Spinning Records: All-time August Global Record is also Highest Grossing Month this Decade!

Sep 05, 2026

The heat was on this summer inside and outside the cinemas. The Global box office culminated in August’s massive $4.645 billion; the highest grossing August of all-time. Moreover, it came in slightly above the BARBENHEIMER July 2023 ($4.639bn) to become the #1 month this decade.

That is +28% above the month’s average from the last three pre-pandemic years (2017-2019). The benchmark was overtaken for only the sixth time since 2019 and this August is clearly ahead of the previous peak in July 2023 (+18%). It is the second time in the past four months the threshold has been exceeded after May (+3%) - last month only missed it marginally (-1%) - illustrating the consistency of the past months.

The August bump lifts the Global year to date to $25.1 billion. This is on par with 2023 and +9% above last year. It’s -9% (or $2.5 billion) below the three-year average at current exchange rates. That number narrowed significantly since its peak of -24% at the end of the first quarter.

When excluding China, due to its disappointing performance in 2026, the gap to the pre-pandemic benchmark shrinks to just -2%! Additionally, the cume of 2026 is up in double digits on all post-pandemic years (2025: +22%; 2024: +24%; 2023: +12%, 2022: +41%).

The exceptional performance this year is not limited to single territories, it is spread wide. Half of our Top 20 tracked major markets are above the three-year average for the year!

Top Titles

The Top 5 titles generated a massive $2.93 billion in August. This is nearly two thirds (63%) of the month’s global total. The combined box office of these five titles on their own would have made August the 4th highest grossing global month of the year so far.

The clear #1 title in August was Sony’s SPIDER-MAN: BRAND NEW DAY. The cinematic icon added an immense $1.86 billion in August for a massive cume of $2.34 billion. It’s now the #3 highest grossing movie globally of all-time; the second in the franchise to enter the all-time top 10 list.

The outstanding second highest grossing movie in August was Universal’s THE ODYSSEY. Adding $724 million for an epic total of $1.56 billion. It became the #1 movie in the long and successful career of Christopher Nolan, surpassing THE DARK KNIGHT RISES ($1.09bn). THE ODYSSEY has now reached #14 of the highest grossing movies of all-time globally, just ahead of THE AVENGERS ($1.52bn) from 2012.

PAW PATROL: THE DINO MOVIE contributed $127 million in August. The long running INSIDIOUS horror-franchise claimed #4 of the global box office in August. Its sixth instalment OUT OF THE FURTHER achieved $114 million. Rounding out the top 5 highest grossing global releases in August was Warner’s THE END OF OAK STREET with $106 million.

Domestic

The Domestic box office had an outstanding August with $1.28 billion. It’s the by far highest grossing August of all-time, beating 2014, the previous best, by +25%! It’s also the second highest grossing month this decade, only behind July 2023 (-7%).

This August marks the peak of a strong development of the year so far. This is now the fourth month in a row with Domestic grossing more than $1 billion. The last time this happened was in the period from April to July in 2019. Moreover, August is the seventh month this year that performed over the same period last year (+79%). Only April was a marginal -2% behind. Last year eight months were down year-on-year.

At the end of August, the Domestic cume for the running year is at $7.25 billion. That is +9% ahead of 2023, the best so far this decade and +21% ahead of last year at the same point in time. Due to the excellent result in August the gap to the three-year average has further narrowed to -8% down from -16% a month ago. At the end of March the gap was standing at -35%!

In August SPIDER-MAN: BRAND NEW DAY was also reigning in Domestic with a market share of 57%!, adding $724 million for an $894 million total. That is already the second highest grossing title of all-time in the market. THE ODYSSEY came in second with $207 million for $565 million cume. Having two titles grossing more than $200 million within a month only happened for the sixth time since 2019. August was the fifth consecutive month with at least one title above that threshold. That is the longest streak this decade besides the five months from April to August 2023.

However, the record performance in August was far more top heavy than the previous months. The top two titles had a commanding combined market share of nearly three quarters (73%) in August. No other title grossed more than $50 million in August domestically. Thus, having only two titles above $100 million is the lowest number since March this year (2) and only two above $50 million is the lowest since October last year (2). This is a harsh contrast to the three prior months, where both numbers were at the high end of the decade and the success was driven by a wider variety of films.

International box office (excluding China)

For the fourth month in a row the International box office (excluding China) was performing above the pre-pandemic benchmark. These four are among the five best of that metric in this decade. Only six times has this target has been achieved at all. August reached a new peak with +39%, clearly ahead of June this year (+12%), the prior peak. From a total box office perspective this August is the highest grossing this decade with $2.5 billion. Similarly, significantly ahead of the second place July 2023 (+25%).

It’s the ninth month in a row that records a year-on-year growth. Moreover, 11 of the past 12 months have performed better than the same month in the prior year! Being +62% up is still a new high.

As a result of this continuous strong performance the cume of International box office (excluding China) is +1% ahead the pre-pandemic benchmark at the end of August. The total of $13.7 billion is +13% above 2023, the prior peak this decade and +23% ahead of last year.

China

Not surprisingly China was not able to match the heights of the rest of the world. However, it had a second strong month in a row compared to the challenging first half of the year. Grossing $855 million was the second highest amount in the past twelve. This was -19% below the three-year benchmark. China was the only tracked territory to perform below two different years this decade, being -25% under 2023 and -3% behind last year.

The past two months have helped China only marginally to improve its year to date. The total of $4.1 billion is the lowest of the decade with the exceptions of the main cinema shut down year 2020 and 2022 (+16%). It’s down in double digits on the other years at the same point in time (2025: -28%; 2024: -16%; 2023: -34%, 2021: -14%). The gap to the pre-pandemic benchmark is -33%.

In August three titles grossed more than $100 million. The clear #1 was local comedy-drama ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE MIDDLE EAST with $288 million. It already got the #3 title of the year at the beginning of September by surpassing DEAR YOU ($293m). Director Muye Wen is continuing his streak of blockbusters after DYING TO SURVIVE ($463m) in 2018, MY PEOPLE, MY COUNTRY ($411m) in 2019 and NICE VIEW ($216m) in 2022.

At #2 SPIDER-MAN added $155 million for a $226 million cume. This is already the second highest grossing US live action movie in China since 2019, only behind AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER ($243m). Local animated fantasy title ALL WISHES COME TRUE! added $125 million for $275 million total at #3. Nolan’s THE ODYSSEY grossed $93 million in August. A very good number for a foreign import in China in recent years.

Outlook

This decade so far has been a recovery odyssey. This August sees the global theatrical box office coming home to new heights. SPIDER-MAN and THE ODYSSEY setting multiple records as a gigantic double. With those, two more titles joined the Top 14 titles of all-time. This increases the number of movies released this decade within this list to seven. All released since December 2021 when SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME made the start, proving that after hitting rock bottom these all-time heights at the global box office can still be achieved regularly.

While August was very single-title break-out heavy, it was the consistent flow of attractive and broad movies on offer that build the base for the positive status of 2026 after eight months. The cume is on the same level as in 2023 at the end of August. Back then the double strike in Hollywood derailed the fresh state of success. Nevertheless, the year ended on the highest level since 2019 with $33.9 billion. With less barriers and a strong, diverse slate ahead, this year will clearly exceed this. Being blueprint and inspiration for the years to come.