.alone, which, heading into fall, has Matt Belloni and others in Hollywood experiencing an unusual emotion: mild optimism."I think we've had a successful year at the box office a), because there are more movies; then b) I think this year there have been movies for different audiences," he said.
"We see movies like 'Obsession' and 'Backrooms' bring in the younger audience.We've seen 'The Odyssey' bring in the older audience.
We've seen a mass-market hit like 'Spider-Man: Brand New Day' bring in everybody."Belloni is founding partner at Puck News, and the host of "The Town" podcast.He knows just about every player at every studio.
"This year they are finally up to a cadence of movies that, even when they don't all work, they contribute to the box office," he said.Take this summer: With its $4.7 billion in domestic box office, the summer of 2026 was the highest-grossing in history (not adjusted for inflation).
Across North America, 322 million tickets were sold, up 22% from last year.What Hollywood cheered most was who was buying those tickets: 18-to-35-year-olds, who made up 37% of the audience, a strong rebound since the pandemic.
And much of that elusive demographic showed up for "Obsession," directed by 25-year-old Curry Barker; and for "Backrooms," directed by a 21-year-old, Kane Parsons."They were movies that were expected to do okay, but they were not expected to gross hundreds of millions of dollars and become phenomenons," Belloni said.
"Obsession," a horror riff on getting what you think you want, was made for under a million dollars – and has grossed more than half a billion worldwide.In its opening weeks, 75% of its audience was under 35, a success that elated the film's executive producer Jason Blum, who told a Producers Guild of America panel in June, "There's f*****g hope in the movie business, and it's exciting and it's great." According to Blum, "The ...