What’s Hot at the Box Office: Summer 2026’s Biggest Stories
What’s Hot at the Box Office: Summer 2026’s Biggest Stories
Summer movie season is in full swing, and the last few weeks have delivered some genuinely wild results: a record-shattering horror film from a 20-year-old YouTube director, a struggling Star Wars blockbuster, a Michael Jackson biopic still going strong in its sixth week, and a micro-budget sleeper that refuses to quit.
Backrooms Is the Summer’s Biggest Surprise
The story of the moment is Backrooms, and it’s a remarkable one. The horror film earned the biggest debut in A24’s history, the best opening ever for an original horror movie, and the fourth-best domestic debut of 2026 across all genres, all from a ten million dollar budget. It premiered at number one with 81.4 million dollars domestically and 118 million dollars worldwide.
Directed by 20-year-old Kane Parsons, the psychological thriller obliterated projections, which had pegged it for between 40 and 50 million dollars. The film stars Oscar nominees Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve, and is based on the internet-born horror concept of the same name. With a production budget of roughly ten million dollars, it’s already one of the most profitable movies of the year.
The Mandalorian & Grogu Takes a Major Second-Weekend Hit
After opening strong on Memorial Day weekend, the long-awaited big-screen Star Wars spinoff took a brutal hit in its second week. The film brought in just 25 million dollars in weekend two, a drop of 69 percent, likely the worst week-on-week decline for any Star Wars movie. Directed by Jon Favreau and starring Pedro Pascal, the film had a 165 million dollar production budget and has now earned around 247 million dollars worldwide, a figure that may not be enough to call it a success.
Industry observers say the steep drop reflects a reception issue with this particular film rather than broader Star Wars fatigue.
Michael Continues Its Box Office Run
Lionsgate’s Michael Jackson biopic continues to be one of 2026’s true crowd-pleasers. Starring Jaafar Jackson and Colman Domingo, the film reached 100 million dollars domestically in just four days and has since grown to nearly 340 million dollars domestically and over 846 million dollars worldwide.
Now in its sixth week, the film earned 11.7 million dollars last weekend, proving audiences still have an appetite for it even with fresh competition in theaters.
Obsession Is the Year’s Most Improbable Hit
Perhaps the most jaw-dropping story of the season isn’t Backrooms. It’s Obsession.
The film has earned 104.7 million dollars domestically on a production budget of just 750,000 dollars to one million dollars. It became the first non-holiday release to rise over two consecutive weekends since 1982 and posted another 26.4 million dollars last weekend, a 10 percent increase, cementing its status as one of the most improbable hits in recent memory.
Earlier Summer Hits Still Loom Large
Before Backrooms took over, the summer kicked off with two other massive hits. The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, featuring Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy, Jack Black, and Donald Glover, reached 100 million dollars in just seven days and currently holds the highest weekend debut of 2026 at 131.7 million dollars domestically.
Meanwhile, Project Hail Mary broke the record for the highest weekend debut for a sci-fi film, opening to 80.5 million dollars.
The summer of 2026 is shaping up to be one of the more unpredictable box office seasons in years, with scrappy originals and low-budget horror consistently upstaging major franchise tentpoles. Whether Backrooms and Obsession signal a longer-term shift in how audiences are spending their movie dollars remains to be seen, but for now, Hollywood is paying close attention.