As 'The Odyssey' thrives at the box office, franchise fatigue hits summer with bombs like 'Supergirl,' 'Moana'
Christopher Nolan's "The Odyssey" has dominated the box office over the past week as the summer has been widely plagued by franchise fatigue, with several films struggling to live up to the glory of their IP predecessors.
Universal Pictures' star-studded adaptation of Homer's epic made $123 million domestically and more than $263 million globally during its opening weekend, marking Nolan's strongest global opening weekend ever, surpassing "The Dark Knight" trilogy and 2023's Oscar winner "Oppenheimer."
"The Odyssey" maintained its strength during the week, making more than $18 million domestically Monday and Wednesday and more than $21 million on Tuesday. Its global gross crossed $320 million in less than a week.
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Such success at the box office could not be replicated by multiple franchise films released this summer.
Disney's live-action "Moana," in which Dwayne Johnson reprised his role, opened to a dismal $43 million domestically earlier this month, a fraction of the $56 million the animated original made during its opening weekend in 2016 and the nearly $140 million "Moana 2" opened to in 2024. It has been reported that Disney could lose about $100 million on the film, which reportedly cost $250 million to make. The film has grossed only $186 million globally so far.
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"Supergirl" similarly bombed at the box office last month, earning just $37 million its opening weekend domestically and will likely fall short of reaching $150 million worldwide during its theatrical run for Warner Bros. That pales in comparison to last year's "Superman," which grossed more than $600 million worldwide, marking mixed results for the studio's rebooted DC Comics Cinematic Universe. Warner Bros. will also reportedly lose $100 million on the Milly Alcock-starring superhero flick.
Other once-reliable franchises are disappointing. Last month, "Minions & Monsters" opened to just $37 million domestically and has so far grossed roughly $366 million globally, marking the worst-performing "Despicable Me" installment to date for Universal Pictures and Illumination. Its immediate predecessor, 2024's "Despicable Me 4," opened to $75 million domestically and made nearly $1 billion at the global box office.
"The Mandalorian & Grogu," a big-screen installment of the long-running Star Wars series on Disney+, also marked the worst performing Star Wars film for Disney following its May release, grossing just $340 million worldwide. 2018's Star Wars prequel "Solo" previously held that undesired title when it grossed $392 million.
There are exceptions to the current box office trend this year. "Toy Story 5" opened to an astonishing $159 million domestically during its opening weekend last month and is expected to cross $1 billion worldwide. "The Super Mario Galaxy Movie" had a $131 million domestic opening in April and ultimately grossed over $1 billion globally. "Scream 7" made over $63 million its opening weekend in February and crossed the $200 million threshold worldwide for Paramount.
Meanwhile, more "original" films (for lack of a better term) have excelled at the box office this year. "Project Hail Mary," the Ryan Gosling-led space adventure dramedy adapted from the Andy Weir book, made more than $680 million at the box office this spring, becoming Amazon Studios' highest-grossing film ever. That was followed by Lionsgate's Michael Jackson music biopic "Michael," grossing more than $1 billion worldwide and becoming the film distributor's top earner, surpassing all of its "Hunger Games" and "Twilight" movies.
"Obsession," the low-budget horror film from comedic content creator Curry Barker, shocked the industry by seeing unprecedented growth week-over-week in its early run at the box office, quickly exceeding "The Mandalorian & Grogu" and grossing over $400 million worldwide, making it the highest-grossing film for Focus Features.
Weeks later, another low-budget horror flick "Backrooms" from 20-year-old YouTuber Kane Parsons made a big splash at the box office with a stunning $81 million debut and went on to gross more than $360 million worldwide, setting a grossing record for A24.
The last major tentpole release for the summer comes next week with "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" from Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios. The bar is set extremely high on the fourth installment of the Tom Holland-led franchise as its predecessor "Spider-Man: No Way Home" opened to an astonishing $260 million domestically in 2021.
Not only will it have to combat broader franchise fatigue, it will also have to battle superhero fatigue that has impacted the Marvel Cinematic Universe. 2025 releases like "Captain America: Brave New World," "Thunderbolts*" and "The Fantastic Four: First Steps" were widely seen as financial disappointments, so Marvel Studios better hope that audience's spidey senses are tingling.