Apr 03, 2026 1:15pm IST
‘Avatar: Fire and Ash,’ ‘Project Hail Mary’ Lead $1.77 Billion Hollywood Quarter
As the first quarter of 2026 comes to a close, Hollywood has registered its strongest box office run since the COVID-19 pandemic. Titles like “Project Hail Mary,” “Avatar: Fire and Ash” and several other studio big-ticket films have helped bring in a massive total, beating the previous post-pandemic high set in 2023.
According to Comscore data, the overall domestic box office through the end of March has reached $1.77 billion. That marks a significant jump from the previous first-quarter high of $1.45 billion in 2023, underlining just how strong the start to 2026 has been for theatrical business. The turnaround feels even sharper when viewed against the dismal March 2025—the lowest-grossing non-pandemic March in three decades.
The top-grossing film of the quarter was undoubtedly "Project Hail Mary," starring Ryan Gosling, which earned $177 million within just 11 days of its release. The film also quickly became the highest-grossing title ever for Amazon MGM Studios.
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Among the other big contributors were two major titles from Disney. "Avatar: Fire and Ash," directed by James Cameron and released in December 2025, added a massive $404.2 million to the quarter, while "Hoppers" from Pixar brought in $141.6 million following its March 2026 debut.
Other notable contributors included "Scream 7" with $119.2 million, and "Goat" from Sony Pictures Animation, which crossed $101 million. " Zootopia 2" contributed around $90 million, while "Wuthering Heights" from Warner Bros. added roughly $84 million.
With several major releases still lined up across the rest of the year, early projections suggest Hollywood could end 2026 with a total domestic box office haul of around $9 billion. If this momentum holds, the industry may even be looking at $10 billion. That said, the number would remain below pre-pandemic norms, when annual domestic totals would often comfortably cross $11 billion.
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