By any box office standard, May was a memorable month for major exhibitors after films like… Michael, The Devil Wears Prada 2, Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu, mania and Back rooms Performed in a multimeter.
Cinemark said Monday it had its highest performance ever at the domestic box office for May, driven by a steady and more diverse slate of Hollywood films from major studio suppliers.
“The continued box office momentum we’ve seen year-to-date reflects the impact and importance of a healthy, balanced release cadence for compelling films. Audiences are showing up to a wide range of content, with particular strength in younger moviegoers, leading to impressive performance across blockbusters and small and medium-sized diversified titles,” Sean Gamble, Cinemark’s president and CEO, said in a statement.
Mega-theater AMC said it recorded its highest May attendance since 2019, both domestically and internationally on its Odeon Cinemas circuit. For Adam Aron, CEO of parent company AMC Entertainment, his long-standing calls to major studios for an attractive and diverse slate of Hollywood films to reignite theatrical momentum have been answered.
“These extremely satisfactory results reflect the strength of our diverse film slate, which has been driven by blockbuster films with recognizable characters alongside brand-new intellectual property. This current measure of success, coupled with the many great films that will be hitting our screens in the coming weeks and months, gives us great confidence as we look to the rest of 2026,” Aaron said in his statement.
It wasn’t just blockbuster films that were a big hit for exhibitors last month, smaller to mid-sized titles also performed well, especially for horror fans. Carrie Parker’s first feature film mania The Focus Features film opened well ahead of expectations with $16 million and director Kane Parson’s Back rooms It smashed its own expectations for a $81 million opening in North America for A24.
Bringing young people into theaters in droves in May was also great news for major exhibitors when it comes to food and beverage sales, and an encouragement for box office expectations for the rest of 2026 when cinema chains need consistency to keep their theatrical box office legs. “No doubt, you will understand and appreciate our excitement when you look at the line-up of films coming to our theaters over the next five weekends,” Aaron added as he prepared for titles such as: Horror Movie, Masters of the Universe, Revelation Day, Toy Story 5, Supergirl and Minions and monsters.
