As August comes to a close, the weather starts to change, and so do the blockbuster movies playing in theaters. 2025’s summer blockbuster season saw live-action remakes of beloved children’s movies, original horror films, superhero movies, and more. With the summer coming to an end, here is what we can learn from this year’s summer movies.
Summer 2025 saw the release of three major superhero blockbusters. Two new Marvel films, “Thunderbolts*” and “Fantastic Four: First Steps”, and one new DC film in the form of “Superman”. While the recent Marvel films were received positively by both critics and audiences, both films struggled at the box office by Marvel standards. While not a billion-dollar movie by any means, “Superman” proved to be the most successful comic book movie from a financial standpoint. “Superman” also received positive reviews from audiences and critics alike, hailing a new era for DC Comics.
While Disney’s superhero movies might not have been the most profitable for the corporation, they do have the only American movie to cross a billion dollars this year, in the form of the live-action “Lilo and Stitch” remake. It is also worth noting that Disney-Pixar’s “Elio” struggled to cross $100 million at the box office. Whereas 2024’s Pixar film, “Inside Out 2,” took a little under three weeks to cross the billion-dollar mark.
One of the winners of the 2025 summer movie culture is the Netflix original “KPOP Demon Hunters,” which was added to the streamer in June. As it currently stands, “KPOP Demon Hunters” is the second most-watched Netflix movie of all time under 2022’s “Red Notice”. The film has grown so successful that the original songs from the film have made it onto the Billboard Top 200 Charts.
One of the most fascinating tent-poll blockbusters of the summer is “Jurassic World: Rebirth,” a film that did not resonate with critics and had mixed-to-positive reviews from general audiences. Of the major blockbusters to release in July, it made the most at the global box office. That being said, it is the first film in the “World” era to not cross the billion-dollar mark.
The biggest success story to come of the summer comes from Warner Bros., which has now had six films in a row be the top movie during their opening weekend. This unprecedented hot streak started back in late March, with “A Minecraft Movie,” and was quickly followed up with “Sinners”.
“Final Destination: Bloodlines,” the sixth entry in the “Final Destination” franchise, came out in May and breathed new life into an otherwise irrelevant horror franchise. “F1”, the Formula 1 movie starring Brad Pitt, is an exciting original film that has grossed nearly $ 600 million at the global box office. It was also distributed alongside Apple. “Superman” was Warner Bros. July movie that proved to be successful. Finally, “Weapons”, a thrilling new original horror movie, has stayed at the top of the box office for two weeks in a row.
This raises the question of whether Warner Bros. can maintain this remarkable streak. Later this year, the studio has the final film in the Conjuring franchise, “The Conjuring: Last Rites”, the new Paul Thomas Anderson film, “One Battle After Another”, and “Mortal Kombat 2”.
While it does seem that the billion-dollar movie might become a thing of the past, Summer 2025 proved to be a decent time for the box office with films resonating with audiences, such as “Weapons”, “F1”, and “Superman”.