Gower Street raises 2026 global box office forecast to $35.7 billion, which would be the best year since 2019

Box office analytics firm Gower Street Analytics has raised its forecast for worldwide cinema ticket sales in 2026 to $35.7 billion, which would be the highest annual total since 2019.

Gower Street chief executive Dimitrios Mitsinikos presented the projection at Celluloid Junkie’s CJ Cinema Summit on 29 October, the company said. It is above Gower Street’s initial 2026 forecast of $35.0 billion, made in December 2025, and up 2.9% from the estimate it reported at CinemaCon in April, according to Deadline.

Deadline said the figure would be a 6.3% increase on 2025 but still below the $42.3 billion recorded in 2019. The forecast breaks down into $10.5 billion from North America, $19.7 billion from international markets excluding China and $5.5 billion from China. Deadline, citing the Global Rentrak newsletter, said that would mean an 18% rise in North America, a nearly 14% rise in international markets outside China and a fall of about 26% in China, where admissions and ticket prices have dropped.

Deadline listed five films that have passed $1 billion worldwide in 2026: Spider-Man: Brand New Day ($2.5 billion), The Odyssey ($1.8 billion), Toy Story 5, Michael and The Super Mario Galaxy Movie. It said North America had its biggest summer on record, with $4.76 billion according to Rentrak figures.

Releases still due this year include The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, Dune: Part Three and Avengers: Doomsday. Gower Street said it will announce its 2027 forecast in December.