LOS ANGELES — In the months leading up to summer, Paul Gunsky installed new reclining seats and immersive sound systems at his Bay Area CineLux Theatres chain in hopes that moviegoers would return in droves.

And they did. Young people flocked to his showings of "Obsession" as the Gen Z horror film gained momentum throughout the summer, while nostalgic millennials came to watch "The Devil Wears Prada 2," propelling business for his chain of eight theaters with 62 screens above that of last year.

Driven by billion-dollar-plus blockbusters, the popularity of Imax and other enhanced formats and a diverse lineup of films, this summer's box office has given theater owners such as Gunsky a much-needed shot in the arm and boosted optimism for the rest of the year.

The season's heaviest lifting came from Sony Pictures' "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" ($2.4 billion in global box office), Christopher Nolan's "The Odyssey" ($1.6 billion) and Walt Disney Co. and Pixar's "Toy Story 5" ($1.1 billion), though a wide-ranging crop of quality movies helped push the summer over the edge.

For the full summer — which the industry counts from the first Friday in May through Labor Day — theatrical revenue in the U.S. and Canada is expected to reach $4.76 billion, marking the highest summer ever, not adjusted for inflation, according to Rentrak.

That's welcome news for the major Hollywood studios, which still count theatrical revenue as a key source of business during a tumultuous time for the industry.

"There was a general philosophy in Hollywood that the billion-dollar-movie box-office days were behind us," said Sanford Panitch, president of the motion picture group at Sony Pictures. "But when you look back at a bunch of evidence, particularly younger audiences going to the movies, there were signs of vibrancy in the audience behavior this summer."

The summer's total was a nearly 30% improvement on the lackluster 2025 season. Notably, this summer's tally was 9% higher than that of the same period in 2019 — before the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2023 writers' and actors' strikes upended the industry — though when accounting for inflation, this summer ends up ranking below.

"It really validates what we felt as exhibitors," said Gunsky, who is the second-generation owner of the Campbell-based chain. "We know that people enjoy going to the movies. Once the studios could provide a strong slate of films, as an industry, we were confident that the audiences would be returning and returning in large numbers."

To that end, attendance trends were encouraging, as 322.8 million tickets were sold this summer, an increase of 22.6% from the 263.3 million sold last summer, according to data from entertainment analytics firm EntTelligence.

A major factor was the wave of young moviegoers who packed theaters not only to see Gen Z hits such as Focus Features' "Obsession" and A24's "Backrooms," but also "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" and Universal Pictures' "The Odyssey."

The 18-to-25 crowd made up 15% of all moviegoers from May 1 to Aug. 23, according to EntTelligence, and an additional 22% of attendees were 26 to 35. Despite much hand-wringing in the industry that young people aren't interested in big-screen movies, the summer's trends may be proving otherwise.

Another high point this summer was the popularity of Imax and other enhanced formats. The draw was largely due to the popularity of "The Odyssey," which is the first feature film to be shot entirely on Imax cameras.

The rush to see the critically acclaimed film on the biggest screens possible boosted overall theatrical revenue through higher-priced tickets and delivered a windfall to the handful of cinemas equipped with 70-millimeter screens ("The Odyssey" also is Imax's biggest movie of all time, with a global Imax tickets sales of $486 million).

For TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, Nolan films are typically big business. But "The Odyssey" surpassed even those high expectations. The Hollywood Boulevard landmark has been the highest-grossing Imax screen in the world for the film.

By the end of August, "The Odyssey" had generated $4.4 million at TCL Chinese Theatre. That figure exceeded the venue's full-year box-office results for 98 of the 99 years it has been in business, Brett Fellman, president of film and marketing at the theater, said in late August.

TCL Chinese Theatre is one of just 41 locations in the world — and 25 in the U.S. — showing "The Odyssey" in Imax 70 mm, the format Nolan shot it in, leading some moviegoers to make the trek.

"For us, 'The Odyssey' has just been amazing," Fellman said last month. "The fact that we've already had our biggest year in history, and we're still in August is miraculous."

But not every big film connected with audiences this summer.

Disney and Lucasfilm's "Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu" underperformed, as did the live-action "Moana," Amazon MGM Studios' "Masters of the Universe" and Warner Bros.-owned DC Studios' "Supergirl." Even Universal and Illumination's "Minions & Monsters" had a softer audience reception than previous installments of the powerhouse "Despicable Me" and "Minions" franchise.

The season's strength was also narrower than the top-line figure suggests. "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" and "The Odyssey" together accounted for a little more than a third of the summer's entire domestic gross — a concentration that leaves the fall and winter projections riding on a small number of titles landing.

Still, with the general momentum from the summer, industry analysts expect that 2026 could finally be the year that the domestic box office breaks $10 billion, a milestone that hasn't been reached since before the pandemic.

"A couple of years ago, people doubted whether the industry could ever get back to $10 billion," said Eric Handler, media and entertainment analyst at Roth Capital Partners. "I think we're definitely going to end up over $10 billion. How high is high? Maybe we can get $10.2 billion, maybe $10.3 billion, and I think that's a big win for the industry."

Already, the year-to-date box office has topped $7.3 billion through Sunday, according to Rentrak. The fall has several titles that could gain traction, including Warner Bros.' years-later sequel "Practical Magic 2" and Zach Cregger's "Resident Evil."

And in December, the industry is eagerly awaiting the dual releases of Warner Bros. and Legendary Entertainment's "Dune: Part Three" and Disney and Marvel Studios' "Avengers: Doomsday" on Dec. 18, a day many in the industry are dubbing "Dunesday."

Those have all been encouraging signs for theater owners such as Gunsky, who started serving popcorn at his family-owned CineLux Theatres at age 10 and threaded projectors at 13.

"I'm very optimistic looking into the future," he said. "The summer really shows we're on the right path."

©2026 Los Angeles Times. Visit latimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.