No pressure, but Hollywood has a lot riding on summer movie season. The busy stretch from May to August is crucial for the industry, representing 40% of the annual box office. But consumer tastes have been rapidly shifting since the pandemic, so this year’s slate should reveal a great deal about what audiences will (or won’t) pay to watch on the big screen. Studios missed the mark in 2025 as comic book adventures and long-in-the-tooth sequels like “Thunderbolts,” “Fantastic Four: First Steps” and “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” failed to live up to expectations, causing popcorn season to once again fall short of the hoped-for $4 billion mark again. This summer’s hits and misses could have an outsize influence on Hollywood’s future spending habits.
As theater owners get ready for blockbuster hopefuls like Pixar’s “Toy Story 5,” Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” and Steven Spielberg’s “Disclosure Day,” Variety raises five questions looming over the business.
Milly Alcock as Supergirl
©Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection
1) Will the next four months be a litmus test for superheroes?
