Hollywood loves a comeback story: What the 2025 box-office rebound means for summer blockbusters

The movie industry hasn’t caught many breaks in recent years, even after rebounding from the Covid-19 pandemic.

The movie industry hasn’t caught many breaks in recent years, even after rebounding from the Covid-19 pandemic. Studios were faced with a writers’ strike, blockbusters that fell well below expectations and dilemmas over when to release movies into theaters before having them stream online. The domestic box office continued a trend of getting the year off to a slow start, as January lacked a strong carryover movie from the holiday season or a surprise audience pleaser, renewing fears the industry faces long-term financial woes. The box office for January 1 to April 3 was down 13% compared to the same time last year, which in turn was down 7.6% compared with 2023. “It’s not like a hard-and-fast rule that the first three months are typically slow. Sometimes they can be huge if you have a big holdover movie and a couple of breakout hits,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior analyst at Comscore. The first major release of 2025 was Marvel’s “Captain America: Brave New World,” which opened in February to more than $100 million over the four-day Presidents Day holiday weekend, only to see its earnings plunge 68% in the second week. Things didn’t improve much from there. In March, the box office was down nearly 50% compared with the same month last year, according to Comscore data. Ticket sales certainly weren’t buoyed by Disney’s “Snow White,” which opened to a meager $43 million amid polarizing reactions about casting and politics.