2025 was an interesting year for the North American box office. While many fans may have thought James Cameron’s Avatar: Fire and Ash would turn out to be the top-grossing title, the sci-fi threequel ended up at No. 4, earning $404.3 million domestically. The year’s top three highest-grossing movies were Zootopia 2 ($428.1 million), A Minecraft Movie ($424.1 million), and Lilo & Stitch ($423.8 million), according to Box Office Mojo’s yearly chart.
On the other hand, 2026 has so far delivered multiple hits that have already surpassed $200 million at the North American box office. At the time of writing, the top-grossing film at the domestic box office is The Super Mario Galaxy Movie ($407 million), followed by Project Hail Mary ($323.3 million) and Michael ($212.8 million), per Box Office Mojo data. This means that the current year’s top-grosser is so far behind 2025’s biggest earner domestically. It remains to be seen if it can outgross it in the coming weeks.
However, when it comes to the top five biggest opening weekends in North America, the rankings take a slightly different route. Let’s take a look at the top five opening weekends at the domestic box office for both 2025 and 2026 and find out which year wins in terms of the combined domestic debuts.
2025’s Top 5 Biggest Domestic Debuts
- A Minecraft Movie: $162.8 million
- Wicked For Good: $147 million
- Lilo & Stitch: $146 million
- Superman: $125 million
- The Fantastic Four: First Steps: $117.6 million
- Combined Total: $698.4 million
2026’s Top 5 Biggest Domestic Debuts
- The Super Mario Galaxy Movie: $131.7 million
- Michael: $97.2 million
- Project Hail Mary: $80.5 million
- The Devil Wears Prada 2: $76.7 million
- Scream 7: $63.6 million
- Combined Total: $449.7 million
What The Above Numbers Indicate
Based on the above numbers, it can be observed that the combined domestic opening weekend total of 2025’s top five debuts ($698.4 million) is around 55% higher than 2026’s top five openings ($449.7 million). However, with several eagerly anticipated films like Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Dune: Part Three, and Avengers: Doomsday yet to be released, these totals and rankings are bound to change in the coming months.
Stay tuned to Koimoi for more box office updates!
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