A Successful Original March Closes the Highest Grossing Q1 of the Decade for International and Domestic Box Office

Apr 4, 2026

The first quarter has been the weakest period at the global box office for every year this decade, excluding China and its volatile New Year’s effect. If that is the case again this year, we’re heading towards the prosperous year the theatrical industry is hoping for. The International (excluding China) and Domestic markets-combined recorded the highest grossing Q1 since 2019. The $6.2 billion is +19% ahead of last year, and up +9% up on the same period in 2023 and 2024, the previous #1.

March followed the successful path of the first two months this year. The International (excluding China) and Domestic markets-combined had the second highest grossing March of the decade with $1.95 billion. This is up +31% on the catastrophic March last year, which had been the lowest grossing month in two and a half years at that time and as well since. It’s only down -11% on March 2024, when the trio of DUNE: PART TWO, KUNG FU PANDA 4 and GODZILLA X KONG woke up the box office.

Including China, the total global box office at the end of March is estimated at $7.9 billion. Weighted down by the Chinese performance this is currently tracking -9% behind 2025 and -2% behind 2024. Nearly on par with 2023 (-0.7%). The Global box office is further -24% (or $2.5 billion) below the average of the last three pre-pandemic years (2017-2019) at current exchange rates.

GBOT March 2026

Top Titles

Two big new releases dominated the global box office in March. Complemented by a late February holdover. Combined these three globally released US-titles grossed $764 million. That is slightly above a third (34%) of the March global gross. Amazon MGM’s PROJECT HAIL MARY was the highest grossing global movie in March with $328 million in that period, narrowly ahead of Disney/Pixar’s

HOPPERS ($307m). These were followed by Paramount’s SCREAM 7, which added $129 million in March for a cume of $206 million.

International box office (excluding China)

The International box office (excluding China) continued to outperform the Domestic and Chinese markets in March. The region grossed $1.3 billion. The second highest grossing March since 2019 (-19%), only behind 2024 (-9%). This March was also -22% behind the pre-pandemic benchmark and +22% ahead of the same period last year. It’s the fourth month in a row that records a year-on-year growth, the third in double digits (Jan: +15%, Feb: +16%). Further six of the past 7 months have performed better than the same month in the prior year!

This finishes a strong first quarter. The International box office (excluding China) has a cume of $4.4 billion at the end of March. That is clearly the best Q1 since 2019 (-11%), being above each of the past six years in double digits (2025: +17%; 2024: +10%; 2023: +12%, 2022: +53%, 2021: +338%, 2020: +19%). It’s the #4 performing quarter of the running decade, behind Q3 2023 (-8%), Q3 last year (-5%) and nearly on par with Q2 2023 (-1%). The year-to-date is -15% below the three-year average. Holding the same level that the International box office (excluding China) achieved for the full year in 2025.

Domestic

The Domestic market delivered one of the highest growth numbers in March. Its gross of $641 million was +54% up on the disastrous March last year. It’s also the fourth month in a row that the Domestic market is up on the same month year-on-year after being below for six consecutive months before. Nevertheless, this March is -15% behind the month in 2024 and -3% behind the one in 2023. The gap to the three-year benchmark is still modest with -37%.

It was the first month since December that had two titles grossing more than $100 million within the month. PROJECT HAIL MARY contributed $177 million and HOPPERS $142 million. Both combined had a 50% market share. SCREAM 7 grossed $68 million within the month to rank #3 for a $120 million total. The box office in the Domestic market was a bit more concentrated than in past months. There were only 6 movies that grossed more than $20 million in March. That is the lowest number since September last year (also 6), while only 10 releases achieved over $10 million – the fewest since August last year (also 10).

After the first quarter, the Domestic cume for the running year is at $1.79 billion. That is the best since 2020 (-2%). It is comfortably (+22%) above last year at the same time and on par with the period in 2023 (+1%), the highest so far. The gap to the three-year average is at -35%.

China

Following the disappointing Chinese New Year (CNY) period, this March China at least stabilized with a light improvement on a low base. In past years March was a quiet month after the heights of CNY. It’s the third highest grossing March of the decade with $307 million, only behind 2024 (-24%) and 2021 (-14%). The month was up +11% year-on-year. That is still just a bit better than half of the pre-pandemic benchmark (-48%).

The top 4 movies of the month were all holdovers from CNY, in the same order as in February. PEGASUS 3 added $104 million for a $631 million total. That makes it the highest grossing Chinese live-action release since FULL RIVER RED ($667m) in January 2023; the #7 local live-action movie of all time! At #2 in March was the comic-based live action production BLADES OF GUARDIANS generating $52 million for a $207 million cume. The group was completed by spy thriller SCARE OUT, which did $40 million for a $195 million total, at #3 and BOONIE BEARS: THE HIDDEN PROTECTOR at #4, adding $21 million for an $157 million total.

The highest grossing new releases in March were the two big global US-titles at #5 and #6. PROJECT HAIL MARY ($21m) and HOPPERS ($17m) delivered solid numbers given the state of the Chinese market.

At the end of March, the Chinese cume for 2026 stands at $1.73 billion, which is by far the lowest Q1 since the covid-hit 2020. Clearly -51% down on the record-breaking last year, and -28% below 2024 at the same point in time. The year-to-date gap to the three-year average is at -30%.

Outlook

The first quarter this year displayed multiple positive developments. Mainly original movies dominated the global box office and infused new life to the theatrical industry with hits like THE HOUSEMAID, WUTHERING HEIGHTS, and GOAT, as well as awards titles MARTY SUPREME and HAMNET, delivering well alongside the March duo of PROJECT HAIL MARY and HOPPERS. A mix of movies that widened the audience.

Moreover, nearly half of these hits, and especially the so far two highest grossing, have not been produced by one of the current five major film studios. PROJECT HAIL MARY is the first break out of Amazon MGM. THE HOUSEMAID is Lionsgate’s biggest global title since JOHN WICK 4 in 2023 and their biggest original since LA LA LAND in 2016! Finally, MARTY SUPREME became A24’s highest grossing global release ever, beating Oscar-winner EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE.

Beside the overdue widening output of US-production, numerous local hits have illustrated the capacity of the individual markets around the world, setting all-time records and helping the International box office (excluding China) to outperform the Domestic market.

The extension of the movies on offer and its distributors, are encouraging signs as the industry suffered a lack of attractive new movies in numbers and diversity of genre plus target groups for most of this decade.

The next quarter is about to start with a bang. Two major blockbusters will define the month. Universal’s THE SUPER MARIO GALAXY MOVIE is opening on this weekend already. The Michael Jackson bio-pic MICHAEL from Lionsgate will moonwalk into the last third of the month.