The figures suggest that the domain of blockbusters in Hollywood is not over. In fact, it will go worse

In the post-pandemic Hollywood that we live, of completely consolidated cycles and trends, commercial cinema reigns at its expression: sequelae, remakes, reboots and blockbusters that do not leave space to medium and small movies. And although one might think that it is a passing situation with a visos to change, the truth is that such a panorama (at first glance, a transition state) does not stop consolidating.

The figures. Let’s look at a few figures, which Pau Brunet gives in Your Newsletter Box Office Alchemy: During the first semester of 2025, the five highest grossing films in the United States have concentrated 82% of income. It is a rise in that domain if we compare it, for example, with 2019, when those five films generated 75%. At first glance the figures do not seem to indicate excessive growth, but let’s look at the rest of the movies.

Top 6-10 represents 11.7% of the box office, a 35% drop compared to 2019. And beyond Top 10, the figures are abysmal: they represent 6.3% of the income, a 53% drop. That without counting the general fall of income (which shows that this domination of a few films is not the panacea): in these first six months, those first five films have generated 22% less income than in 2019.

And what does it mean. That as much as we rabiem and kick because last year The ten most viewed films were all sequelsremakes, reboots and several fritas (not even ‘WICKED‘He escaped, being how is the adaptation of a musical inspired by a book that, in turn, is based on’ The Wizard of Oz ‘), is what works and is what the public demands. A few months ago We contemplated stunned How Disney Barría at the box office with ‘Lilo & Stitch’, and this week we have The premiere of ‘Superman’to which the first box office figures (at the time of writing these lines, the presale of Thursday) predict a great result.

We can celebrate the success of unusual bets as ‘sinners’ (which Apparently it will not become franchise), But it is still a drop in the ocean, an absolute rarity in the current context.

Problems for indies. Of course, this points to severe problems for the indie sector of cinematographic production, and that is increasingly cornering in the billboards. Brunet himself spoke In a previous newsletter of the aid that in Hollywood are taking place, by producers’ coalitions, to the cinema that does not have the support of the great studies. And this is going to be the only way for independent cinema, authentic basic oxygen for industry, continues to exist, because the dynamics of distribution have it marginalized.

The rooms: horror, horror … The figures are clear, but you just have to go to any room to check the absolute domination of the cinema mainstreamto which the brutal is added Shortage of exhibition windowsin search of rapid benefits: after a few weeks in rooms the films go to PPV, and from there to streaming. And start again in a dynamic that not only burns products at infernal speeds, but also admits anything that is not blockbusters.

The Terabusters. Brunet puts a name to this phenomenon: Terabusters. A step beyond the blockbusters, like Kaijus of cinema, the movies already They are not blockbusters, but events that bring together all the efforts of a producer for months … and hopefully return that effort in the form of dividends that allow them to finance the following monster. But you have to take care of the cinema base fabric, or the industry is in danger of devouring itself, or working only based on movies that we saw ten years ago (or less).

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